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Animals in Egypt
Animals in Ancient Egypt
Animals in Judaism
Animals in Christianity
Animals in Islam
Section One
Section Two
Section Three
Section Four
Section Five
Further Reading
The Complete Gods and
Goddesses of Ancient
Egypt, Wilkinson, Richard H.
2003
Dictionary of Egyptian Gods
and Goddesses, A Hart,
George 1986
Egyptian Religion, Morenz,
Siegfried 1973 Cornell
University Press
Gods and Myths of Ancient
Egypt Armour, Robert A.
1986 American University in
Cairo Press
The Gods of the Egyptians
(Studies in Egyptian
Mythology), Budge, E. A.
Wallis 1969
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Animals in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian religion was not based on a set of theological principles, but rather the gods were connected to
nature and the elements (earth, air, fire and water), or to animals. The ancient Egyptians believed in the infinite
powers of the universe, and respected and worshiped each element that comprised it; they believed that the
divine existed in everything.
Respect and veneration for animals was fundamental in all their traditions. They were given important status
throughout the ancient Egyptians’ life and afterlife. Therefore, any appearance of the animal in their lives is in
itself of religious importance, and often the worship of the animals was very direct, to the point where pets were
found mummified and buried with their owners.
The ancient Egyptians were very sensitive to the characteristics of the animals: Anubis, who was a jackal (dog)
weighed the heart of the dead for Osiris; any dog owner today will tell you that dogs can see the true heart and
intent of a person. Bastet, who was a cat, was an important and infinite source of power throughout the ancient
Egyptian religion: she was seen as the protector of home and hearth, and the goddess of fertility – the ancient
Egyptians saw that cats were tender and protective of their young.
The gods (almost 80) were represented as humans, animals or a combination of human and animal form. The
ancient Egyptians also believed that many of their gods and goddesses were reincarnated on earth as animals,
and honored these animals in and around Ancient Egyptian temples, through daily rituals and annual festivals.
They offered them food, drink and clothing. In temples, the high priests would watch over the statues being
washed, perfumed and dressed in clothes and jewelry three times a day.
Antelope
Gods: Sokar
Attributes: royal, overseer
The head probably graced the prow of a ceremonial boat that stood in a
temple sanctuary.
Boats decorated with antelope heads were sacred to the god Sokar, who was
the overseer of the desert and the royal cemeteries near Memphis, Egypt's
capital in the north.
Baboon
Gods: Thoth, the god of writing and recording; Khonsu - youthful moon-god;
Hapy, the son of Horus was depicted with the head of a baboon.
Attributes: Eloquence, strength, fairness, responsibility.
Among other things, Thoth was responsible for the lunar-based calendar, and
was sometimes depicted with the head of a baboon on the scales of judgment
Hapy was responsible for the canopic jar that held the lungs.
Bull

Gods: Ptah, Osiris

Attributes: Power, masculinity, fertility, regeneration

The bull was one of the most important animal gods in ancient Egypt. When
an Apis bull died, it was embalmed and buried in great honor. From 1390 B.C.
onwards, the Apis bull burial grounds were a huge and growing underground
system of chambers called the Seapeum. The mothers of Apis bulls had their
own cult and burial places.

Cat

Gods: Bastet

Attributes: Protector, defender, fertility, offspring, childbirth.

Cats were thought to have some of the most important divine powers. They
were also seen as tender and protective of their offspring, and expectant
mothers would wear amulets of Bastet with kittens.

Cow

Gods: Hathor, Isis, Nut, Mehet-Weret, Bat

Attributes: Female fertility

These goddesses were often represented with cow horns or cow ears. The
cow symbolized the pharaoh’s mother (as bulls represented the pharaoh).

Cobra
 Gods: Wadjet

Attributes: Justice, fertility, protection, royalty

Snakes in general were symbols of resurrection, and a giant snake called Methen
guarded the sacred boat of Re as he sailed through the Underworld.

Crocodile

Gods: Ammut; Sobek; Taweret

Attributes: Justice, power, respect

Ammut, the female demon in the judgement hall, had the head of a crocodile.
She was known to devour the dead, and punished sinners by eating their
hearts.

Sobek was portrayed as a human with the head of a crocodile, or as the

crocodile itself. The temples of Sobek usually had sacred lakes where
crocodiles were fed and cared for.

Taweret, the hippo goddess of childbirth, was thought to have the back and
tail of a crocodile, or was shown with a crocodile perched on her back.

Falcon

Gods: Horus; Montu; Socar

Attributes: Royalty, protection, strength

Horus was often depicted with the head of a falcon.

There was often a falcon with outstretched wings hovering over the head of
the pharaoh.

Montu God of war also held the falcon as sacred.

Socar was the god of the Memphite cemetry.

Frog

Gods: Heget; The four male primeval gods of the Ogdoad – Nun (water),
Amen (invisibility), Heh (infinity), Kek (darkness)

Attributes: fertility, resurrection, childbirth

Because the Egyptians saw that there were many frogs, all from the Nile, they
associated the frog with fertility and resurrection

Goose

Gods: Geb; Isis (his daughter); Amon

Attributes: Strength

It was believed that Geb laid the egg from which the sun was hatched. His
laugh was also known to create earthquakes.

He is known as the god of the earth.

Hippopotamus

Gods: Set, Ammut, Taweret

Attributes: Strength, protectiveness, justice, benevolence (female hippos),

the household

Set was thought to have turned into a hippopotamus during his fight with
Horus

Ibis
 Gods: Thoth, Tehuty, Djehuty

Attributes: Knowledge, part of the soul,

Though some stories place him as a son of Ra, others say that Thoth created
himself through the power of language. He is the creator of magic, the
inventor of writing, teacher of man, the messenger of the gods (and thus
identified by the Greeks with Hermes) and the divine record-keeper and
mediator.

Jackal/Dog

Gods: Anubis; Duamutef; Wepwawet; Sed

Attributes: Fairness, clairvoyance, sensitivity, judgment, guide

Anubis was the god of embalming and mummification. He guarded the

canopic jar that held the stomach, and was given the title of “Opener of the
Ways”, performing the Opening of the Mouth ceremony on the pharaoh so he
would be able to speak in the afterlife.

Anubis also weighed the heart of the dead for Osiris.

The jackal was also thought to be a guide to the newly dead because they
were often seen around the desert and mountains where the tombs were
usually built.

Lion

Gods: Aker; Shu; Tefnut; Hathor; Wadjet; Mut; Maahes; Sekhmet; Nefertem;
Shesmu; Apedemak; Bes

Attributes: Strength, leadership, royalty, ferocity, war, healing, beauty.

The rising and the setting of the sun; guardian of the horizon The earth god
Aker was shown in the form of a 'double sphinx' - two lions seated back to
back - and was thought to guard the sun as it entered and exited the
underworld at the eastern and western horizons.

Monkey

Gods: one of the more important animal forms into which many of the gods
might be transformed

Attributes: rebirth, renewal

The maternal image was a symbol of rebirth and renewal, recurring concepts
in the Egyptian belief system. Monkeys (and baboons) were also considered
very important religiously,

Ostrich
 God: Ma'at

Attributes: the personification of order

Ma’at was shown as a seated woman wearing an ostrich feather as her

headdress or as the feather itself.

Pig

God: Set, god of chaos

Attributes: chaos, sacrifice, sight

Set took the form of a pig and blinded Horus then disappeared. Eventually
Horus regained his sight. The eyes of Horus was thought to represent the sun
and the moon, and the legend of the blinding of the god was an explanation of
solar and lunar eclipses.

Ram

God: Banebdjedet; Khnum

Attributes: Fertility, strength, birth

Khnum created men on his pottery wheel.

Scarab Beetle

Gods: Khepri; Amen

Attributes: Solar resurrection, new life, creation

As the scarab pushes its dung behind it in a ball, so the Egyptians thought
that Khepri pushed the sun across the sky. Young scarabs emerged, born out
of the dung, and so the scarab also came to symbolise new life and creation.

Snake

Gods: Apep; the four primeval goddesses of the Ogdoad - Naunet (water),
Amaunet (invisibility), Hauhet (infinity) and Kauket (darkness); Nehebkau

Attributes: danger and cure

The snake had mixed popularity in Egypt because snakes caused the danger
and the cure to the venom.

Apep was a water snake-demon of the underworld, who tried to stop Ra on

his nightly journey through the land of the west.

Scorpion

Gods: Serqet, Tabitjet

Attributes: Poison and protection; prevention and cure; virginity

The scorpion was sacred to Isis, who was thought to have been protected by
scorpions while Horus was young.

Vulture
 Gods: Nekhbet; Mut

Attributes: eternity; monarchy, leadership

The vulture often holds the shen (shn) symbol of eternity in its talons, offering
eternal protection to the pharaoh.

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