Thank you for visiting. This article is one installment in a series that explains the “original texts” of the world’s myths and religions — an index page summarizing the original texts of “Egyptian mythology.”
The gods of ancient Egypt — the sun god Ra, Osiris king of the underworld, the falcon god Horus — form one of the world’s oldest mythologies. But, as with Greek mythology, there is no single scripture that gathers its stories.
Egyptian mythology has been handed down to the present fragmentarily, mainly through funerary texts written for the “afterlife” and inscriptions on temple walls.
Because the myths these original texts convey are rich, this series explains them in detail in three thematic articles. This page introduces the big picture and what each article covers.
The “strength” of the gods of Egyptian mythology has been introduced previously in ranking form, so please use that as a reference too.
You can also view the complete index of the world’s myths and religions, including others besides Egyptian mythology, from the page below.
The Big Picture of Egyptian Mythology’s Original Texts
At the center of Egyptian mythology’s original texts are three funerary texts written so that the dead may be resurrected in the afterlife and gain eternal life. As the ages passed, their scope spread from the king to commoners.
Listing the major original texts gives the following.
| Original text | Date | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Pyramid Texts | c. 24th century BC | Spells on pyramid walls. The oldest religious text extant |
| Coffin Texts | c. 21st century BC | Spells written on coffins. The afterlife opens to nobles too |
| Book of the Dead | From c. 16th century BC | A spell collection on papyrus. Famed for the judgment scene |
| Temple inscriptions, Greek records | Each era | Convey myths like Osiris in collected form (Plutarch, etc.) |
Note that Egyptian mythology’s original texts are not “stories” like the Bible or Greek epics, but center on spell collections for resurrection after death (funerary texts) and fragmentary temple inscriptions. So this series divides the myths reconstructed from these into three articles by content, explaining them while indicating the source in each place (“this is recorded in such-and-such [original text]”).
An Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Myths and LegendsView on Amazon →
An Anatomical Illustrated Guide to Story-Making MythsView on Amazon →
Article 1: The Creation Myth and the Gods
The first part of the series explains the several creation myths of how the world was born, and the major gods beginning with the sun god Ra.
It covers in detail the story of the sun god being born from the primeval waters, the daily cycle in which the sun god Ra crosses the sky by day and the underworld by night by boat and fights the chaos serpent Apophis, and the lineup of distinctive animal-headed gods.
Article 2: The Osiris Myth
The second part of the series explains Egyptian mythology’s most important and popular story, the “Osiris myth.”
It is a grand story depicting “death and rebirth” and “the battle of good and evil” — the good king Osiris is killed by the betrayal of his brother Seth, his wife Isis revives him by magic, and his son Horus contends with Seth over the kingship.
Article 3: The Book of the Dead and the Afterlife
The third part of the series explains the heart of Egyptian mythology, the afterlife and the “judgment of the dead.”
It covers in detail the famous judgment scene in which the dead become a mummy and journey the underworld, their heart is weighed on a scale against the feather of the truth goddess Maat — the “weighing of the heart” — and the result determines whether they go to an eternal paradise or have their heart devoured by a monster.
Article 4: The Gods of Egypt — the Pantheon and the Aten Religious Reform
The fourth part of the series (the finale) explains the big picture of Egypt’s gods (the pantheon).
It covers the “syncretism” in which gods merge and the birth of the supreme god Amun-Ra, the wisdom god Thoth, the two-faced Hathor, the gods of daily life such as the cat Bastet, and the course of the world’s first monotheistic attempt, the “Aten religious reform.”
Egypt’s Major Gods — a Quick Reference List
Many distinctive animal-headed gods appear in Egyptian mythology. Grasping the major gods in a list before reading each article makes the stories much easier to understand.
| God | Form | Domain |
|---|---|---|
| Ra | Sun disk, falcon head | Sun god. The supreme god, said to be king of the gods |
| Osiris | Green skin, mummy form | King of the underworld. Governs death and rebirth |
| Isis | Throne or sun-disk crown | Wife of Osiris. Goddess of magic and motherhood |
| Horus | Falcon head | Child of Osiris and Isis. Guardian god of kingship |
| Seth | Head of a mysterious beast | God of desert, storm, chaos. The villain who killed Osiris |
| Anubis | Jackal head | Governs mummification, burial, and guiding to the underworld |
| Thoth | Ibis head | The scribe god, governing wisdom, writing, and the calendar |
| Maat | Feather crown | A goddess embodying truth, justice, and order |
Worth noting is that Egyptian gods are depicted with the distinctive form of an animal head combined with a human body. This expressed the power the god governs through an animal’s traits (falcon = king of the sky, jackal = an animal that prowls graveyards, etc.), and is a great hallmark of Egyptian art. Let’s look in detail at the stories these gods weave in each of the following articles.
To Learn More
Here are some related books. Reading them alongside this series lets you savor this world even more deeply.
World Mythology for Beginners (illustrated)View on Amazon →
An Illustrated Introduction to the World’s 5 Great MythologiesView on Amazon →
Conclusion
In this article, I introduced the big picture of Egyptian mythology’s original texts and what the four articles of the series cover. How was it?
Egyptian mythology has no single scripture; it is reconstructed mainly from funerary texts written in hope of resurrection after death — the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, and Book of the Dead — and from temple inscriptions.
So a great feature of Egyptian mythology is its strong connection to the theme of “death and rebirth.”
Besides Egyptian mythology, I also explain the original texts of Greek, Japanese, Norse, and Mesopotamian mythology, and Christianity (the Bible). For the full list, see the complete index of the world’s myths and religions.
For the strength of the gods of Egyptian mythology, please use this ranking article as a reference too.
I hope you’ll read the next article too.
📚 Series: The Original Texts of Egyptian Mythology (1/5)
