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(#1) Isis Had Intimate Relations With Her Late Brother
Osiris and Isis were brother and sister, but also husband and wife. They ruled Egypt together until their brother Set slayed Osiris and took his place. Isis refused to believe her husband was gone, searching all of Egypt for his body. After finding Osiris, Isis resurrected him so they could be intimate and conceive a child.
Set ruined this plan by ripping Osiris into 42 pieces and spreading the fragments across Egypt. In despair, Isis traveled with her sister Nephthys to reconstruct Osiris. They only managed to find 41 pieces, as a fish had eaten Osiris's member.
Never one to give up, Isis created a new organ for her reconstructed husband and revived him for long enough to get her pregnant. Osiris then went to rule the underworld, and their son Horus became Egypt's new ruler.
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(#2) Khonsu, The Egyptian God Of The Moon, Ate Hearts
Like the Nile, which gave Egypt life but could also flood and destroy crops, Egyptians often saw their gods as both helpful and dangerous. Khonsu, the god of the moon, was known as the god of healing, but he also had a reputation for eating human hearts.
According to the "Cannibal Hymn" text, Khonsu even ate other gods. Another text called him "Khonsu who lives on hearts."
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(#3) A Demon Goddess Known As The Devourer Waited In The Underworld
Egyptians had elaborate rituals for those who had passed, involving mummification and preparation for the long journey to the afterlife. After the soul left the body, it wandered the underworld looking for the Hall of Truth. Souls had to pass a final exam to reach eternal bliss. And if a soul failed, the demon goddess Ammit destroyed it.
Dubbed the Devourer of Amenti, Ammit was a nightmare for Egyptians: Some believed she had a crocodile's head, a lion's paws, and a hippo's body. During the final exam, the deceased's heart was weighed against a white feather, which represented balance. If their heart didn't pass the exam, Ammit ate the person's essence, and they vanished for eternity.
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(#4) Anubis, The God Of Mummification, Wanted A Piece Of Everyone He Helped
Anubis, the Egyptian god of mummification, oversaw the embalming process and helped Egyptian souls find the Hall of Truth in the afterlife. The jackal-headed Anubis played a starring role in the first mummification, when Isis had Osiris - who was both her husband and brother - embalmed.
But Anubis liked to collect trophies from the people he embalmed. When Set slayed Osiris, he offered the god's organs to Anubis as a present. For centuries, Egyptians offered pieces of lifeless bodies to Anubis - which may explain why he has a jackal's head.
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(#5) Egyptians Worshipped Bastet With Mummified Cats
The goddess associated with cats, Bastet, had a dark side. She was known as the "lady of dread" and the "lady of slaughter" - Bastet lived up to both names. For instance, she cut off Apophis's head by hiding a knife in her paw.
Over time, ancient Egyptians began to associate Bastet with domesticity and the home, earning her more positive connotations. They worshipped Bastet by bringing mummified cats to her temple. In the 1880s, archaeologists excavated her temple and uncovered more than 300,000 mummified cats.
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(#6) The First Egyptian God Vomited And Spit Up His Children
Egyptian gods created other gods in an unusual way. According to Egyptian mythology, the first god rose out of a sea of water. Atum, also known as Ra, was a lonely god without anyone else for company. But as the only god, Atum had limited options to create children.
Atum bred with his shadow and created Shu, god of air, and Tefnut, goddess of moisture. But Atum faced biological limitations in giving birth: He had to spit out Shu and vomit up Tefnut.
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(#7) The Giant Snake Apep Swallowed The Sun God
In ancient Egypt, the god Apep was an enormous snake who terrorized Ra, the sun god. Apep represented evil, darkness, and chaos; he once swallowed Ra whole, gobbling up the sun and leaving the world completely dark. The other gods had to slice a hole through Apep's stomach to let Ra escape.
If Apep ever won the never-ending battle against Ra, Egypt would never see the sun again. No wonder Apep earned the nickname "the evil lizard."
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(#8) Only Fake Blood Stopped Hathor From Ending All Human Life
Ra, the sun god, had quite a temper. During one of his rages, he ordered his daughter Hathor to slaughter all the humans she could find. The goddess quickly carried out the command, offing so many people that she was wading in blood. Seeing the destruction, Ra had a change of heart and decided to save the rest of humanity.
To stop Hathor, Ra filled 7,000 jars with beer, disguising the liquid as human blood. Fooled by the beer, Hathor guzzled it down. The goddess became so drunk that she gave up her mission and spared humanity.
Ancient Egyptians celebrated Hathor's mercy by making annual beer offerings.
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(#9) Pregnant Women Prayed To The Demon Hippo Goddess Taweret
Egyptians had a love/hate relationship with the goddess Taweret. Some said she was the demon wife of the serpent god Apep. She was often depicted as a crocodile or hippo, fearsome animals to ancient Egyptians.
Taweret was also the patron goddess of pregnant women. Egyptian women bought pitchers shaped like Taweret, which featured a hole at the goddess's nipple to pour milk. Apparently, women believed the vessels conferred the fierce goddess's protection to anyone who consumed their contents.
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(#10) Jealous Set Got Rid Of His Brother By Tricking Him Into A Coffin
In Egypt's earliest days, the god Osiris ruled over the land. But Osiris's brother Set was so jealous that he plotted to get rid of Osiris. The elaborate plot involved designing a coffin that exactly matched Osiris's measurements. At a party, Set challenged Osiris to hop into the coffin, promising it as a gift if the other god could fit inside.
As soon as Osiris got into the coffin, Set sealed him inside and discarded the coffin in the Nile River. Set then seized control of Egypt.
But Set didn't realize that his sister, Isis - who was also Osiris's wife - was searching for Osiris's body to bring him back to life. Isis resurrected Osiris and conceived a child by him, whom they named Horus. After coming of age, Horus overthrew Set and took over Egypt.
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(#11) Sekhmet, The 'Lady Of Terror,' Sent Plagues Against Anyone Who Angered Her
The lion-headed goddess Sekhmet was known as the "lady of terror"; she got the nickname by controlling diseases. Sekhmet could spread pestilence and plagues against anyone who angered her. Ironically, Sekhmet's ability to control plagues earned her the title "patron of physicians."
Sekhmet's powers allowed her to protect her friends from plagues and cure diseases. Her power over mortality meant Egyptians had to stay on Sekhmet's good side. Even her name is derived from the Egyptian word for "power."
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(#12) Ancient Egyptians Worshipped Scarabs In Part Because They Rolled Dung
Ancient Egyptians worshipped scarabs, also known as dung beetles. The Egyptians saw scarabs rolling balls of dung along the ground until each insect with its orb disappeared into a hole. To the Egyptians, it was similar to the sun, which vanished at the end of every day.
The Egyptians used the scarab as another symbol for a sun god, depicting Khepri as a man with a giant scarab for a head. He rolled the sun across the sky each day.
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(#13) Humans Came From Atum's Tears
According to ancient Egyptian legends, the gods existed before humanity. In fact, the god Atum created humans from his tears. The lonely god was sad because his children had left him to explore the world. So Atum plucked out his eye and sent it off to find his offspring.
Atum then sat alone waiting for his children. When two of them - Shu and Tefnut - returned, Atum began to weep. His tears hit the ground and transformed into humans.
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(#14) The Sweaty Sun God Ra Gave Egyptians Perfume
Ra, the Egyptian sun god, was born from a giant body of water at the beginning of the world. Ra first appeared as an egg floating on the water's surface, and then he created the heavens and earth.
In ancient Egypt, many thought perfumes were Ra's sweat, and Egyptians couldn't wait to douse themselves with the god's perspiration. The ancient Egyptians wore oil-based perfume, which often contained water lilies from the Nile.
The Egyptians also had a separate god of perfume, Nefertum.
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About This Tool
The spread of ancient Egyptian myths and legends is determined by the unique natural geographical and humanistic environment of ancient Egypt. The vast land of ancient Egypt was mostly desert. Relying on the Nile Valley, the ancient Egyptians created the earliest human civilization in the world. Myths were an important part of the ancient Egyptian religion n centered on the pharaoh. By depicting many gods, the ancient Egyptians were able to better understand the entire world at that time.
As the Pharaoh is the living God for every Egyptian. They believed that a religious mythology system could serve the purpose of maintaining order and ensuring national loyalty. The main god is the Ra. The random tool shares the 14 creepy myths and legends from Ancient Egypt.
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