In Many Gods, Many Forms you saw that one god could have several forms. To read a temple scene, you need to tell the gods apart. The animal head is only the first clue, and often not enough.
Key idea
Look past the head to the crown, the emblem and the label. Two gods may share a head, but their crowns and emblems differ, and the hieroglyphs beside them name them.
Why it works
Egyptian artists worked with a shared set of signs. Each god had a crown or an emblem that was part of the god’s name or story: Isis wears a throne because her name is written with the throne sign; Maat wears the feather that writes her name. Learning these emblems is learning a picture language.
| God | How to recognize | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Ra | falcon head with a sun disk | the sun god |
| Horus | falcon, or falcon head with the double crown | kingship and the sky |
| Amun | man with a crown of two tall plumes | the hidden one; king of the gods as Amun-Ra |
| Osiris | mummy-wrapped king with crook and flail, white crown with plumes | ruler of the dead |
| Isis | woman with a throne sign on her head (later cow horns and sun disk) | wife of Osiris, mother of Horus |
| Hathor | cow, or woman with cow horns and a sun disk | love, music and joy |
| Ptah | mummy-like body, skullcap, tall scepter | creator and patron of craftsmen |
| Maat | woman with an ostrich feather | truth and right order |
| Anubis | black jackal, or jackal-headed man | embalming and cemeteries |
| Thoth | ibis or ibis-headed man (also a baboon) | writing, wisdom and the moon |
Worked example: Two falcons
A figure has a falcon’s head with a red sun disk circled by a cobra. Who is it?
- Falcon head: Ra or Horus (or a combined form).
- The sun disk on the head points to Ra; Horus usually wears the double crown.
- Check the label to be sure.
Answer: Ra (or Ra-Horakhty, the combined sun god).
Worked example: Two goddesses with horns
A New Kingdom painting shows a woman with cow horns and a sun disk beside Osiris. Is she Hathor?
- Cow horns and a sun disk are Hathor’s crown.
- But from the New Kingdom on, Isis also wears it.
- Beside Osiris, her husband, Isis is the likely choice; the label will say for sure.
Answer: Probably Isis; read the name to be certain.
Common mistake
Identifying gods only by the animal head. Ra and Horus are both falcons; Isis and Hathor share a crown in later art; Amun can appear as a ram, like Khnum. Quick check: name the crown or emblem too, and read the label when there is one.