Hey everyone, Welcome to Mythology  Explained. In today’s video, we’re  

going to discuss five of the most powerful  gods in Egyptian mythology, gods so powerful  

that their powers often dwarfed those of  the other deities in the Egyptian mythos.

And just a quick comment before we get started:  this list isn’t ranked and is by no means  

comprehensive, so let us know in the comments  who else you think deserved to be included.  

Certainly Horus, Geb, and Shu could have been  included. Also, this video will only feature  

male deities. We’ll make a separate  video for female deities later on.

Let’s get into it.

Starting off our List is Amun.

Amun, whose name means Hidden One, was commonly  depicted as a bearded man in the prime of  

manhood - strong, virile, and vigorous - wearing  a headdress adorned with two tall plumes. Unlike  

other Egyptian gods, Amun wasn’t thought of as  living in some paradisiacal celestial abode,  

rather his presence was ubiquitous, existing in  all places and in all things, yet unseen, beyond  

the perception of god and mortal alike. Because  of this, Amun was often likened to the wind:  

felt by everyone, seen by no one. An interesting  aspect of Egyptian mythology is that there was a  

multitude of creation myths, with various versions  having primacy at different times and in different  

places. Because of this, Amun features as  a creator deity in several tellings of the  

creation narrative. As a member of the Ogdoad  of Hermopolis - which comprised eight deities,  

four male-female pairings - Amun  and his female counterpart Amunet,  

along with the other three pairings,  embodied the aspects of the waters of Nun,  

the primordial waters that existed before  all else and teemed with all the procreative  

power of creation. The union of each of the four  pairings manifested a cosmological event crucial  

to the creation of the universe. There were  many different versions, so the result varied,  

producing either the primeval mound, the primeval  lotus, the island of flame, or the cosmic egg.

Another of Amun’s primeval  incarnations was the cosmic goose,  

known as the Great Shrieker, whose  booming honk broke the silence,  

bringing the first sound into existence. In some  accounts the primeval goose laid the world egg.  

In others, Amun fertilized the world egg while  in his ram-headed serpent form called Kematef.

The ancient Egyptians were especially fond of  syncretism, which is the merging of different  

points of worship into a single entity. Because  of this and because of Amun’s importance, he was  

fused with numerous other gods. Perhaps the best  known instance of this is the amalgam of Amun-Ra,  

known as the “one who made himself into millions”,  he who was the ultimate creator of all life.  

Another example of this sort of  pairing was with the god Min,  

an ancient god of human and agricultural  fertility, melding into Amun-Min.

At number 4 we have Atum.

Another creator Deity, Atum began the world and  was thought to be the one who would be responsible  

for the eventual end of the world. He was  the chief deity in a group of nine gods  

known as the Ennead of Heliopolis. In the  beginning, there was only Atum. he existed  

by himself in the waters of Nun, the primordial  waters of creation. He grew weary of his solitude,  

so he masturbated and impregnated himself.  From this came two children, Shu and Tefnut,  

the second and third gods of the Ennead. Shu  was the personification of air, and Tefnut  

was the personification of moisture. They became  each other’s consorts, and from their union came  

Geb and Nut, the next Generation of primordial  deities. Geb was the personification of the earth,  

and Nut was the personification of the sky.  They became another brother-sister pairing,  

but one more prolific in their production of  offspring. They had four children. Osiris, Set,  

Isis, and Nephthys. Like Amun, Atum was also fused  with Ra, creating Atum-Ra. In this superior form,  

Atum was the primordial aspect and Ra was the  solar aspect. Throughout the day, the sun was  

personified as different deities or as different  versions of the same deity. Atum, the primordial  

aspect of Atum-Ra, was the personification of the  setting sun. In the Book of the Dead, Atum reveals  

to Osiris that one day in the distant future,  millions of years from now, he will unmake the  

world, destroying everything he created, reverting  everything back to the primordial waters of Nun.

Coming up next is Osiris.

The eldest son of Geb and Nut, Osiris was one  of the nine gods of the Ennead of Heliopolis.  

He was depicted as a mummified king with an atef  crown resting on his head. His hands held a crook  

and a flail, and his skin was either black  or green, either denoting putrefaction or  

representing his connection to the cycle of  life and death. With Isis, his sister-consort,  

at his side, Osiris ruled over Egypt, but his  reign was cut by his jealous younger brother,  

Set, who killed Osiris, either drowning him or  taking the form of a bull and trampling him.  

After killing him, Set hacked up Osiris’ body  and scattered the pieces across Egypt. Isis,  

undeterred by the death of her husband, scoured  the land and recovered every piece - that is,  

every piece except for the penis, which  was tossed into the Nile and eaten by fish,  

and so had to be fashioned anew. Using her magic  in concert with the mummification arts of Anubis,  

Isis resurrected Osiris, but only for  a brief time. His return was ephemeral,  

granting him just enough time to impregnate Isis  with a son, Horus. A decades long struggle ensued  

in which both Set and Horus vied for the throne.  The elaborate series of contests was finally  

concluded when Osiris intervened on behalf of his  son. You see, while Osiris no longer ruled Egypt,  

in death he had become the lord of the underworld,  presiding over the judgment of every soul that  

journeyed through his domain. He threatened to  unleash the demons of the underworld on the gods  

if Horus wasn’t immediately bestowed  with the throne, as was his right.

At number 2 we have Ra

From about 3,000 years before the birth of Christ  to the time of the Roman empire, every pharaoh  

referred to himself as the son of Ra. Those  who were the enemies of Ra were, by extension,  

the enemies of Egypt and of Maat, the divine  order. The inextricable link between Ra and the  

divine order was crystalized by making the goddess  Maat, she who personified the divine order,  

Ra’s favorite daughter. The most important moment  in Egyptian mythology was the first sunrise,  

when Ra first emerged from the primordial waters  of Nun. In this scene Ra is commonly described as  

either a blazing bird or as a golden child. This  was viewed as a sort of second birth in which Atum  

rose as Ra-Atum, making Ra, along with Atum,  the chief deity of the Ennead. Ra was the  

first king. When he grew older, he abdicated  and passed the throne to his eldest son, Shu,  

who would be the first of several subsequent  divine kings before the rule of Egypt became  

the responsibility of mortal pharaohs said  to be connected to the gods through blood.  

After leaving his throne behind, Ra ascended  into the sky, thus beginning the nigh-unending  

cycle of the next stage of his life. Each day  his soared across the sky in his celestial boat,  

bathing the land with light and warmth, and  each night, he sailed through the underworld,  

navigating its countless dangers, the  greatest of which was the serpent Apophis,  

an ancient monster that sought to  undo the very fabric of creation,  

reverting everything back to the chaotic  oneness of the primordial waters of Nun.

And filling up our last spot is Thoth

Usually depicted as a man with the head of  an Ibis, but also sometimes as a baboon,  

Thoth was a dynamic god with a broad sphere of  influence whose power and purview fluctuated  

greatly depending on the myth. He was the god  of wisdom and secret knowledge. He was also  

ingenious and innovative, inventing both writing  and the multitude of languages spoken by humanity.  

Originally a lunar deity, Thoth was deputized  by Ra to watch over the world at night. Later,  

he subsumed knowledge and writing, becoming the  patron of scribes and record keepers. Because of  

this, Thoth was often in attendance when anything  important happened, particularly when it was  

ritualistic or involving the transfer of power.  He was said to bear witness to the conjoinment of  

Ra and Osiris in the underworld each night.  With Osiris presiding over the procession,  

Thoth weighed the heart of each soul and recorded  the result. And he helped mediate between Set and  

Horus during their decades-long struggle for the  crown. Additionally, Thoth frequently gave succor  

and did favors for other gods in need. He found  the eye of Ra and convinced her to return to her  

father, and he bent his magical talents towards  the healing of Horus’s eye. The accounts of his  

birth were varied. One had him spring forth from  Set’s forehead after Set unwittingly ingested  

some of Horus’ seed. Another had Thoth as a  self-created god that was the lord of the Ogdoad.  

In his divine creator form, Thoth was said to have  produced the cosmic egg on the island of fire.

And that’s it for this video! If you  enjoy the content please LIKE the video  

and SUBSCRIBE to the channel. As always,  leave your video suggestions down below.