The Egyptian God Corpus
A verifiable reference to the gods, demons, and named dead of ancient Egypt
Every spelling is indexed. Type Auset and you will land on Isis.
The state of this corpus, stated plainly
Most references present every name with equal confidence. That is not possible honestly. 601 entries, graded by how much evidence actually survives — and a grade rises only when a new attestation is found, never by writing more.
- 55●fullWell documented. Several independent sources across different periods.
- 87◐partialReal, but the surviving record is thin or comes from one period only.
- 84○name-onlyA name and a job. Nothing else survives — and that is the finding, not a gap in our work.
- 51⚠auditWe could not trace this name to a source we trust. The page is the investigation.
- 252☐stubNot researched yet. Recorded so the roster is complete. Do not cite it.
The Twelve Hours
Every night the sun dies and has to be carried through twelve hours of hostile country. Descend with it, hour by hour, and come out at dawn.
The Bench of Forty-Two
A moral code delivered as a roll-call. Forty-two judges, each from a real town, each owning exactly one offence.
The Audit
Seventeen names that could not be traced. We kept them, and wrote down exactly what they rest on. Showing the seams is the point.
What the corpus concluded
Two arguments the material kept making. Both are synthesis across many entries, and both cite the pages they are built from.
Maintenance, not completion
Egypt has no finished creation. The sun is rowed and towed, right order is propped up nightly by gods who cannot leave, and time itself is made by the crew hauling the boat.
The rival creations
Five cities each claimed their god made the world, and none of the accounts agree. Nothing was ever retracted — the competition is the system.
Researched entries
Each carries its grade. ●full means multiple attestations across periods; ◐partial means genuinely attested but thin or single-period.
Ab-ta
the serpent on the ninth gate
Amun
the hidden one
Anubis
he who is upon his mountain, lord of the embalming booth
Apis
the bull identified by its markings
Apophis
the serpent that must be killed every night
Aten
the disk that was promoted
Atum
the one who finishes
Bastet
the lady of Bubastis
Bata
the god who kept his soul in a tree
Bennu
the bird the Greeks got wrong
Bes
the god on the mirror handle
Duamutef
the jackal-headed one, east
Geb
the earth, lying down
Hapi
the god who cannot be depicted
Hapy
the ape-headed one, north
Hathor
house of Horus, lady of the sycamore
Heka
magic, at the tiller
Heqet
the frog at the birth and at the bier
Heru-ur
Horus the Elder, who is not the son of Isis
Horus
the falcon, the living king
Hu
authoritative utterance, and the food of the gods
Imhotep
the man who finished the climb
Imsety
the human-headed one, south
Isis
great of magic, mother of Horus
Iusaaset
mother, wife and daughter of the same god
Khepri
the one who comes into being
Khnum
the potter who makes people
Khonsu
the traveller, and the slaughterer
Maat
truth, order, and the way things ought to run
Mehen
the serpent wrapped around the god
Mehet-Weret
the Great Flood, the cow the sun sails along
Meskhenet
the birth-brick at the weighing of the heart
Montu
the destroying heat, absorbed by Thebes
Mut
the mother who was never born
Nehebkau
the serpent who feeds the dead
Neith
the goddess older than the country
Nekhbet
the vulture of the south
Nut
the sky, arched over the world
Osiris
lord of the dead and foremost of the westerners
Ptah
the craftsman who made the world by speaking it
Qebehsenuef
the hawk-headed one, west
Ra
the sun, and the journey it makes
Sekhmet
the powerful one, lady of plague and of healing
Serapis
the god a king invented for two audiences
Serqet
the scorpion who lets you breathe
Set
lord of the desert, storm, and disorder
Shai
what was decreed for you
Shu
the space that holds the sky up
Sia
the god who is understanding
Sobek
the crocodile in the water
Taweret
the great one, in the shape of a hippopotamus
Thoth
reckoner, scribe, and keeper of the record
Wadjet
the cobra on the crown
Akebiu
the wailers
Aker
the earth that has bones
Ammit
devourer of the dead
An-hetep
second of the four who provide food
Anat
the war goddess who conceives but does not bear
Apesh
the tortoise, and the five words said at every door
Astarte
mistress of horses, lady of the chariot
Banebdjedet
the Ram, lord of Tettu, and the god a city is named after
Banti
the one who makes the gates open
Buchis
the bull that changed colour every hour
Harpocrates
Horus the Child
Hat-Mehit
the goddess who wears her own province
Hehu
millions of years
Heptet
the snake-headed goddess who helped raise Osiris
Her-khu
first of the four who provide food
Heru-hequi
the hawk with the crook
Heryshaf
the ram of Herakleopolis, and a name that means virility
Hra-f-ha-f
he whose face is behind him
Ka-Amenti
the bull of the west
Kekui
the raiser up of the light
Kekuit
the raiser up of the night
Kerh
night, or repose
Khnemiu
four in red crowns
Min
the god of the lifted hand
Mnevis
the bull of Heliopolis, and Akhenaten's exception
Nefertem
the lotus the sun came out of
Nephthys
lady of the house, the other mourner
Qetesh
naked, on a lion, facing you
Renen-sbau
the one who sets the stars in their places
Renniu
four bearded gods
Reret
the hippopotamus who holds the Great Bear on a chain
Resheph
the gazelle on the war god's brow
Seshsha
the one who calls out to the stars
Setheniu-tep
four in white crowns
Tefnut
the moisture, and half a soul
Ut-metu
the one holding a tree
Wadj-wer
the Great Green, who is a god, a goddess and a lake
Wepwawet
the Opener of the Ways, and the other jackal