A Guide to the Gods

This page gives you a quick guide to the Egyptian gods so that when you are watching the Mummy sequence of films you will understand who they are talking about.

Osiris was the god of the dead, was depicted as a mummy and ruled the Egyptian underworld the duat. To go to the Field of Reeds – the Egyptian heaven - one needed to pass his judgement.  He was seen as beneficent and good – the personification of the dark earth which the Egyptians grew their food in.

Horus was the son of Osiris who avenged his father and put naughty Set back in his place. All Egyptian Pharaohs were seen as Horus while on the throne and became Osiris once dead.

Amen Ra was the king of the gods and the most powerful. He is recognised by his two feather plumes which come out of his head.

Set was Osiris’s brother; an evil god who was jealous of his goody goody brother and wanted to have him killed.  This was arranged by his followers but Osiris’s wife Isis brought the good god back to life.  Set is a warlike god and recognised by his sticky up ears with flat tops.  He had red hair and was thought to be a personification of the desert – red and hot and capable of killing anything.  In The Mummy Returns I think Steven Sommers confused Anubis with Set when he created the Anubis warriors.

Anubis was the goddess Nepthys’s son, conceived in an illicit affair with Osiris. He was involved in embalming and helped the dead soul on its way to Osiris’s judgement hall.

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