Egyptian Gods Family Tree

Shu (Su) : was the god of dry air, wind and the atmosphere. He was also related to the sun, possibly as an aspect of sunlight. Shu is the only son of Ra. Shu was the husband of his twin, the goddess Tefnut. The first marriage on the Egyptian Gods Family Tree.

Tefnut : The Egyptian Goddess, Tefnut, was seen as the Goddess of Rain. Tefnut was one of the Ennead, the collective name given to the nine original deities (Egyptian Gods Family Tree) of the cosmogony of Heliopolis (the birthplace of the Gods) in the creation myths and legends.

With her twin brother Shu, the God of Air, and their offspring (the Earth God, Geb and the Sky Goddess, Nut) the four made up the quartet of major elements: earth, air, sky and water.

Geb : was depicted as a bearded man with a goose on his head. He was the provider of crops and a healer. It was feared that because Geb was an Earth god, he might imprison the dead, preventing others from having another life in the afterworld.

In Egyptian legend, Geb married his sister Nut, the sky goddess, without the permission of the powerful Sun God Ra. Ra was so angry at Nut and Geb that he forced their father Shu, the god of air, to separate them. That is why the Earth is divided from the sky.

Nut : To the ancient Egyptians Nut (Nuit) was the personification of the sky (originally she was a goddess of just the sky at day, where the clouds formed) and the heavens. She was believed to be the daughter of the gods Shu and Tefnut, the granddaughter of the sun god Ra.

Her husband was also her brother, Geb. Some others believe Ra was infatuated with Nut, creating more drama in this Egyptian Gods Family Tree.

Ra (Re) was considered self-created and the creator of all, the first on the Egyptian Gods Family Tree. He is the father of Tefnut and Shu. Ra has been known by many names and takes many different forms. This makes him one of the most confusing gods to understand.

At sunrise he is Khepera, represented by the sacred scarab. Around noon, when the sun is at its full power, he is Ra. At sunset, when the sun is said to be weak and growing old, he is Tem or Temu.

He travels across the sky with the sun upon his head in two boats. The boat used in the morning is called Matet, which means becoming stronger. From midday on he travels in the Semktet (growing weak) boat. When he has set, he begins his journey into the underworld or the Duat/Tuat. Here he encounters many dangers and foes.

Chief among them is a creature called Apep. He usually wins his battles with Apep and is then born anew as Khepera. On a number of occasions Ra has been merged with other solar deity. For example, one of the oldest sun gods was Horus (Heru), not be confused with Horus, son of Osiris.

When these two gods merged they/he was called Ra-Harakhty, meaning Horus of the Horizon. In later times Ra was merged with the Theban god Amen, to become Amen-Ra