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God

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Hundreds of gods and goddesses were worshipped in ancient Egypt. Every region, city or village had its own particular god. Some of these rose in importance to become state gods with great temples dedicated to them. The gods of popular religion tended to be concerned with the home and family. Other gods included deified humans and those absorbed into Egyptian religion from neighbouring cultures. Unlike in Greek and Roman religion, the Egyptians had no organised pantheon. Every god had a myth in which he was the most important player. As a result, for example, there were several creation myths, each with a different god as the creator. The gods could take three forms: human, animal or composite (part human and part animal). They could also take on the appearance and attributes of other gods. For example, Isis, goddess 'Great of Magic', could be depicted wearing the sun disk and horns of the cow goddess Hathor.