Geographical distribution of cults

Over a period of three thousand years, the Ancient Egyptian religion developed a series of new forms and names for the divine. One of the many ways of bringing order to the literally endless diversity of this world of gods is to assign the individual deities to their main cult centres. In this installation, the religious centres of Ancient Egypt are identified along with the deities worshipped there. It starts in Elephantine on Egypt's southern border and covers a distance of a thousand kilometres, to end on the shores of the Mediterranean.

Following the course of the Nile from south to north, you'll discover the falcon god Horus in Edfu, Amun, a god in human shape, in Thebes, the mummiform figure of Osiris in Abydos, the long-beaked Ibis of the god Thoth in Hermopolis (ancient Khmun), the bull god Apis in Memphis, the sacred cat of the goddess Bastet in Bubastis, and bearded, long-haired Serapis in Alexandria.

One and the same deity could be represented in human form, animal form or a blend of the two – but they all ranked equally. The unity of the divine in the diversity of its forms extended like a network across the whole of the land of Ancient Egypt.