Egyptian Goddess Selket
From this myth of creation came the conception of the ennead, a group of nine divinities, and the triad, consisting of a divine father, mother, and son.
Every local temple in Egypt possessed its own ennead and triad. The greatest ennead, however, was that of Ra and his children and grandchildren.
This group was worshiped at Heliopolis, the center of Sun worship.
The origin of the local deities is obscure; some of them were taken over from foreign religions, and some were originally the animal gods of prehistoric Africa.
Gradually, they were all fused into a complicated religious structure, although comparatively few local divinities became important throughout Egypt.
In addition to those already named, the important divinities included the gods Amon, Thoth, Ptah, Khnemu, and Hapi, and the goddesses Hathor, Mut, Neit, and Sekhet.
Their importance increased with the political ascendancy of the localities where they were worshiped.
For example, the ennead of Memphis was headed by a triad composed of the father Ptah, the mother Sekhet, and the son Imhotep.
Therefore, during the Memphite dynasties, Ptah became one of the greatest gods in Egypt. Similarly, when the Theban dynasties ruled Egypt, the ennead of Thebes was given the most importance, headed by the father Amon, the mother Mut, and the son Khonsu.
As the religion became more involved, true deities were sometimes confused with human beings who had been glorified after death.
Thus, Imhotep, who was originally the chief minister of the 3rd Dynasty ruler Djoser, was later regarded as a demigod.
During the 5th Dynasty the pharaohs began to claim divine ancestry and from that time on were worshiped as sons of Ra.
Minor gods, some merely demons, were also given places in local divine hierarchies.
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