The Egyptian gods were represented with human torsos and human or animal heads.

Sometimes the animal or bird expressed the characteristics of the god.

Ra, for example, had the head of a hawk, and the hawk was sacred to him because of its swift flight across the sky;

Hathor, the goddess of love and laughter, was given the head of a cow.

Which was sacred to her; Anubis was given the head of a jackal because these animals ravaged the desert graves in ancient times;

Mut was vulture-headed and Thoth was ibis-headed; and Ptah was given a human head, although he was occasionally represented as a bull, called Apis.

Because of the gods to which they were attached, the sacred animals were venerated, but they were never worshiped until the decadent 26th Dynasty.

The gods were also represented by symbols, such as the Sun disk and hawk wings that were worn on the headdress of the pharaoh.