A major exhibition focusing on Ancient Egypt’s main deities has opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
“Divine Egypt” explores how ancient Egyptian gods and imagery were experienced in temples, shrines, and tombs.
It also looks at how people brought the gods to life for daily worship, creating a vital connection between the human and divine worlds.
Over a period of more than 3,000 years, ancient Egyptians built a polytheistic culture centred around gods and goddesses like Anubis, Horus, and Isis.
“The divine landscape of ancient Egypt is full of gods, actually some 1,500 if you count all of them. This exhibition focuses on 25 of the main deities,” saidDiana Craig Patch, Ancient Egypt art curator at the museum.
It brings together over 200 spectacular works of art ranging from small elegant figurines to monumental limestone statues.
The show covers all periods with 140 pieces from the Met’s own collection and others lent by museums across the globe.
This first big Egyptian show at the museum in over a decade, looks at the relationship both royal and ordinary people had with the gods.
“When they leave this exhibition, I hope they realise that all of these images that they’ve been looking at are how people, how ancient Egyptians, related to their world,” said Craig Patch.
“Those gods were how they solved problems of life, death, and meaning, because they related to those images that house the god.”
These, she said, are problems humans were still trying to solve today.
“We’re still trying to answer these questions, we do it differently. But this was how the ancient Egyptians did it.”
The most important deity on show is the sun god Ra, who is seen as a giant scarab beetle, and has a gallery to himself.
“That is his morning aspect. He is seen as a beetle who takes the sun out from the underworld and pushes it up into the sky. So Ra rules the world. He’s the source of light and warmth,” said Craig Patch.
One of the most imposing statues is Horus the falcon god.
“Horus is always a falcon with a double crown, which signifies he is the king of Egypt. And he is always linked to the living king of Egypt,” said Craig Patch.
She added that the Egyptians did not have a view that separated life and death, just life and the afterlife.
“Most of the exhibition is about life. And that is what all of these deities were about. Even in overcoming death, it was about living forever, it was not about death.”
“Divine Egypt” runs at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art until 19 January 2026.
Credit: Africa News
