Ju·ve·nal /ˈjo͞ovənl/ (c.60–c.140), Roman satirist; Latin name Decimus Junius Juvenalis. He wrote 16-verse satires that savagely attacked the vices and follies of Roman society, chiefly during the reign of Domitian
"Who does not know, Volusius, what monsters are worshipped by demented Egyptians?One lot reveres the crocodile, another goes in awe of the ibis..."
Juvenal - Fifteenth Satire
Although Juvenal's diatribe against the Egyptian gods was not based on any depth of understanding of Egyptian religion, it nevertheless portrays the seemingly unintelligible array of gods and goddesses which characterized the pantheon of the Nile. But not even satire could exaggerate the vastness of this pantheon, which embraced hundreds upon hundreds of gods often as amazing in their forms as they were astonishing in their numbers.
This range of form was particularly true of minor deities, "demons" and the composite deities of later Egyptian religion, which often stretched the limits of the imagination in the variety of their hybrid natures. Yet for all their often bizarre appearances, these deities are never without a certain logic which appealed to the Egyptian mind and which personified its ideas of the divine with utmost charity.
Despite their often alien outward appearances, the many gods of Egypt included deities whose characters, myths and even forms provide fascinating insights into the world views, concerns and ethics of a society which was great long before Juvenal's Rome was born and which would affect the world long after the gods of Rome were lost in time.
Photo: The noble Sennedjem, alone and with his wife, worshipping some of the many forms of deities in the Egyptian pantheon. 19th Dynasty. Ceiling of the tomb of Sennedjem, Deir el-Medina, Western Thebes.
