The Egyptians developed their creation story to explain Earth and it surroundings like the sky, wind, sun, moon and starts. Their creation story used a God for each of these. And these are the main gods. Other gods were added later to help explain their culture, their beliefs and their politics.
Egyptians believed that in the beginning, there were dark waters. Then, a hill grew out of the waters. Anum, the king of all Egyptian gods, stood on the hill. Then, when Anum coughed, the god of air and the goddess of moisture were created. They had two children – Geb and Nut (god of Earth and goddess of sky). So, the Sky and Earth were created, and they had four children. Two of them Osiris and Isis ruled over the Earth. Later, Seth, Osiris' brother, wanted to be king and murdered Osiris. When that happened, Osiris became ruler of the underworld and Seth became king.
Osiris' son, Horus, battled Seth and got the throne back. From then on, Osiris was God of the underworld and Horus was God of the Earth.
Cats were important in Egyptian life and mythology. They believed that cats were very important. Cats protected grain and food from mice and rats. They knew that rats carried diseases. If you killed a cat in Ancient Egypt, your penalty could be death. Families loved their cats. And if their cats died they would shave their eyebrows to show that they were sad. Cats mummies are often found in tombs.1 Bastet is the Egyptian Goddess and Protector of Cats.
Egyptians believed in life after death. While living, they would pray to the Osiris, god of the underworld, that they might live forever. They believed that when you died, your heart would be weighed by Anubis. If it was lighter than a feather, you lived forever. If it did not, your heart was eaten by Ammit. The weighing of your heart was so important that many Egyptian gods were there to help. An addition to Anubis and the monster Ammit, Ma'at was there to make sure that the weighing was fair and Thoth was there to make sure that the real result was written in his book of all knowledge. This myth has led to our expressions heavy-hearted for sad and light as a feather for happy or worry-free.