 The Egyptians distinguished <unk> , " gods " , from <unk> , " people " , but the meanings of the Egyptian and the English terms do not match perfectly . The term nṯr may have applied to any being that was in some way outside the sphere of everyday life . <unk> humans were called nṯr because they were considered to be like the gods , whereas the term was rarely applied to many of Egypt 's lesser supernatural beings , which modern scholars often call " demons " . Egyptian religious art also depicts places , objects , and concepts in human form . These personified ideas range from deities that were important in myth and ritual to obscure beings , only mentioned once or twice , that may be little more than metaphors . 
