 In official writings , pharaohs are said to be divine , and they are constantly depicted in the company of the deities of the pantheon . Each pharaoh and his predecessors were considered the successors of the gods who had ruled Egypt in mythic prehistory . Living kings were equated with Horus and called the " son " of many deities , particularly Osiris and Ra ; deceased kings were equated with these elder gods . <unk> had their own mortuary temples where rituals were performed for them during their lives and after their deaths . But few pharaohs were worshipped as gods long after their lifetimes , and non @-@ official texts portray kings in a human light . For these reasons , scholars disagree about how genuinely most Egyptians believed the king to be a god . He may only have been considered divine when he was performing ceremonies . 
