 Most Egyptian deities represent natural or social phenomena . The gods were generally said to be <unk> in these phenomena — to be present within nature . The types of phenomena they represented include physical places and objects as well as abstract concepts and forces . The god Shu was the <unk> of all the world 's air ; the goddess <unk> oversaw a limited region of the earth , the <unk> <unk> ; and the god <unk> personified the abstract notion of perception . Major gods often had many roles and were involved in several types of phenomena . For instance , <unk> was the god of <unk> Island in the midst of the Nile , the river that was essential to Egyptian civilization . He was credited with producing the annual Nile flood that fertilized the nation 's farmland . Perhaps as an outgrowth of this life @-@ giving function , he was said to create all living things , <unk> their bodies on a <unk> 's wheel . Gods could share the same role in nature ; Ra , Atum , <unk> , Horus , and other deities acted as sun gods . Despite their diverse functions , most gods had an overarching role in common : maintaining maat , the universal order that was a central principle of Egyptian religion and was itself personified as a goddess . But some deities represented disruption to maat . Most prominently , <unk> was the force of chaos , constantly threatening to <unk> the order of the universe , and Set was an ambivalent member of divine society who could both fight disorder and foment it . 
