Another group of mythical beings include gods and goddesses who resemble animals. These characters are called theriomorphic, again from the Greek word meaning in the shape of an animal. The last group of mythical beings has no specific name. These beings were neither completely human or animal. An example is the famous sphinx of Egypt, which has a human head and a lion's body.
Many myths deal with the relationship between mortals and divinities.
Some mythical mortals have a divine father and a mortal mother and are called heroes. The Nile River plays an important part in Egyptian mythology. As the Nile flows northward through Egypt, it creates a narrow ribbon of fertile land in the midst of a great desert. The sharp contrast between the fertility along the Nile and the wasteland of the desert became a basic theme in Egyptian mythology. The creatures that live in the Nile or along the banks became linked with many gods and goddesses.