Something about French Egyptologists makes them treat their subject with an odd sort of exuberance. This book is Exhibit A. As the book's own back cover puts it, the authors treat the gods "as a tribe or community that has caught the interest of anthropologists." Part One, written by Meeks, draws largely on lesser-known mythological texts from the Late and Ptolemaic Periods that include some of the most bizarre stories. Then he embellishes them with subjective judgments of the gods' behavior and with odd details like "one can imagine the expression on poor Sobek's face". (Contrary to his assertion, I can't really picture what a chagrined crocodile would look like.) This strange, colorful side of the gods isn't discussed enough in Egyptology, but too often Meeks doesn't make clear which episode comes from what source (though the footnotes help), or what symbolic meaning a mythic incident might have. He does, however, make some important observations about aspects of the gods' behavior, ranging from their law courts to their bodily functions, that other sources overlook.

Favard-Meeks wrote Part Two, about the relationship between gods and humanity. It starts out with subject matter that many other sources cover: how the Egyptians envisioned the world and how they interacted with the gods in temples. It quickly moves into less familiar territory, as its description of the underworld consists mainly of a description of the Book of Caverns, which may be the weirdest underworld book and isn't as well known as some of the others. The last sections describe several festivals and the myths related to them, many of which, like the Ptolemaic New Year festivities, aren't very commonly described in other sources.

Despite its eccentricity, the book is useful for getting a well-rounded perspective on the gods. Its vivid anecdotes feel a world away from other authors' abstract, intellectual analyses of Egyptian theology. Once, when researching a particular topic covered in both places, I switched from a passage of Jan Assmann's [b:The Search for God in Ancient Egypt|355649|The Search for God in Ancient Egypt|Jan Assmann|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387709318l/355649._SY75_.jpg|345829] to a section of this book and felt pretty jarred by the contrast.