The Ennead was the company of nine gods recounted in the Heliopolitan theology of creation. To the Egyptians of the Dynastic ages, the number nine symbolized the whole of humanity. The Heliopolitan Ennead consisted of the sun-god creator and his descendants. The word Ennead is actually from the Greek word for 'nine' — the Ancient Egyptians called these collective deities the Pesdjet. The Great Ennead of Heliopolis consisted of Atum, bull of the Ennead, who birthed a son, Shu, the Air or Life, and a daughter, Tefnut, Order and Moisture. Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Geb the earth and Newet (Nut) the sky. These two in turn gave birth to Wesir (Osiris), Aset (Isis), Set, and Nebt-Het (Nepthys).

Other cult centers could also have an Ennead made up from their own major deities the number of which did not always correspond to nine, and the gods did not always correspond to the above-given geneaology. One example of this versatility is given in an inscription in the temple of Redesiyeh, cut in the rocks of the eastern desert during the reign of King Seti I, in the 19th Dynasty. Seti dedicated his temple to Imen (Amun) and his Ennead, which consisted of Imen (Amun), Wesir (Osiris), Heru (Horus), Re, Ptah and Aset (Isis), and three deified statues of Seti I himself.

In the Pyramid Texts there were references to "Two Enneads." This conveys the concept of all the gods of the Egyptian pantheon. The Ennead are also envisaged as a judgment council both in mythology, where, for instance, they find in favor of truth over falsehood, as in the Contendings of Heru (Horus) and Set, in the Tale of the Brothers Truth and Falsehood, and in historical inscriptions as the Stela of Merneptah which records how the Ennead condemned the Libyan prince Merey to defeat, at the hands of Pharaoh Mereneptah in the 19th Dynasty.