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The Egyptian Godstheir main centers of worship |
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On this page: Baal, Babi, Banebdjedet, Bast, Bat, Benu, Bes.
Please note - Festival days are an estimation compiled from several sources. Syrian deity of sky and storms, from Ugarit, whose worship spread and became local in Men-Nefer (Gr: Memphis) during Dyn. 18, where a priesthood existed for him and he was referred to as 'Baal-Khepeshef' ('Baal-is-upon-his sword').
He was depicted with a pointed beard, wearing a horned helmet and with a cedar tree or a club or a sword in his raised hand.
He was also called by the epithet of 'He who rides on the clouds' - a god of thunder, and was therefore likened to the Mesopotamian god Adad and the Egyptian Set. He is referred to in the Battle of Kadesh as 'Set Great of strength and Baal Himself.' Both Ramesses II and Ramesses III make use of his name in battle, and this might be the reason for the cult of Baal at Men-Nefer (Memphis).
In myth he was the son of a less well-known deity Dagan, and he lived on Mount Sapan in Northern Syria. In other Middle East areas he was the slayer of the sea deity by name of Yamm. Later he was himself killed by Mot, who is believed to be a personification of death. His sister/lover Anat rescues him back to life and slayes Mot.
Despite the likeness of this myth to the one about Wesir and Aset, there are no references to the Egyptian myth in text discovered sofar.
No festival days have come down to us, although it is likely that this occurred to some degree during the 18th Dynastic period.
Babi is known since the Old Kingdom. His name means 'bull of the baboons', by which is to say that he is the most dominant of the males. This is a dangerous, blood thirsty and virile baboon deity, who controls the darkness and who lives on human entrails and can murder on sight. There are spells for protection against this dangerous deity, but his powers were also used for the opposite purpose (which was most often the case in the ancient days), that of protection against other dangers in the Underworld, like snakes and turbulent waters. Often in the 'Book of Going Forth by Day', the deceased uses spells to 'become Babi' in order to aquire his powers.
His virility shows in that his phallus is the latch of the doors of heaven, which he opens up for the king. Likewise a deceased identified his own phallus with the one of Babi to ensure successful intercourse in the Afterlife. Other spells are neccessary for protection from Babi in the Hall of Double Truth during the Weighing of the Heart, when he was considered as most dangerous.
Local ram deity of Djedet (Gr: Mendes, modern Tell-el-Ruba), meaning 'the Spirit, the Lord of Djedet'. He incorporated the essence of the world in four forms or 'ba' spirits, corresponding to the fours first rulers of the world; Ra, Shu, Geb and Osiris. At Mendes his spouse was the local fish goddess Hat-Mehit whose importance he had taken over. Harpokrates (Gr. A late form of Heru was here considered his son.
At Tell-el-Ruba has been unearthed a cemetery with sarcophagi for sacred rams.
The 'Litany of Re', an ancient sacred text, identifies the ram-deity as the 'Lord of the Sky' and the 'Life of Re'.
In the 6th century BC, the Saite king Ahmose II (Amasis), constructed four monolithic granite shrines for each of these four 'spirits'. This became one of the greatest Egyptian complexes to endure throughout the Ptolemeian period.
In myth, Banebdjedet is asked to intervene when a stalemate has occurred among the judges who are set to judge between Heru and Set. The ram deity is here said to be dwelling in Setit, the island of Seheil at the first cataract, which links him to Khnum, who is the southern ram-god originating in this area. It is Banebdjedet who advises the gods to call for Nit to resolve the conflict.
This is to be found at the Chester Beatty papyrus I, which dates to the time of Ramses V (Dyn 20).
At the Festival of the Beautiful Reunion at Edfu, Ba-neb-Djedet is celebrated as one of the Divine Ancestors who are buried at the burieal ground of Behdet.
Some hold that the name of Bast (Ubasti, Pasht, and Gr: Bastet, Bubastis) means 'She of the Bast', bast meaning 'ointment jar'. This is also the form of the hieroglyph used to write her name, though it is uncertain what it in fact implied. Others is of the opinion that the name of Bast means 'Devouring Lady', from bas = devour and with a feminine 't' added. Thus it would be superfluous to add yet another feminine form to her name and write it as 'Bastet'.
She did not become associated with the cat until ca 1000 BC, until then she was shown with a lion's head or a desert sand-cat headed goddess. Sometimes she was regarded as the mother of the savage lion-god Maahes (Gr: Miysis), the 'lord of slaughter'.
Only after or towards the end of the New Kingdom was she depicted with a cat's head, and a more friendly appearance developed.
Earliest Appearance
The first signs are from Dyn II. She appears on stone vessels of Hetepsekhemwy and Nebra (c 2890 b.c.) from the steppyramid complex at Saqqara. On these vessels Bast is seen standing before the king´s cartouche. In the Pyramid Age, Bast is a protector of the King. The valley temple of Khafre (Dyn IV) displays Het-hert as the Southern goddess and Bast as the Northern one, thus making a pair of them, like Wadjet and Nekhbet were in later times. Here Bast is the mother, nurse and protectress of the King and enables him when deceased to reach the sky.
Because of this fierce protective trait, Bast is later the mother of Mihos, a lion headed war deity. There is also a connection between Bast and Nefertum and Heru which associates her with perfume and royalty.
Nefertum is at the same time the son of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, so once again we find the association with the lion. In the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts, Bast is ascribed great importance as the first born daughter of Atum, therefore her protective abilites are great.
Eye of Re
She is also called 'Daughter of Re' or Eye of Re'. This is a title Bast shares with certain other female deities and it is from this association with the power and avenging wrath in the eye of the Sun god, that the link with the lion originated. The wrath in the Eye of Re takes the form of Bast when she as a cat slays Apep by cutting him up in the Underworld.
Bast, cats and lions
It is important to keep in mind that Bast in cat form did not become common until ca 1000 b.c. From early times Bast was connected to those deities who manifested themselves in leonine form: Sekhmet, Tefnut and Mut. Via Mut, the spouse of Amun at Thebes, who is sometimes depicted as a lionheaded goddess, Bast also has a connection with Amun. In the New Kingdom there was a cult center to Bast at the Precinct of Mut at Karnak.
It is here that Mut claims both the lion and the cat as sacred animals and at Karnak Bast is called the 'ruler of sekhet-neter', meaning Divine Field = Egypt. Here are also reliefs found which depict the King performing ritual races with four sceptres and a bird or an oar in his hands, before the statue of Bast.
Bast at Per Bast
Meaning 'the House of Bast'. Modern name is Tell-Basta, the Greeks called it Bubastis. There are inscriptions with the name of Bast from the early 2nd Dynasty, indicate that here might have beeng a cult center for Bast already in these days. There is some evidence which point at an even earlier date, but these are uncertain.
Here stood once a red granite temple to Bast, which today is so ruined that no trace of its layout remains. Excavations in the late 19th century confirms the descriptions of the temple but it has not been possible to reconstruct it other than establishing its basic outline (200x300 m, 656x984 ft), and that there was an entrance hall, a festival hall, a hypostyle hall and a sanctuary.
Several smaller structures were situated around the main temple, among them a shrine to the son of Bast, the lion-god Maahes.
It was documented by the Greek historian Herodotos in 5th century b.c. He also describes a lavish, annual festival to Bast, as being one of exaggerated drinking, dancing, liscentiousness etc. with thousands of pilgrims attending.
There have been excavated cemeteries of cats at Per-Bast and at other sites along the Nile, among them Saqqara, Memphis. Bast had here the title 'Lady of Ankhtawy'(the burial area), meaning 'life of the Two Lands'. The mummified cats were buried in large numbers in the so called 'Bubasteion' (Gr.), situated not far from the pyramid of King Teti.
Bast in Later Periods
By and by, Bast developed took on the same traits as Het-Hert, and the Greeks, true to their habit of interpreting foreign culture and deities according to their own values, likened her to their own Artemis. Thereby Bast became the protector of pregnant women, children, musicians and all kinds of excess, especially sexual. It was probably here, along with the Greek way of likening her to Artemis, that the concept of the cat as a form of female sexuality developed, while originally Bast had nothing to do with this aspects, as she was a fierce protector of the throne, the King and the Two Lands. Main center of worship: Per Bast/Bubastis, 18th Nome, Lower Egypt For a very good virtual page: Go Here Festivals:(Please note: These dates are not historically correct, as the ancient Egyptian calendar changed from year to year.)
End August - 10th Paopi - Procession of Bast Begin October - 20th Hethara - Bast appears to Ra. Middle November - 1st Tybi - Festival of Bast Begin December - 20th Tybi - Bast Goes Forth from Bubastis Begin December - 21st Tybi - Bast guards the Two Lands Middle December - 29th Tybi- Djehuti (Thoth) sends Bast and Sekhmet to guide Egypt
Middle April - 1st Payni - Festival of Bast
Middle May - 1st Epipi - Festivals of Het-Hert and Bast
Primeval deity from the 7th Upper Egyptian Nome, it is probably her depicted on the Narmer Palette (ca 3100) with cow's horns and two faces. Her cult center seems to have been in the 7th Nome of Upper Egypt. There is a Predynastic palette from Girza showing a celestial cow goddess surrounded by stars. A similar depction can be seen on the rim of a diorite bowl from Hierakonpolis, also
dated from the Predynastic Period or possible the 1st Dynasty.
The best known example is the Narmer Palette showing Bat with a human face and with ears and horns of a cow, both at the top of the palette and on the king´s belt. Since textual references are missing, it´s impossible to say for sure which goddess is depicted.
There are other examples as well and apart from the above mentioned, there is a depiction of Bat on a pectoral from the 12th Dynasty, where she is flanked by Heru and Set reconciled after their battle over the Two Lands.
The name of Bat is thought to be the feminine form of the word 'b3'; soul. In Utterance 506 (§1095), the king identifies himself with 'Bat with Her two faces'. There are also references to the 'great wild cow' (The ancient Egyptians chose animals to symbolize a deity´s properties, which were not neccesarily good. The wild cow was very protective about its calfes, and was therefore a perfect ideal for maternal protectiveness and so was used in depictions for Het-Hert and Bat.)
There were strong connections between Het-Hert (Gr: Hathor)and Bat, though they had differing origins. As their iconography showed such likeness, it has created quite som confusion among scholars.
She is rarely depicted except as a jewellery-amulet. Her head is human but she shows cow´s ears and horns coming out from her temples. Her whole body forms a necklace counterpoise.
It is likely that due to Bat´s likeness to HetHert, she was assimilated into Het-Hert and so was forgotten already during the Middle Kingdom if not earlier. As a primeval deity, there are no temples or signs of priesthood of Bat left to us.
The legendary bird, first known in the Pyramid Text, which descended on the 'ben-ben' stone at Heliopolis (Iunu), symbolizing the Priemval Mound which first became visible as the Primeval Waters began to withdraw. It is a form of the creator god Atum. Utterance 600 in the Pyramid Texts says that Atum rose up as the benben in the mansion of the Benu.
The benben stone was later developed into the obelisk, the long, tapering stone, ending in a pyramidshape at the top.
The name 'Benu' is thought to come from the Egyptian verb 'wbn' which means 'to rise in brilliance'. From it´s first mentioning, in the Pyramid Text, this bird was the yellow wagtail, but later, in the Book of Going Forth By Day it was depicted as the heron with two long feathers at the back of his head.
In the Middle Kingdom, the birth of the Benu is still being described as the 'one who came into being by himself', or the way in which Atum came into being in the primeval waters. The Benu also symbolizes rebirth in the Underworld and was carved on the backside of scarabs which were buried with the mummy as a means to ensure that the deceased did not fail the examination of his heart in the Hall of Double Truth.
The Benu was a living manifestation of the sun god Re, and was called the 'Ba of Re' and even of Wesir (Gr: Osiris). As such he had a close connection with Heliopolis and the temple of the Sun god there. Because of his association with Wesir, it is sometimes depicted with the Atef-crown; a conical shaped crown flanked by two tall plumes.
The Greek historian Herodotos wrote in the fifth century b.c. about a sacred bird at Heliopolis, which the priests told him about. This bird was called the Phoenix he says, and further tells that every 500th year it brings the remains of its dead predecessor to to Heliopolis to be honoured with rites in the sun temple. There are no traces of a myth about a dying bird earlier in Egyptian history, and we cannot knwo what the priests chose to tell to Herodotos, who was, to them, a foreigner. The so called Phoenix has some similiarity with the Benu bird in that the story carries elements of ressurrection.
The Benu was one of the Divine Ancestors celebrated at Edfu each year at the Festival of the Beautiful Reunion.
To the Myth of the Benu Bird.
Bes/Bes Bes is a name covering several similar deities and demons worshipped in ancient Egypt. Among them were lion-demons known from the town of Kahun during the Middle Kingdom, and from the shaft tombs behind the Ramesseum.
He was a grotesque-looking dwarf-god, but benign in nature. He was depicted wearing a plumed crown, normally with a beard, and his broad, mask-like face was surrounded by a lion's mane and ears. His tongue protrudes in a playfully aggressive manner. He looked like a bandy-legged dwarf dressed in either a panther skin or a kilt, and a lion's tail and he frequently carried musical instruments.
Protector
Together with Tawaret, his most important function was as protector of childbirth, and amulets of these two deities were immensely popular. His popularity covered common people´s homes as well as the royal court. Images of him have been found on walls at some workmen´s homes at Deir el-Medina, perhaps in rooms used for women and childbirth. He is also seen painted on a frieze on a wall in the palace of Amenhotep III at Malkata. There are decorations in the figure of Bes at everyday items like the footboard of beds and on the headrests, on mirror handles and on cosmetic tools and implements.
There is a spell which is to be recited four times over a clay dwarf which is placed on the crown of the head of a woman in labour, to help against complications. In it Bes is called: 'great dwarf with a large head and short thighs' and 'monkey in old age', here used as a means for defense against the dangers of childbirth.
Bes´ ugliness and aggressive appearance was, in typical Egyptian manner, used as a defense for the family and thought to ward off evil spirits and chase away serpents and scorpions from the house. He was often depicted as the demon Aha, strangling a snake in each hand.
Symbols
The 'Sa' hieroglyph, meaning protection, is often seen held by Bes, and he can also be shown with his arms outstretched and with hawk´s wings suspended from them. This conveys the solar symbolism of Heru of Behdety, not to link Bes with that particular god, but it was used for magical purposes.
Musician, merry-maker and bringer of good luck
Despite brandishing a sword and having a ferocious appearance, Bes has a genial temperament expressed through merrymaking and music. In the tomb of Queen Tiye´s parents, in Dyn 28, Bes is seen striking a tambourine, and more than 1000 years later, he still makes music, this time on a harp, in the temple of Het-Hert (Gr: Hathor) on the island of Philae.
Bes is first and foremost a deity connected with everyday life, but there are examples that he also appeared in some form in the Underworld. In the mythological papyri of Dirpu, the deceased comes to a gate guarded by a deity with the head of Anpu and the body of knife-wielding, serpent-strangling Bes.
The Late Period
He was also considered to bring good luck and prosperity to married couples and their children, and especially in the Late Period being connected to sexuality and childbirth. Therefore his image is found on all of the mammisi (birth houses) during this period, and his head is also seen above the Horus child on 'cippi' or stelae. It is also in this period that there were 'incubation' or Bes-chambers built at Saqqara. Their walls were lined with mud-plaster figures of Bes and a naked goddess, and it has been suggested that perhaps pilgrims rested there, hoping to have healing dreams for their sexual or fertile powers. In the Roman Period, Bes figurines exist where he is clad in legionary garb. His popularity went beyond the borders of Egypt, and his image is found at Kition in Cyprus, on an ivory plaque (ca 1200 bc.)and Phoenician ivory craftsmen decorated the caskets and furniture of Nimrod in Assyria. No temples or priesthood have sofar been discovered. A small statue of him and a shrine was most likely present in many Egyptian homes, and his picture was carved on bedposts and other everyday household artifacts.
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Temples of Ancient Egypt - Dieter Arnold
Temples of the Last Pharaohs - Dieter Arnold
The Pyramid Texts - transl: R.O. Faulkner
The Coffin Texts - transl: R.O. Faulkner
Egyptian Myths - by George Hart
A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses - George Hart
The Complete Gods and Goddesses in Ancient Egypt - Richard H. Wilkinson
My special thanks to House of Netjer for allowing me to draw from their knowledge of the Netjeru!
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