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Per AnkhThe Temple Pages
Egyptian Gods, their main centers of worship |
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On this page: Banebdjedet, Bast, Bat, Bes.
Banebdjedet
Please note - Festival days are not historically
correct but an estimation compiled from several sources.
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Local ram deity of Djedet (Mendes), 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 and here in the 6th century BC, the Saite king Ahmose II, constructed four monolithic granite shrines for each of these four 'spirits'. This became one of the greatest Egyptian complexes to endure until the Ptolemeian period was over. |
No festival days have come down to us, although it is likely that this occurred during the Saite period.
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Bast/Bast
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Cat-headed goddess who in early times also connected to Sekhmet, Tefnut, Atum (her father) and Mut. Via Mut she is also connected to Amun and in the Old Kingdom she is found depicted together with Het-Hert. 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 Mahes (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. |
Main center of worship: Per Bast/Bubastis, 18th Nome, Lower Egypt For a virtual page: Go Here Festivals:(dates not historically verified) 27th August - 10th Paopi - Procession of Bast 6th October - 20th Hethara - Bast appears to Ra. 16th November - 1st Tybi - Festival of Bast 5th December - 20th Tybi - Bast Goes Forth from Bubastis 6th December - 21st Tybi - Bast guards the Two Lands 14th December - 29th Tybi: Djehuti (Thoth) sends Bast and Sekhmet to guide Egypt
15th April - 1st Payni - Festival of Bast
15th May - 1st Epipi - Festivals of Het-Hert and Bast
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Primeval deity from the 7th Upper Egyptian Nome, depicted on the Narmer Palette (ca 3100) with cow's horns and two faces. In the New Kingdom assimilated to Hathor. |
As a very primeval deity, Bat had no temples or priesthood of her own.
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Bes was a dwarf-god, grotesque in appearance, but benign in nature. He was depicted wearing a plumed crown, was normally bearded with his broad face surrounded by a lion's mane and ears, and with his tongue protruding in a playfully aggressive manner. His body represented a bandy-legged dwarf wearing either a panther skin or a kilt, and a lion's tail. Together with Tawaret he was a protector of childbirth, and his ugliness was seen as a deterrent to evil spirits. He is present at the scenes of royal birth carved on Theban temple walls. Bes was also considered to bring good luck and prosperity to married couples and their children, and has been found in homes at Deir el-Medina. The aggression of knife-carrying Bes is seen as directed towards any threat to the family, such as warding off snakes and scorpions in the living quarters. Finally, Bes has a genial temperament expressed through merrymaking and music. Towards the end of Ancient Egyptian civilization, Bes was adopted by the Romans and figurines exist of him clad in legionary garb." |
Bes had no temples of his own and no priesthood. A small statue of him and a shrine was however present in most Egyptian homes, and his picture was carved on bedposts and other everyday household artifacts.
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