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Per AnkhThe Temple Pages
Egyptian Gods, their main centers of worship |
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On this page: Khepri Khnum, Khonsu
Please note - Festival days are not historically
correct but an estimation compiled from several sources.
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'He who is coming into being of himself'. Creator god in the form of a beetle or scarab, mentioned as far back as the 5th Dynasty (ca 2494-2345 BC) in the Pyramid Texts. The ancient Egyptians watched the scarab pushing his dung ball in front of him, and drew the conclusion that the scarab was born out of it, therefore they linked it to Creation itself and thereby to the creator god Atum. Khepri is manifesting as the rising sun as it rose on the western horizon, after having been born out of the womb of his mother Nut, the night sky. He is depicted in funeral papyrii and in tombs as a man with a scarab's head or as a boat with a scarab, which Nun holds up by his arms. |
Amulets in scarab form was produced in masses during the Middle Kingdom and onwards, but there was no cult attached separately to Khepri.
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Worshipped in the form of a ram in early New Kingdom, later as a man with a ram's head. At Elephantine he was guardian of the source of the Nile and thought to cause the inundation. He and his consort Satis and Anuket, their divine child, made up the Elephantine Triad. More important, he was a creator god, an aspect of the procreative power of the ram and the life-giving Nile. In this capacity he shaped the child on his potters´ wheel and then implanted it in the mother's womb. Even the gods he created in this way. He was "Father of fathers", "Mother of mothers" and assisted at birth together with Heket, the goddess of birth. At Esna he was the creator of all beings and gods; Re - the sun, Nut - the skies; , Shu - the air; Osiris - the netherworld and Geb - the earth were all included in Khnum. Khnum being depicted as a fourheaded ram as thought to depict this. |
Main center of worship: Abu/Elephantine 1st Nome, Upper Egypt Other places: Iunyt/Latopolis/Esna 2nd Nome, Upper Egypt Kom-El-Deir (opposite), 2nd Nome, Upper Egypt Festivals: (exact dates not historically verified) 22nd January - 8th Pamenot - Day of making way for Khnum |
KHONSU/KHENSEW
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Khonsu, "the Traveller", referring to the moon wandering across the sky. Divine child of Amun and Mut, one of the Theban Triad. Depicted as a young boy in the form of a mummy, wearing the side-lock of youth and with the moon crescent above his head. Connected also to Shu, the supporter of the sky, and to Horus, from whom he acquired the royal insignia the crook and the flail. Khonsu is therefore also shown with a falcon´s head and with the moon crescent becoming a sun-disc. He changed from a bloodthirsty war god in the Old Kingdom to a divine child healer in the New Kingdom. The title "Khons the Child" refers to his form as young sun-god who was invoked as protection against dangerous animals. In later times both Khonsu and Horus is shown standing on crocodiles. |
Main center of worship: Wast/Diospolis Magna/Thebes/Luxor, 4th Nome, Upper Egypt |
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