Forms Of The Divine

The ancient Egyptians visualized their gods andgoddesses in manifold ways

, and this is demon-strated by the Egyptian woii netcher,etymology and original meaning of which are unknown, although examination of the word's use by the Egyptians shows that it actually enmrn - passed a far wider range of meanirme than the English word god. It could include deified humans (famous individuals, and from the 30th dynasty, those who had drowned) as well as what might be called spirits and demons, or in some cases even monsters such as the great chaos serpent Apophis. In fact, a determinative sign indicating 'god* (see box, Writing the Names of the Gods) could be added to the name of any unusual or exotic creature and even the Egyptians' hieroglyphs were themselves sometimes regarded as 'gods'. Cods, spirits, demons and bau In. addition to their major gods the ancient Egyptians believed in various other types of super-natural beings which are often included in the category of minor deities. Even the earliest religious writings are peopled with frightening creatures (especially underworld monsters and demon-like beings) and throughout ancient Egyptian literature we find references to demons and spirits which seem to be similar to the djins and afrits of Arab culture. The ghosts or spirits of the deceased were also feared by the Egyptians and were known as akhu, a term which itself was also used of demons in the later periods. But the most feared, or at least most commonly feared, beings were the messengers and bau of deities. Bau were manifestations or emanations of a god. Often they occurred in groups and seemed quite generic, but they were also linked with specific deities which. when offended, sent their bau to punish or trouble the offender. Magicians used their most potent spells and conjured the images of the most bizarre and frightening beings to combat these bau and hold them at bay. Appearance of the divine Despite the fact that the Egyptian pantheon appears to the outside observer to be filled with a veritable menagerie of gods, goddesses and other Toeings in an almost mindless variety of manifestations, for the most part Egyptian deities are conceived in logical types consisting of human (anthropomorphic), animal (zoomorphic), hybrid, and composite forms. Generally, the so-called 'cosmic' gods and goddesses of the heavens and earth such as Shu, god of the air, and Nut, goddess of the sky, were anthropomorphia in form, as were geographic' deities or those representing specific areas such as rivers, mountains, cities and estates. Certain others, not fitting these categories some of them very ancient. mch as the fertility god Mn - also took human form, as did deified humans such as deceased kings and other notables. Zoomorphic deities were also common throughout Egyptian history. Perhaps the most ancient deity known in Egypt took the form of the falcon, snd the worship of animals as representative of deities was especially prevalent in the latest periods. Gods associated with specific animal species were viewed as male or female according to their apparent or perceived characteristics. Male deities often took the form of the bull, ram, falcon or lion; and female deities were often associated with the cow, vulture, cobra or lioness. 'Hybrid' or more accmt^tely 'bimorphic' half- human and half-animal deities existed in two forms having the head of either a human or an animal and the body of the opposite type. Evidence for the former dates to at least the 4th dynasty with the sphinx as a human-headed animal, and on the 3rd-dynasty stela of Qahedjet (in the Louvre) a hawkheaded anthropomorphic god is the earliest known example of the latter type. The head is consistently the original and essential element of these deities, with the body representing the secondary aspect. Thus, as Henry Fischer pointed out, 'a lion-headed .goddess is a lion-goddess in human form, while a oyal sphinx, conversely, is a man who has assumed the form of a lion'. Composite deities differ from the hybrid forms by combining different deities or characteristics rather than representing an individual god in a particular guise. They may be made up of numerous zoomorphic or anthropomorphic deities, and range from baboon-hawks or hippopotamus-serpents to multiple-headed and -armed deities combining as many as a dozen different gods. Despite their bizarre appearances, there remains a certain logic to many of these polymorphic deities as seen, for example, by comparing the fearsome Ammut and the more benign Taweret: both are part hippopotamus, crocodile and lioness, but fused to very different effect. A fixed iconography for a given god was uncommon, and some appear in several guises Thoth was represented by both the baboon and the ibis and Amun fcy the ram or the goose. However it is rare for a deity to be found in human, animal and hybrid forms, for example the sun god Re was depicted as a falcon or a human with the head of a falcon but not usually in purely human form. There are some exceptions the goddess Hathor could be represented in fully human form, as a cow, as a woman with the head of a cow, or as a woman with a face of mixed human and bovine features.

by: hassan.sh

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