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Kemetic Netjer "S"

Sah and Sopdet, Sepedet

The god Sah and his consort, Sopdet (Spdt, Sepedet), who is probably better known by her Greek name, Sothis, personified the constellation of Orion (which he is sometimes referred to) and the bright, first magnitude star Sirius (the "dog star") respectively. Orion was, to the ancient Egyptians, the most distinctive of all the constellations in the night sky, and it rose directly before the adjacent star Sirius, thus explaining the connection between these two ancient gods from a very early date. Orion was imagined as being swallowed at dawn by the Underworld but had the power to emerge again into the night sky. Their son was Soped (Sopdu, Horus Spd), who was another astral deity. They came to be viewed as manifestations of Osiris and Isis.

Sah, while perhaps not as familiar to us as Sopdet, is mentioned very frequently in the Pyramid Texts, where he is called "father of the gods". The deceased king is said to enter the sky "In the name of the Dweller in Orion, with a season in the sky and a season on earth". The association between Sah and Sopdet is also clear in these early texts where the king is told, "You shall reach the sky as Orion, your soul shall be as effective as Sothis". During the New Kingdom, Funerary texts explains that Orion is said to row towards the stars in a boat and Sah was sometimes depicted in this manner in scenes found in temples and tombs, where he is surrounded by stars as he sails across the sky in a papyrus skiff.

The reason that Sopdet, or Sothis, is better known to us is that Sirius was, for the ancient Egyptians, a very important star that signaled after having been hidden from view for seventy days, in its appearance on the eastern horizon at dawn during July (Heliacal rising), the coming annual inundation of the Nile River which marked the beginning of the agricultural year. Hence, the goddess was called the "bringer of the New Year and the Nile flood". It was for this reason that she was associated with Sah, and thus Osiris, who symbolized this annual resurgence of the Nile. In fact, Pyramid Text 965 describes Sopdet as the daughter of Osiris. Therefore, Sopdet became associated with the prosperity resulting from the fertile silt left by the receding waters. In the pyramid text, Sopdet is described as having united with the king/Osiris to give birth to the morning star, Venus, and through her association with that netherworld god, she was naturally identified with Isis, who she was eventually synchronized with as Isis-Sothis. In the Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys, from a fourth century BC papyrus, Isis asserts that she is Sothis, who will unswervingly follow Osiris in his manifestation as Orion in heaven. Though at first an important deity of the inundation and as an afterlife guide to the deceased king through the Field of Rushes, by the Middle Kingdom she was identified as a "mother" and "nurse".

The earliest known depictions of Sothis, known from a 1st Dynasty ivory tablet belonging to Djer and unearthed at Abydos, represent the goddess as a reclining cow with a plant-like emblem (perhaps representing the "year") between her horns. She is almost always shown as a woman wearing a tall crown similar to the White Crown of Upper Egypt but with tall, upswept horns at the sides and surmounted by a star with five points. In this iconography, she had few variations, and is usually represented as simply standing with arms at her sides or with one arm folded across her lower breast. However, occasionally the goddess could also be depicted as a large dog. In her syncretistic role as Isis-Sothis, she is also shown riding side-saddle on this symbolic animal on some of the coins minted at Alexandria during Roman times.

The star Sirius may have been worshipped as a cow-goddess in the Predynastic Period before its eventual identification with Isis and Sopdet. Sopdet was clearly an important god in her own right at first, but her growing identification with Isis eventually meant that her individual identity was decreased during later times. By the Graeco-Roman Period, her assimilation with Isis was almost complete. Though we know nothing of any specific cult that worshipped specifically Sopdet, during the excavation for the Cairo Metro (subway), a temple was unearthed that was apparently dedicated to Isis-Sothis.

Satet

Description: Satet was believed to pour out the water into the Nile that caused the inundation each year. She was associated with the star Sirius A (the "Dog Star"), because the inundation coincided each year with the rising of that star. The inundation itself was known as the Night of the Teardrop. Every year, Isis would shed a single tear, which would be caught by Satet in her jars, then poured into the Nile.

Satis, Sates, Satjit, Sati

Appearance: a woman wearing the crown of Upper Egypt flanked by gazelle antlers, carrying in her hands an ankh and a scepter.

Description: With Anuket and Khenmu, Satis formed the Elephantine Triad. Called the "Queen of Elephantine," she guarded the borders of Egypt, especially the border with Nubia.

Worship: Worshipped throughout Nubia and Egypt, her cult center was at Elephantine.

Sebiumeker

Sebiumeker was an anthropomorphic god of procreation the Meroitic (Nubian) pantheon. His main center of worship is in the temple complex at Musawwarat el-Sufra in the desert east of the sixth cataract of the Nile.

Sefkhet-Abwy

Sefkhet-Abwy was a goddess of writing, as well as temple libraries, of which there were many in ancient Egypt. Her name means the seven-horned and she wears on her head the symbol of a seven-pointed star below an indented arc which could represent a bow.

She first appears during the reign of Tuthmosis III during Egypt's 18th Dynasty, and seems to have been little more than a version of Seshat. her role was to be present at the temple foundation ceremony of "stretching the cord", where the monarch (theoretically) measures out the extent of the precinct. The goddess also figures among the deities responsible for writing the name of the pharaoh on the leaves of the sacred tree.

Sokar, Seker, Socharis, Seker

Description: Sokar (Seker) was the primary god of the Memphite funeral cult and its nearby burial grounds and tomb sites. He was seen as a manifestation of the resurrected Osiris, and in later dynasties he was combined with Ptah and Osiris into one deity, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris (see below). He is most often found depicted on royal tomb walls.

Though he was a death god, Sokar was also the patron of the living, mainly the workers who built the necropolis and the craftsmen who made tomb artifacts. He was also the patron of those who made ritual objects and substances used in mummification.

His dedicated festival was the Henu Festival, and was held every year in Thebes. The festival celebrated Osiris' resurrection as Sokar. It involved a huge procession with the image of Sokar being carried in a gilded boat.

Worship: Worshipped widely throughout Upper Egypt, his cult centers were Memphis and Thebes

Ptah-Seker-Osiris
A composite funerary god worshipped during the Middle Kingdom period. In this form he represents the three aspects of the universe: creation, stability, and death.

Sekhmet

Description: Sekhmet means "The Mighty One," and she was one of the most powerful of the gods and goddesses. She was the goddess who meted out divine punishment to the enemies of the gods and of the pharaoh. In this capacity she was called the "Eye of Ra." She also accompanied the pharaoh into battle, launching fiery arrows into battle ahead of him. Sekhmet could also send plagues and disease against her enemies, but was sometimes invoked to avoid plague and cure disease.

Sekhmet's capacity for destruction is well-documented. In one story, Ra sends her to punish those mortals who have forgotten him and she ends up nearly destroying the entire human race. Only the cleverness of Ra stops her rampage before it consumes every living thing.

Worship: Worshipped as part of a triad made up of herself, her husband Ptah and their eldest child Nefertem, her cult center was at Memphis.

Sepa

Sepa was a centipede god from Heliopolis with the powers to prevent snake bites. He could also be represented with the head of a donkey or as a mummiform deity sporting two short horns.

Serapis, Sarapis, Zaparrus

Simply put, Serapis was an invented god. He was a composite of several Egyptian and Hellenistic deities who was introduced to the world at the beginning of the Ptolemaic (Greek) Period in Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy I, though his legacy lasted well into the Roman period. Thus, he was meant to form a bridge between the Greek and Egyptian religion in a new age in which their respective gods were bought face to face with each other, so that both Egyptians and Greeks could find union in a specific supreme entity.

Linguistically, the god's name is a fusion of Osiris and the bull Apis, which by the Greek period might be said to have represented the essence of Egyptian religion. In fact, a cult of this combination god, named Osirapis (or Userhapi, Asar-Hapi), had existed in Egypt prior to the rule of the Ptolemies. Osirapis was basically the ssacred bull of Memphis after its death. According to the hieroglyphic texts which were found on stelae and other objects in the Serapeum at Sakkara, established long before the Greek Period, Apis is called "the life of Osiris, the lord of heaven, Tem {with} his horns {in} his head." and he is said to "give life, strength, health, to thy nostrils for ever."

Elsewhere from the 18th Dynasty, Osirapis is described as, "the great god, Khent, Amentet, the lord of life forever," Apis and Osiris were joined together by the priests of Memphis, where the attributes of Apis had been made to assume a funeral character and hence recognized as a god of the Underworld. On a monument of the 19th Dynasty, Apis is said to be "the renewed life of Ptah," and in an inscription of the 25th Dynasty he is called the "second Ptah." In the same text we have a mention of the "temple of Asar-Hapi (Osirapis)," and here it is clear that his identity had been merged with that of Osiris. The identification of Apis with Osiris was easy enough, because one of the most common names of Osiris was "Bull of the West". Apis was, in fact, believed to be animated by the soul of Osiris, and to be Osiris incarnate. The appearance of a new Apis was regarded as a new manifestation of Osiris upon earth.

However, the Greeks added to this Egyptian Core a number of Hellenistic deities, including Zeus, Helios, Dionysus, Hades and Asklepius to form Serapis. Eventually, these Hellenistic deities would predominate the god's final form. He then emerged as a supreme god of divine majesty and the sun (Zeus and Helios), fertility (Dionysos) the underworld and afterlife, as well as healing (Hades and Asklepius). However, his attributes regarding the afterlife and fertility were always primary to his nature.

"In the city on the borders of Egypt which boasts Alexander of Macedon as its founder, Sarapis and Isis are worshiped with a reverence that is almost fanatical. Evidence that the sun, under the name of Sarapis, is the object of all this reverence is either the basket set on the head of the god or the figure of a three-headed creature placed by his statue. The middle head of this figure, which is also the largest, represents a lion's; on the right a dog raises its head with a gentle and fawning air; and on the left the neck ends in the head of a ravening wolf. All three beasts are joined together by the coils of a serpent whose head returns to the god's right hand which keeps the monster in check."

The iconography of Serapis was dominated by Hellenistic elements. In his anthropomorphic form, he was represented as a man wearing a Greek style robe with a Greek hairstyle and full beard. Surmounting his head was often a basket or a tall, dry corn measure (holding a quarter of a bushel), representing his fertility attributes as well as his association with Osiris, who was sometimes a god of grain. At times, he was also provided with curved ram's horns. At his feet might also set the three-headed dog Cerberus, the guardian of the underworld.

Occasionally, and particularly in conjunction with his consort Isis, the greatest Egyptian goddess during the Greek Period, both deities could be depicted as serpents with human heads (most often on door jambs), where Serapis would be discernable by his beard. When represented in such a fashion, it was usually in relationship to their aspects related to the netherworld and fertility.

Worship of Serapis
The chief center of the worship of Serapis in Ptolemaic times was Alexandria at the great Serapeum, which was considered a wonder and a site of pilgrimage throughout the Mediterranean world, until it was destroyed by order of Emperor Theodosius in 389 AD. The Serapeum which Ptolemy repaired, or founded, was probably around Rhakotis near Pompey's pillar and was a very remarkable building.

Interestingly, Rhakotis was the small Egyptian village that had been located on the site of what would become Alexandria, and some traditions hold that Osirapis was its local God.

The Temples main plan seems to have resembled that of the famous Serapeum at Memphis, but parts of it were richly painted and gilded, and it possessed a fine library which was said to contain some 300,000 (or perhaps as many as 42,000) volumes. The library was actually an annex of the Great Library of Alexandria, and hence known as the "Daughter Library".

Within the temple was a specific and famous statue of Serapis. How the statue came to be in Alexandria at this temple is of some interest. Tradition holds that, while Ptolemy was considering the possibility of a hybrid god to unit the Egyptians and Greeks, he had a dream, wherein a colosssal statue of some god appeared to him and bid the king to remove it to Alexandria. According to Plutarch (De Iside et Osiride, 28), he had never seen a similar statue, and he knew neither the place where it stood, nor to whom it belonged. One day he happened to mention his dream to Sosibius, and described the statue which he had seen, whereon this man declared that he had seen a statue like it at Sinope. Tradition says that this was Sinope on the Pontus, and adds that as the inhabitants of the city were extremely unwilling to part with their statue, it, of its own accord, after waiting for three years, entered into a ship and arrived at Alexandria safely after a voyage of only three days. However, others provide that after three years of futile negotiations, Ptolemy's men simply stole, the statue, claiming that it had boarded their boat on its own.

There were other smaller temples and shrines dedicated to this god in various locations throughout Egypt, but the god's cult was also spread throughout much of the Graeco-Roman world by traders and other converts. Another Notable cult center was the Greek holy site of Delos, which was founded by an Egyptian priest in the third century BC.

There was even a Roman Period sculpted head of Serapis, dating to the second or early third century AD, discovered in London at the Walbrook Mithraem, and a temple of Serapis is mentioned in an inscription found at the Roman site of Eburacum (modern York) in the United Kingdom. Hence, he was even important enough to reach the most distant areas of the Roman Empire.

Interestingly however, Serapis really never received wide acclaim in Egypt itself, where other more traditional Egyptian deities continued to receive more popular worship.

Serapis may have finally had certain ties with the early Christian community. There were certainly some similarities between Serapis and the Hebrew God. Serapis was a supreme god, and it seems that some early worshippers of Christ amongst the Gentiles could have possibly worshipped Serapis either purposefully, or confusing him with Christ, though the confusion seems more likely to have been one of language.

A correspondence of Emperor Hadrian refers to Alexandrian worshippers of Serapis calling themselves ‘Bishops of Christ’:

'Egypt, which you commended to me, my dearest Servianus, I have found to be wholly fickle and inconsistent, and continually wafted about by every breath of fame. The worshipers of Serapis (here) are called Christians, and those who are devoted to the god Serapis (I find), call themselves Bishops of Christ.'

In fact, it appears that some followers of Serapis were eventually expelled from Rome when, in 19 AD, Tiberius also expelled the Jews.

Nevertheless, how great confusion between Serapis and Christ could have existed is really somewhat questionable. In 68 AD, a mob of pagans is said to have formed at the Serapis Temple in Alexandria, who then descended on the Christians who were celebrating Easter at Baucalis. There, they sized St. Mark, dragging him through the streets, before throwing him in prison. Clearly those worshippers of Serapis and Christ were aware of each other and the differences within their religions, though perhaps at a later date, some amongst the worshippers of either may have chosen to cover all of their options.

On the other hand, some have pointed out that Chrestus (Christus) was another name for the Egyptian god, Serapis. Chrestus may be translated as "Messiah", though the term need not apply to any specific Messiah, such as Jesus. It therefore could have simply been applied to "Lord Serapis", so that in fact, there was never any connection at all between the early Christians and the worshippers of Serapis.

Serqet (Serket, Selqet, Selket, Selkit, Selkis)

Serqet was the ancient Egyptian scorpion goddess of magic. As with other dangerous goddesses, she was both a protective goddess, and one who punished the wrong doers with her burning wrath. She could punish those with the poison of a scorpion or snake, causing breathlessness and death, or she could protect against the same venom. Yet just as she could kill, she was thought to give breath to the justified dead, helping them be reborn in the afterlife.

Serqet was often shown as a woman with a scorpion on her head, and occasionally as a scorpion with the head of a woman, though this was rare. She was sometimes shown wearing the headdress of Hathor - a solar disk with cow horns - but this was after Isis started to be shown wearing it. (Serqet was closely connected with Isis and her twin sister Nephthys.) By the XXI Dynasty, she was sometimes shown with the head of a lioness, with a protective crocodile at the back of her neck.

The Egyptian scorpion-goddess is srq.(j)t ... A fuller form, srq.(j)t-Ht.w exists, that has been rather surprisingly translated "She Who Lets Throats Breathe", a rather unusual role for a poisonous arachnid. I believe rather that srq is cognate with Indo-European streng/k-; and that it means "to tighten, stiffen" so that srq.(j)t-Ht.w should be translated as "She Who Stiffens (Paralyzes) the Throats", rather more keeping with the usually anticipated effects of a scorpion's bite. This is a suitable epithet for a deity that is so closely connected with seasonal death.

As a protective goddess, she was called on by the people to protect and heal them from snake bites and scorpion stings. She was thought to be the one who helped Isis protect Horus from scorpions, either by providing the goddess with seven scorpions to protect her, or by calling to Isis for the royal barque of Ra to stop, forcing the other gods to help bring Horus back to life. She also joined Ra's solar journeys through the underworld each night, and helped to protect the barque from the attack of the snake-demon Apep. It was believed that she had power over all snakes, reptiles and poisonous animals. She was thought to especially protect children and pregnant women from these creatures.

"Rejoice, most fortunate of women, for you shall bear a daughter who shall be the child of Amen-Ra, who shall reign over the Two Lands of Egypt and be sovereign of the whole world."

The monument in the temple shows their bodies interlocked, the god offering her the ankh to breath life, and throwing some rituals on her foot. Nit, the goddess of life, and Serqet the protectoress of the living were holding the god and queen's feet.

In the underworld, she helped in the process of rebirth of the newly deceased, and oriented them as they came to her, giving them the breath of life. She was given the title "Mistress of the Beautiful House", associating her with the Divine Booth where mummification took place. She was the protector of the canopic jar that held the intestines, along with Qebehsenuef - a falcon headed Son of Horus. She was associated with the western cardinal point.

(I am) Serqet, mistress of heaven and lady of all the gods. I have come before you (Oh) King's Great Wife, Mistress of the Two Lands, Lady of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nefertari, Beloved of Mut, Justified Before Osiris Who Resides in Abtu (Abydos), and I have accorded you a place in the sacred land, so that you may appear gloriously in heaven like Ra.

Originally she was worshiped in the Delta, but her cult spread throughout the land of Egypt, with cult centers at Djeba and Per-Serqet (Pselkis, el Dakka). The priests of Serqet were doctors and magicians - in ancient Egypt, medicine was a mixture of folklore, magic and science - who dedicated themselves to healing venomous bites from poisonous creatures. The goddess herself was invoked by the people to both prevent and heal poisonous animal bites. Although she had a priesthood, there have been no temples to this goddess found as yet.

She was believed to be either the mother or daughter of the sun god Ra, and thus her wrath was thought to be like the burning, noonday sun. It was probably because of her very close connection with Isis and her twin sister Nephthys that in Djeba (Utes-Hor, Behde, Edfu), she was believed to be the wife of Horus and the mother of Harakhety (Horus of the Horizon). The Pyramid Texts claim that she was the mother of Nehebkau, a snake god who protected the pharaoh from snakebites. She was also identified with Seshat, the goddess of writing. With Nit, she was a watcher of the sky who, in one story, was thought to stop Amen and his wife from being disturbed while they were together, making her a goddess of marriages.

Egypt was a land of snakes and scorpions, so it is only natural that the worship of this goddess spread through Egypt. The people worshiped her for her protection against these dangerous creatures, and revered her for her power and protective qualities. She guarded all of the people, including the pharaoh, mothers and children. Her followers were priestly doctors, healing the people affected by venom. She extended her protection from life into the land of the dead, not only helping to revive the dead, but to introduce them with the afterlife. She even protected the other gods from the serpent-demon, Apep. Although having no temples, she was worshiped throughout the land of Egypt.

Seshat (Sashet, Sesheta)

Seshat, meaning 'female scribe', was seen as the goddess of writing, historical records, accounting and mathematics, measurement and architecture to the ancient Egyptians. She was depicted as a woman wearing a panther-skin dress (the garb of the funerary stm priests) and a headdress that was also her hieroglyph - - which may represent either a stylized flower or seven pointed star on a standard that is beneath a set of down-turned horns. (The horns may have originally been a crescent, linking Seshat to the moon and hence to her spouse, the moon god of writing and knowledge, Thoth.)

She was believed to appear to assist the pharaoh at various times, and who kept a record of his life:

It was she who recorded the time allotted to him by the gods for his stay on earth.
She was associated with the pharaoh at the 'stretching the cord' foundation ritual, where she assisted the pharaoh with the measuring process. During New Kingdom times, she was shown to have been involved in the sed (jubilee) festival of the pharaohs, holding a palm rib to show the passage of time. She kept track of each pharaoh and the period for which he ruled and the speeches made during the crowning rituals. She was also shown writing down the inventory of foreign captives and captured goods from campaigns.
One of the most important ceremonies in the foundation of Egyptian temples was known as Pedjeshes (Pedj--"to stretch," Shes--"a cord") and it forms the subject of one of the chief monumental ornaments in the temples of Abydos, Heliopolis, Denderah, and Edfu. The reigning pharaoh and a priestess personifying Seshat, the goddess of writing, proceeded to the site, each armed with a golden mallet and a PEG connected by a cord to another PEG. Seshat having driven her peg home at the previously prepared spot, the king directed his gaze to the constellation of the Bull's Foreleg (this constellation is identical with Ursa Major, "Great Bear," and the "hoof" star is Benetnasch, Eta Ursae majoris). Having aligned the cord to the "hoof" and Spica as seen through the visor formed by Seshat's curious headdress, he raised his mallet and drove the peg home, thus marking the position of the axis of the future temple.
- Cyril Fagan, Zodiacs Old and New (1951)

Seshat has no temples that have been found, though she did have a priesthood in early times. Along with her priestess', there were a few priests in the order - the Slab Stela of Prince Wep-em-nefret, from the Fourth Dynasty, gives him the title of Overseer of the Royal Scribes, Priest of Seshat. It was at a later time that the priests of Thoth took over the priesthood of Seshat.
Seti I, at Abydos, dedicated part of his temple to the goddess:

The staircase of the temple ... bears an address in 43 columns of the goddess Seshat to the king (KRI I, 186-188). The text displays a rigid scheme which deals with the temple itself and its two groups of occupants (the king and the gods) and in which pseudo-verbal/ temporal aspects and non-verbal sentences/ a-temporal aspects alternate. The author demonstrates that the three main elements, temple, gods and king, have each their proper place in the sophisticated and complicated structure of the text. The address consists of three parts. The first concerns the temple, its conception and its realisation. The second presents the gods who live there and guarantee its sacral nature. The third part is devoted to the king, the celebrant par excellence, who certifies its functioning. This last part has a very intricate structure, with reference to the Horus and solar aspect of the king, the Osirian aspect, and the relationship between the two. At the conclusion of the address Seshat speaks, in order to fulfil her usual task of registering the divine kingship of the pharaoh as living Horus, according to the orders of Ra and the decree of Atum.
- Dominique Bastin, De la fondation d'un temple: "Paroles dites par Seshat au Roi Sethi Ier,"

Thoth was thought to be her male counterpart and father, and she was often depicted as his wife by the Egyptians. Some believe her to be an example of Egyptian duality, as she bears many of the traits of Thoth. She was thought to be linked with the goddess Nephthys who was given the title 'Seshat, Foremost of Builders' in the Pyramid texts. She was also identified with Isis. Safekh-Aubi (Sefekh-Aubi) is a title that came from Seshat's headdress, that may have become an aspect of Seshat or an actual goddess. Safekh-Aubi means 'She Who Wears the Two Horns' and relates to the horns that appear above Seshat's standard.
The Egyptians believed that Seshat invented writing, while Thoth taught writing to mankind. She was known as 'Mistress of the House of Books', indicating that she also took care of Thoth's library of spells and scrolls. It was as 'Mistress of the House of Architects' that she helped the pharaoh set the foundations of temples with indication that she set the axis by the aid of the stars.

Pharaoh Hatshepsut depicted both Seshat and Thoth as those who made the inventory of treasures brought back from Punt:

Thoth made a note of the quantity and Seshat verified the figures.
Seshat was the only female that has been found (so far) actually writing. Other women have been found holding a scribe's writing brush and palette - showing that they could read and write - but these women were never shown in the act of writing itself.
She was a rather important goddess, even from earlier times in the Pyramid texts. She was the first and foremost female scribe - accountant, historian and architect to both the pharaoh and the gods. She was the female goddess of positions belonging mostly to men. Yet she did not have a personal name, only a title - Seshat, the Female Scribe.

Set, Seth, Sutekh

Patron of: winds, storms, chaos, evil, darkness, strength, war, conflict, Upper Egypt.

Appearance: A man with the head of a jackal-like animal. In depictions of his battle with Horus he is often shown as a black pig or hippopotamus. Sometimes he is shown as a crocodile, perhaps a combination of him and the original god of evil, Apep. He is also shown as a man with red hair and eyes, or wearing a red mantle, the Egyptians believing that bright red was a color of evil.

Description: In early times Set was worshipped as the god of wind and the desert storms, and prayed to that he would grant the strength of the storms to his followers. Although he was always a dark and moody god, he was believed to be the ally of his brother and sister, Osiris and Isis, the counterpart to his sister-wife Nephthys, and the defender of their father, Ra.

But somewhere along the line the view of Set changed. He became a god of evil, in eternal conflict with the gods of light, and especially with Horus, the son of Osiris. Set became identified with his former enemy, the serpent Apep. By the XXVI Dynasty, Set was the major antagonist and embodiment of evil to the Egyptians. Why this change came about is unknown, but it is thought that some time after the unification of Egypt, the religion of Set fell into disfavor with the state religion, the worship of Ra and Osiris. It may be that there was open rebellion against the pharaoh Narmer (Menes) who unified Egypt under his rule, the rebellion failed and their beliefs were effectively quashed. Victors are known to rewrite history, it may be that they also rewrote the religion. It is an interesting idea to think that the struggle for the control of Egypt might have found its way into their core beliefs.

In the Legend of Osiris, Set kills Osiris and scatters his body, then claims the throne of the gods for his own. He is later struck down by Horus, the son of Osiris, who restores order to the world and sets up the pharaohs as the guardians of Maat. Set and Horus continue to battle for control of the world, setting up an epic conflict of good versus evil.

Worship: Not really worshipped after becoming a god of evil, but his religion was the major one for Upper Egypt until after the unification.

Lord of Upper Egypt
An older form of Set in which he is seen to be a companion and ally to Osiris and Isis. He is depicted defending the Sun Boat from demons and revered as the patron of Upper Egypt. In this form Horus is his brother and is the patron of Lower Egypt.

Shay

Shay personified destiny, and existed both as a deity and a concept. In the New Kingdom funerary papyrus of the royal scribe Ani, Shay appears in the Weighing of the Heart scene as anthropomorphic. In the book of moral and religious precepts known as the Instruction of Amenemope, one passage stresses the futility of pursuing riches by pointing out that no one can ignore Shay, i.e. what is fated. The god, as a personification of the span of years, and prosperity that a person can expect to enjoy, comes out clearly in inscriptions from the reign of the heretic king, Akhenaten in the 18th Dynasty. Here, both the king and the god Aten are described as "the Shay who gives life".

The god frequently appears mentioned beside goddesses who have some affinity with his role, including Renenutet, Meskhenet and Shepset, a benign minor goddess worshipped mostly in Memphis. Shay coalesces in the Graeco-Roman period with Agathodaimon, the popular serpent god of fortune at Alexandria.

Shesmetet

Shesmetet was a leonine goddess and was probably merely a manifestation of Sakhmet. Shesmeter gives birth to the king according to the Pyramid Texts and with the democratization of Egyptian theology, becomes the mother of the deceased in funerary papyri. In a spell to be recited on the last day of the year the name of Shesmetet is invoked as a magical force against demons of slaughter. There is a clue to the exotic origins of the goddess in her epithet "Lady of Punt", referring to the incense region on the horn of Africa.

Shesmu (Shezmu, Shesemu, Shezmou, Shesmou, Sezmu, Sesmu, Schesmu, Schezemu)

Shesmu was an ancient Egyptian demon-god of the underworld. He was a slaughtering demon, god of precious oils for beauty and embalming and a god of the wine press. He was thought to be a helper of the justified dead, offering them alcoholic red wine to drink. Yet he was also seen to be a demon who would tear off the head of a wrongdoer, throwing the head into the wine press to squeeze out the blood as if it was grape juice.

Shesmu's dual personality was evident from the texts in the Pyramid of Unas and the Book of the Dead. Throughout Egyptian history, from the early dynastic times through to the Roman period he was seen as both a kind benefactor to the good and a cruel dispatcher of those who deserved it.

The Egyptians depicted him as a full man, a lion-headed man or as a hawk. On the list of Decans (star groups into which the night sky was divided, with each group appearing for ten days annually) at the temple of Hathor at Dendera, Shesmu appeared as a man on a boat with a uraeus on top of his head, between two stars. When writing about the Shesmu Decan, the star hieroglyph () was added to his name.

Writing was invented in ancient Egypt about 3200 BC. Wine had been manufactured earlier than this date because the wine press served as one of the first hieroglyphs. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs used specialised terms for grapes, specifically: (yrp), raisins (wnsy), grapevines (yarrt), and wine press (smw).

Shesmu's name includes the word 'wine press' which could be spelled out as smw () or as the hieroglyph of the wine press () which is also read as smw.

The connection between wine and blood, and thus between helper god and punishing demon, came from the red wine the Egyptians drank. The white variety of wine appeared in the Middle Kingdom, and was a favourite of the Greeks. It was this red wine - or blood - that Shesmu offers the pharaoh in the Pyramid Texts and the deceased in their travels.

..."As concerning 'the night when the sentences of doom are promulgated,' it is the night of the burning of the damned, and of the overthrow of the wicked at the Block, and of the slaughter of souls."

"[Concerning the invisible god] some say that he is Apep when he riseth up with a head bearing upon it [the feather of] Ma'at (Truth). But others say that he is Horus when he riseth up with two heads, whereon one beareth [the feather of] Ma'at, and the other [the symbol of] wickedness. He bestoweth wickedness on him that worketh wickedness, and right and truth upon him that followeth righteousness and truth.

"Others say that he is Heru-ur (the Old Horus), who dwelleth in Sekhem; others say that he is Thoth; others say that he is Nefertem; and others say that he is Sept who doth bring to nought the acts of the foes of Nebertcher.

During the New Kingdom, his more beneficial side was preferred, and Shesmu was revered as a god of the oil press who produced unguents, fragrant oils and perfumes. For wine, the grapes were emptied into large vats, and crushed by feet. The juice would flow out of a hole in the side of the large vat, into a smaller vat. Secondary pressing was done to separate the rest of the juice form the stems, seeds and skin. This pulp was put into a sack that was stretched either on a frame or between two poles. The sack was then twisted with either one or both poles, and the juice falling from the sack was caught in a large vessel. Oil production was done in a very similar way, with olives rather than with grapes.

The Egyptians also used sesame, moringa, pine kernel, almond and castor oils. Some were used for moisturising the body in the harsh Egyptian climate, others were used as deodorisers and insect repellents, and others still were used for perfumes and for temple rituals. Oils had been used for both beautification and protection since predynastic times.

On the sarcophagus of Ankhnsneferybra of the 26th Dynasty the inscription says that Shesmu was the manufacturer of the Oil of Ra. He was thought to be the Master of Perfumes because of the way the Egyptians infused oil to create their perfumes.

It was in his role as a god of perfume that he was linked to the mortuary cult. Not just a god of the underworld, he was also a god who provided the sacred oils for the embalming process. It was believed that he prevented the putrefaction and decay of the flesh after death with his unguents and special oils.

After the deceased had died, it was he who caught the sinful ones for punishment. In Chapter 175 of The Book of the Dead Shesmu was known as "Lord of the Blood". It was under the orders of Osiris, that he would chop up the evil ones, take their heads and toss them into a wine press, treating the heads as if they were grapes to create blood wine.

The blood wine - and the bodies - turned into sustenance for Unas, giving him power and strength:

...Behold, Shesmu has cut them up for Unas, he has boiled pieces of them in his blazing cauldrons. Unas has eaten their words of power, he has eaten their spirits.

He was also linked with the setting of the sun - because of its red colour - and with the enemy of Ra, the evil serpent Apep. He was also linked to Herishef under his title of "Lord of the Blood", to the hawk god Horus while in his hawk form and to the god of wisdom, Thoth. As a god of perfume, he was connected to Nefertem.

Being "Fierce of Face", Shesmu's lion-headed form was linked with Nefertem, who was sometimes given the head of a lion. Perfume and unguent bottles that have the form of a lion are usually depicting Shesmu, Nefertem or Mihos (son of Bast). These gods were often substituted for each other because they all had a very similar function in this area.

Shesmu had a priesthood from early times, and his cult was especially strong at the Faiyum. He was worshiped at Edfu and Dendera. He was a god found in the stars and a god of the dead. He was the headsman of Osiris, beheader of the condemned who turned their blood into deep red wine. His blood wine went to nourish the pharaoh to give him strength, his wine to quench the thirst of the dear departed. The oil from his oil presses went to protect the body of the dead, to preserve it for eternity. His oil was used in daily life for perfumes and unguents and beautification of the living body. The "Lord of the Blood" was both worshiped and feared by those who followed him throughout Egypt's history, who lived and died under his influence.

Shu, Su

Appearance: A man standing with arms raised, usually holding his daughter Nut and standing over his son Geb.

Description: Shu, along with his sister Tefnut, were the first deities to be created by Atum. He is the lord of cool air and the upper sky. He was believed to be the one responsible, like Atlas, for holding up the firmament and separating it from the earth.

Sia

Sia as a god personifies the perceptive mind. He was created from blood dripping from the phallus of Re, the sun god. In the Old Kingdom, Sia is visualized at the right side of Re and responsible for carrying the sacred papyrus whose contents embody intellectual achievement. On the walls and ceilings of tombs in the Valley of the Kings, Sia travels in the boat of the sun god. He was the spokesman of the sun god in the Books of the Sky (Heavens) and the herald who stands at the bow of the solar bark in the Book of Gates.

Sia, who was part of a complementary pair consisting of Sia and Hu, is probably equated with the intellectual energies of the heart of Ptah in the Memphite theology, resulting in the creative command of Ptah's tongue. However, it appears that Sia never benefited from a cult in his honor.

Sobek, Sebek

Appearance: a crocodile-headed man with a feathered crown, rarely as a full crocodile (which was also used as the representation of Apep).

Description: The son of Neith, Sobek was a sort of bodyguard to various gods, especially Ra and Set (in his original form), and was seen as having a similar function for the pharaoh. In times of need, he gives the pharaoh strength and fortitude so that he may overcome all obstacles. He also protects the pharaoh from all harm, especially evil magic.

The Four Sons of Horus

The Four Sons of Horus are sometimes described as the funerary deities, or genii (sing, genius). Their names are Imsety (imsti), Hapy (hpy, not to be confused with the Nile river god, Hapi), Duamutef and Kebehsenuef. All references we have to these deities are funerary in context, and it appears that no cults ever honored them.

While the family genealogy of these deities is not well established, they are clearly stated to be the sons of Horus in any number of texts. For example, while Isis was said to be their mother, in Spell 125 of the Book of the Dead, they are seen as having sprung from a lotus flower (Blue Lilly). In various text, Horus of Khem, Harsiese and Horus the Elder are all cited as being their father. The four sons were also associated with four protective goddess, usually being paired as Imsety and Isis, Hapy and Nephthys, Duamutef and Neith, and Kebehsenuef and Selket.

The Sons of Horus were associated with various points of the compass, as well, with Imsety linked to the South, Hapy with the North, Duamutef the East and Kebehsenuef the West. In addition, Hapy and Duamutef were associated with the northern Delta city of Buto, while Imsety and Kebehsenuef were linked to the southern, or Upper Egyptian city of Hierakonpolis.

We find references to these deities from the Old Kingdom all the way through to Greco- Roman times. The earliest extensive religious text, known as the Pyramid Texts, mentions them a total of fourteen times. From these texts, we learn of their basic nature.

"friends of the king, (who) attend on this King...., the children of Horus of Khem (letopolis); they tie the rope-ladder for this King. they make firm the wooden ladder for this King, they cause the King to ascend to Khepri when he comes into being in the eastern side of the sky".

From Spell 1333, we learn that they, "spread protection of life over your father the Osiris King, since he was restored by the gods", while Sepll 552 tells us that, "I will not be thirsty by reason of Shu, I will not be hungry by reason of Tefnut; Hapy, Duamutef, Kebehsenuef, and Imsety will expel this hunger which is in my belly and this thirst which is on my lips". However, in the New Kingdom Book of the Going Forth by Day (the Book of the Dead, Spell 137), tells us more about these gods:

"O sons of Horus, Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, Kebehsenuef: as you spread your protection over your father Osiris-Khentimentiu, so spread your protection over (the deceased), as you remove the impediment from Osiris-Khentimentiu, so he might live with the gods and drive Seth from him."

"As for the tribunal that is behind Osiris, Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, Kebehsenuef; it is these who are behind the Great Bear in the northern sky....As for these seven spirits, Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, Kebehsenuef, Maayotef, He-Who-is-under-his-Moringa-Tree, and Horus-the-Eyeless, it is they who were set by Anubis as a protection for the burial of Osiris."

In the tenth division of the Book of Gates, these supernatural beings are also shown restraining the ummti (wmmti) snakes, who were allies of Apophis, an enemy of Re, with chains.

As protectors then, it is not surprising that from the Middle Kingdom through the Greco-Roman era, these deities are referenced in almost every tomb, and their powers are invoked upon almost all coffins and canopic equipment. We find actual representations of them during the 18th Dynasty on the sides of the coffin trough, with Anubis-Amywet and Anubis-Khenty-seh-netjer standing between the genii. They were also depicted on New Kingdom sarcophagi in stone and wood. During this period three dimensional representations of their heads adorned the lids of canopic jars, because they were thought to be either the guardians or the actual reincarnation of the specific organs removed during he mummification process. In this regard, Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef and Kebehsenuef were linked with the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines respectively, though sometimes the associations of Hapy and Duamutef are found switched about. They were also associated with other body parts. For example Hapy and Duamutef were linked to the hands, while Imsety and Kebehsenuef were linked with the feet (Spell 149 form the Pyramid Text).

On canopic equipment, their heads were originally depicted as human, though a few canopic chests from the Middle Kingdom depict them with falcon heads. During these early periods, they usually wear the divine tripartite wig, though in the tomb of King Ay in the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank of Luxor (ancient Thebes), Imsety and Hapy are depicted wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, while Duamutef and Kebeshsenuef wear the White Crown of Southern Egypt.

However, between the early 18th Dynasty and the middle 19th Dynasty, their heads were depicted differently, with Imsety's head remaining human, while Hapy took on the appearance of an Ape, Duamutef that of a Jackal, and Kebeshsenuef that of a falcon. This form of representation persisted into the Greco-Roman period, with the exception of the 22nd and 23rd Dynasties, when at least six different combinations of the gods can be found, the most common showing Duamutef and Kebeshsenuef swapping heads.

Late in the 3rd Intermediate Period, these deities even gained more prominence. In addition to their presence on coffins and conopic equipment, faience amulets of the deities were attached to the bandages or other mummy wrappings. From the time of Ramesses III, was images of the Four Sons of Horus were placed in the mummy's body cavity.

Interestingly, the Four Sons of Horus continued to be depicted on funerary equipment into the Ptolemaic and Roman eras, and the last known instances are found as late as the 4th century AD, well into the Christian era.

Sopedu

Sopedu was a border patrol god in his role of "lord of the east", and was depicted either as a crouching falcon or Bedouin warrior wearing a crown of tall plumes.

However, in the Pyramid Texts Spedu's astral nature is emphasized. The goddess Isis, in her aspect of the star Sirius (Sothis) who is the herald of the Nile inundation, is impregnated by the king. Horus-Sopedu, is the result of this union. he is a natural coalescence of two hawk deities. More evidence of Sopedu as a stellar deity occurs in the equation of the god with the teeth of the king when the latter has become a star-god. This idea emphasizes the king's invincibility since Sopedu is "sharp of teeth" himself, a vivid epithet of a bird of prey.

Sopedu's domain includes the eastern desert, and he protects the Egyptian held turquoise mines of the Sinai peninsula where inscriptions bear witness to his worship at Serabit el-Khadim. Hower, his main cult center is in the northeast Delta at Saft el-Henna.