God of creation and the waters in Egyptian mythology
Khnum
The Egyptian god Khnum was usually depicted with the head of a ram.
Name in hieroglyphs
Major cult center
Elephantine, Esna
Symbol
the potter's wheel
Consort
Heqet, Satis, Neith, Menhit, and Nebtuwi
Offspring
Heka, Serket and Anuket
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Ipy
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K
Kebechet
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Khepri
Kherty
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Kothar-wa-Khasis
M
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N
Nebethetepet
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Neith
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Neper
P
Pakhet
Perit
Petbe
Ptah
Q
Qebui
Qed-her
Qetesh
R
Ra
Raet-Tawy
Rekhyt
Rem
Renenutet
Renpet
Renpetneferet
Repyt
Resheph
S
Sah
Satis
Sebiumeker
Sekhmet
Seker
Serapis
Serket
Seshat
Shai
Shed
Shesmetet
Shezmu
Sia
Sobek
Sopdet
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T
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Khnum, also romanised Khnemu (/kəˈnuːm/; Ancient Egyptian: 𓎸𓅱𓀭 ẖnmw, Koinē Greek: Χνοῦβις), was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities in Upper Egypt, originally associated with the Nile cataract. He held the responsibility of regulating the annual inundation of the river, emanating from the caverns of Hapy, the deity embodying the flood. Since the annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt and clay, and its water brought life to its surroundings, he eventually became known as the creator of human bodies and the life force kꜣ ("ka"). Using a potter's wheel and clay, he fashioned these entities and placed them within their mothers' wombs. Often, his creative endeavors were overseen by another god. He was later described as having moulded the other deities, and was revered as the creator of the animal kingdom.[1][2][3]
Worship of Khnum spanned from the First Dynasty and persisted even into the Greco-Roman period when rule by native dynasties had ended. Initially, his primary cult center was at Herwer in Middle Egypt. While his presence on the island of Elephantine dates back to the Early Dynastic Period, it wasn't until the New Kingdom that he ascended to become the principal deity of the island, acquiring the title as the overseer of the First Cataract of the Nile River. At Elephantine, Khnum formed a divine triad alongside the goddesses Satis and Anuket. His religious significance also extended to Esna, located south of Thebes.[2][4][5]
Khnum's primary function in the inception of human beings was typically portrayed with the horns of a ram, one of the sacred animals worshiped in Ancient Egypt, representing aspects such as fertility, rebirth, regeneration, and resurrection. He was originally illustrated with horizontally spiraled horns (based on the extinct ovis longipes palaeoaegyptiacus), but his representation later evolved to feature the down-turned horns of Ammon in the New Kingdom (based on the extinct ovis platyra palaeoaegyptiacus). Khnum's imagery also includes the crocodile head, denoting his dominion over the Nile. He can additionally be found wearing the atef crown adorned with two feathers, or the white crown of Upper Egypt.[2][6][7][8]
^Velde, H. te (1980). "A Few Remarks upon the Religious Significance of Animals in Ancient Egypt". Numen. 27 (1): 76–82. doi:10.2307/3269982. ISSN 0029-5973.
^ abcHart, George (2005). The Routledge dictionary of Egyptian gods and goddesses (2 ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-36116-3.
^Pinch, Geraldine (2004). Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of ancient Egypt. USA: Oxford University Press.
^Redford, Donald B. (2001). "Khnum". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195102345.
^Hallof, Jochen (2011-10-27). "Esna" (PDF). UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. 1602 (1). Los Angeles: UCLA: 1–15.
^Ali, Mona Ezz (2020). "God Heryshef" (PDF). Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality. 18 (2): 27.
^Treasure, Matthew (2021-01-31). ""Four Faces on One Neck": The Tetracephalic Ram as an Iconographic Form in the Late New Kingdom". Theses and Dissertations.
^Hassib, Ayat Abid El Aziz; Mahmoud, Abeer Fathy (2022). "Publication of a funerary stela of (WAH-ib-Ra) GEM 15461 "In the Grand Egyptian Museum"". International Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Heritage Research. 5 (2): 97–116 – via Academia.
of the Nile. Heqet was originally the female counterpart of Khnum, or the wife of Khnum by whom she became the mother of Her-ur. It has been proposed...
Khnum, the god of creation and growth. As a consequence, the king connected Khnum's name with his own. Khufu's full name (Khnum-khufu) means "Khnum protect...
with the god Khnum, and the goddess Satis. She may have been the sister of the goddess Satis or she may have been a junior consort to Khnum instead. A temple...
chamber tomb of the ancient Egyptian high status priests Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht, which dates from the 12th Dynasty. The whole tomb group is now in...
Nyankh-Khnum and Khnum-hotep. Both men lived and served under pharaoh Niuserre during the 5th Dynasty (c. 2494–2345 BC). Nyankh-Khnum and Khnum-hotep each...
Tameniu and in the Amduat Papyrus Inscribed for Nesitaset. Khepri and Khnum Khepri was a scarab beetle who rolled up the Sun in the mornings and was...
contains 32 columns. The top part of the stele depicts three Egyptian deities: Khnum, Satis and Anuket. In front of them, Djoser faces them, carrying offerings...
in the Aswan Museum located on the island, including a mummified ram of Khnum. Artifacts dating back to prehistoric Egypt have been found on Elephantine...
(Banebdjed) is an ancient Egyptian ram god with a cult centre at Mendes. Khnum was the equivalent god in Upper Egypt. His wife was the goddess Hatmehit...
is unknown, but she is sometimes credited as the daughter of Neith and Khnum, making her a sister to Sobek and Apep. Scorpion stings lead to paralysis...
several works of fiction in Arabic on ancient Egypt such as In Search For Khnum and The Old Red Hippopotamus. Dr Bassir worked as a member of several archaeological...
Nyankh-Khnum and Khnum-hotep. Both men lived and served under pharaoh Niuserre during the 5th Dynasty (c. 2494–2345 BC). Nyankh-Khnum and Khnum-hotep each...
in a cemetery west of the town. The temple of Esna, dedicated to the god Khnum, his consorts Menhit and Nebtu, their son, Heka, and the goddess Neith,...
ending it. One of his priests explained the connection between the god Khnum and the rise of the Nile to the Pharaoh, who then had a dream in which the...
Third Intermediate Period hymn, The Great Hymn of Khnum, he is identified with the creator god Khnum, who created "all that is" on his potter's wheel....
Hathor. His cartouche also appears in the column shafts of the Temple of Khnum at Esna. Layout elements of the temple are: Large Hypostyle Hall Small Hypostyle...
Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht, was discovered by Egyptian workmen directed by Sir William Flinders Petrie and Ernest Mackay in 1907. Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht lived...
Nenets people of Siberia Short for the Book of Numbers of the Hebrew Bible Khnum, a god of Egyptian mythology Mios Num, an island of western New Guinea Num...
of Upper Egypt, particularly at Esna, Menhit was said to be the wife of Khnum and the mother of Heka. She was also known to be the mother of Shu. She...
Some Theosophical sources tried to syncretize this motif with the deity Khnum, along with Serapis and Pluto. Under the Greek theonym Chnuphis, this figure...