Ancient Egypt is famous for its rich mythology. One of the most revered and beloved by the Egyptians gods was Hapi. He was loved both in Lower and Upper Egypt. We’ll talk about him today. We will find out why the Egyptians called the god Hapi the creator of grain and what power he personified.
Who is Hapi?
This is one of the oldest Egyptian gods. There is little information about his birth. His father is considered the primitive ocean of Nun, who created most of the supreme Egyptian gods.
Hapi was the patron saint of floods. It was he who poured the great river Nile, saturating the earth with fertile silt. He was also called the "master of birds and swamp fish", "the master of the river carrying plants." It is understandable why the Egyptians glorified the god Hapi. The fact is that the African Nile River, flowing through the whole of Egypt, during the spill brought life-giving moisture to the Egyptian land.
Hapi is a caring, kind and generous god who served water and food. That is why the ancient Egyptians loved him so much. In addition, he monitored the cosmic balance.
The Egyptians identified the annual flood of the Nile with the advent of Hapi. After all, he took care that the arable land gave a rich harvest, and the meadows gave food to livestock. That is why the Egyptians called the god Hapi the creator of grain. During the spill of the Nile, sacrifices were made to him, and papyrus was thrown into the river with a list of gifts.
Name origin
The name Hapi (or Hapey) is still a mystery to historians. According to one version, the River Nile was once called that. However, he was not the god of the Nile himself, but his fertile power. According to another version, the word "hapi" is translated as "only current" (the flow of the Nile is implied).
Lord of the river
Hapi personified the Great Nile. This river, according to the beliefs of the Egyptians, originates in the afterlife of the Duat. Its origins are protected by a snake. It is at the first rapids of the river, in the Henu Cave, that Hapi lives.
The deity is often portrayed in conjunction with his wife. Most often it was the goddess Meret (translated from ancient Egyptian - “beloved”). At the same time, in Upper Egypt, Hapi had another wife - Nehbet (the goddess of power of the pharaoh with the head of a kite). But the inhabitants of Lower Egypt preferred to see God in the company of the goddess Uto, who patronized the city of the same name in the Nile Delta. She was depicted as a red cobra.
What did Hapi look like?
The Egyptians represented him in the image of a man with a small belly and bulging, almost female, breasts. He had skin with a blue or green tint. The hue of his skin personified the color of river water, which changed depending on the season. God figurines were painted in blue, symbolizing the divine principle. Hapi was only wearing a loincloth. His head was crowned with a tiara (headdress of the ancient kings). The symbols on the tiara varied. In the hands of the deity was a vessel with water.
Interesting fact: sometimes Hapi chose the mask of a hippo.
It is noteworthy that the Roman and Greek artists represented God in a slightly different form. He was portrayed as a large man with a couple extra pounds, curls with a beard. Sphinx, cornucopia and 16 children were traditionally next to it. The number of children also has a symbolic significance - it was believed that the water level rose by 16 cubits during the flood of the Nile.
Hapi Upper and Lower Egypt
Upper and Lower Egypt were two different kingdoms. For a long time they fought among themselves and only centuries later united. It is noteworthy that the cause of one of the largest wars was the love of hippos. The pharaoh of one kingdom ordered another to destroy the pool with hippos, which his opponent loved. This war lasted more than one century.
The gods of Upper and Lower Egypt were also often depicted in different ways. Moreover, they were given different names. However, the ancient Egyptian god Hapi was worshiped in almost all Egyptian regions.
The inhabitants of Upper Egypt decorated his tiara with images of lotuses, lilies or even crocodiles. In Upper Egypt, there were a lot of these predators.
Tiara Hapi of Lower Egypt was adorned with papyrus and images of frogs. They were the symbols of this area.
Hapi and Sebek
The two deities are very similar, despite the apparent differences in appearance. After all, if Hapi was like a man, then Sebek was a deity with the head of a crocodile. More ancient cults painted him in a crocodile body. True, such images are rare.
Sebek is one of the most ancient gods of Egypt. He commanded the water and controlled the spill of the Nile. That is, almost competed with Hapi. That is why these deities in no one of the Egyptian regions did not have the same power. Where the crocodile was revered, there was no place for the god Hapi. In these areas, Sebek not only lost its significance. He turned into a more uncontrollable, unpredictable and treacherous deity.
Historians believe that ancient people identified with the gods the most dangerous creatures. Today, crocodiles kill hundreds of people a year, and in ancient times, probably, there were much more victims of predators. The magical way to protect yourself from the risk of being eaten by a crocodile is to make it a deity. A huge temple complex dedicated to Sebek was even built in Central Egypt. Thousands of mummified crocodiles were found in it, which the Egyptians kept as sacred domestic animals.
Conclusion
Today we found out why the Egyptians glorified the god Hapi. This deity is one of the most interesting characters in the mythology of the Land of the Pyramids. Hapi is the kindest and most generous of the huge pantheon of Greek gods who, judging by the ancient papyri, did not particularly care about mere mortals.