THE DEITIES KHEPRI / KHEPRA / KHEPERA (god) - Khepri was a creator and solar god. He was depicted as a scarab beetle or a man with a beetle head. The name "khepri" means, "He who is Coming into Being". A dung beetle rolls its eggs in a ball of dung on the ground and the baby beetles crawl out from the dung. The rolling dung ball is seen to represent the sun, and the emergence of life from the "primeval mound". An illustration of the Khepri. Copyright 1996 Deurer.All rights reserved. Egyptart at:- http://members.aol.com/egyptart/list.html As early as the 5th Dynasty (2494-2345 BC) Khepri is mentioned in the "Pyramid Texts". Khepri was linked with the creator god, Atum, and also with the sun-god, Ra. Khepri was linked with resurrection and was believed to be swallowed each evening by Nut, his mother, to pass through her body and be reborn in the morning. From the Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC) onwards, the scarab shaped amulet became very popular and was incorporated into jewellery. Scarab talismans were placed over the heart of the deceased to protect it from admitting to sins during its questioning before being admitted to the afterlife. Many temples had a large stone scarab on a plinth, representing the temple as the Primeval Mound. There is one such scarab still in place near to the sacred lake at the Temple of Amun at Karnak. The main cult centre for the worship of Khepri was at Hermopolis Magna. KHNUM (god) - Khnum was depicted as a man with a ram`s head or as a ram. The ram associated with Khnum was the domesticated ram, Ovis longpipes, which has curly horns which extended horizontally from it`s head. An illustration of Khnum. Courtesy of NEFERCHICHI`S TOMB at http://www.neferchichi.com Khnum was worshipped on the island of Elephantine at Aswan from the Early Dynastic period (3100 - 2686 BC) onwards. Here he was a member of a triad with the goddesses Satet and Anuket. He was also worshipped at the temple at Esna, with his consort, the lioness-goddess, Menhyt. This temple is well preserved today. Khnum was one of the principal creator gods and was believed to have modelled the human body from clay on his potters wheel. Picture of a statue of Khnum. With kind permission from Kings Royal Imports at http://www.kingsroyalimports.com/ Khnum was known as the patron god of potters, as well as being associated with the fertility of the soil and the annual inundation of the Nile. He was believed to control the Nile flood from his cave under the island of Bigga.The Egyptian word for "ram" is "ba", which also means "spiritual essence".Khnum was looked upon as being the "ba" of the sun god Ra and was depicted with a ram`s head during his journey through the underworld in his solar barque. KHONS / KHONSU (god) - He was a moon or lunar deity. Khonsu`s name means "wanderer" and may refer to the movement of the moon across the sky. He was often depicted as a mummified human, sometimes with a hawks` head, holding a sceptre and flail, with a "sidelock of youth" and a headdress of a horizontal crescent moon surmounted by a full moon. He was also shown as a cynocephalus baboon. Picture of a statue of Khonsu. With kind permission from Kings Royal Imports at http://www.kingsroyalimports.com/ Khonsu was associated with childbirth and is thought to be the son of Amun and Mut in Thebes. A temple dedicated to him was built in the 20th dynasty (1186 - 1069 BC) within the area of the temple of Amun at Karnak. He was also believed to be the son of the god, Sobek and the goddess, Hathor at Kom Ombo. Khonsu was also known as "the provider" and in this manifestation he was thought to be able to drive out evil spirits and became an important god of healing. KUK (god) - He was a frog headed deity whose consort was the snake headed goddess, Kauket. Kuk was the personification of darkness. His cult centre was at Hermopolis Magna.