Nefertem

Nefertem in hieroglyphics
short	Nefertem Nfrtm Perfect in being and not being
or with  determinative
or	Nefertem Nfrtm
or
or with  determinative

Nefertem (also Nefertum, Nefer-Tem, Nefer-Temu) is a deity in ancient Egyptian mythology . He was the patron god of ointments, anointing oils and fragrances, but primarily the youthful god of the lotus blossom.

iconography

Nefertem is depicted as a youthful god, which can be very different: On the one hand as a person with a lotus flower on his head, occasionally standing on a lying lion or with a sickle sword in his left hand; on the other hand, also with a human body with a lion's head or as a lion. However, the blue lotus is predominantly characteristic of Nefertem.

typical representations of Nefertem

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  Nefertem with a lotus flower on his head, as well as what scepter and ankh symbols

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  Nefertem with a blue lotus from which two tall feathers protrude

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  Tutankhamun as Nefertem on a blue lotus flower ( Egyptian Museum Cairo , Head of Nefertem , JE 60723)

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  Talisman of Osorkon (Third Intermediate Period) with Nefertem rising from the lotus ( Louvre , E10943)

mythology

According to Egyptian mythology, the lotus blossom emerged from the primeval waters, whose god was Nefertem. So the god was not only equated with the blue lotus, but also with the sun god, who also emerged from the plant. Many depictions therefore show him sitting on a lotus flower from which he emerged. This is how the connection to Re arose at the time of the Old Kingdom . In the pyramid texts it says about Nefertem: lotus flower on the nose of Re.

He is the son of Ptah , his mother is either Sachmet or Bastet and together with Sachmet and Ptah forms the triad of Memphis . In Buto , however, Nefertem was seen as the son of the serpent goddess Uto . There are also connections to the gods Month , Horus and Sokar , in the later period even to Bes .

cult

Due to its mythological characteristics, Nefertem was primarily the god of royal and divine monuments. Compared to other deities, he was much less revered, but more feared as the son of Sekhmet. For example, from the Third Intermediate Period , divine decrees in the form of amulets have been preserved, which were made for the birth of a child in order to protect it from the manifestations of the god Nefertem, among other things. However, there were also protective amulets with the image of Nefertem. Since the New Kingdom the deceased has appeared in the wake of Nefertem.

See also

• List of Egyptian gods

literature

• Hans Bonnet : Nefertem. In: Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , pp. 508-510.
• Wolfgang Helck , Eberhard Otto : Nefertem. In: Small Lexicon of Egyptology. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04027-0 , p. 199.
• Richard H. Wilkinson : The world of the gods in ancient Egypt. Faith - Power - Mythology. Theiss, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1819-6 , pp. 133-135.

Web links

Commons : Nefertum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Nefertem at isis.li ( Memento from September 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• Nefertem

Individual evidence

1. ^ Catalog for the Tutankhamun exhibition . 1980, p. 40.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Rolf Felde: Egyptian gods. 2nd enlarged and improved edition. R. Felde Eigenverlag, Wiesbaden 1995, p. 40.
3. ↑ Kurt Sethe : The ancient Egyptian pyramid texts based on the paper prints and photographs of the Berlin Museum ... Volume 1 Leipzig 1908–1922. Reprints: Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1960, Hildesheim: Olms 1969, Spruch 266, p. 188 .
4. ^ Raymond O. Faulkner: The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Translated into English. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1969, ISBN 978-0-19-815437-2 , p. 61.
5. ↑ Richard H. Wilkinson: The world of the gods in ancient Egypt: Faith - Power - Mythology. Stuttgart 2003, p. 135.