Bes - Mythology

Bes (also spelt as Bisu) was an Egyptian deity worshipped in the later periods of dynastic history as a protector of households. While past studies identified Bes as a Middle Kingdom import from Nubia, some more recent research believes him to be an Egyptian native. Mentions of Bes can be traced to the southern lands of the Old Kingdom; however his cult did not become widespread until well into the New Kingdom. His name appears to be connected to a Nubian word for cat, besa, which literally means protect ...

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Bes, like many other Egyptian Gods, went through many metamorphosis in his history. As Bes' cult was never official, and he never had dedicated temples or priests, the details of the particular deity are even more difficult to trace. Researches such as Richard Wilkinson believe that in its later inceptions Bes was a grand general term encompassing up to ten weaker deities - Aha, Amam, the earlier Bes, Hayet, Ihty, Mefdjet, Menew, Segeb, Sopdu and Tetenu. And as those minor deities became associated with Bes, the greater Bes was also becoming associated with the even greater set of protective deities such as Amun, Min, ...

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Bes, Bes - Mythology, Bes - Iconography, Bes - Worship, Bes - Sources

Read more here: » Bes: Encyclopedia II - Bes - Mythology

Images of the god were kept in homes to ward off evil, and so he was depicted quite differently from the other gods. Normally gods were shown in profile, but instead Bes appeared in portrait, ithyphallic, and sometimes in a soldier's tunic, so as to appear ready to launch an attack on any approaching evil. Bes was a household protector, throughout its history becoming responsible for such varied tasks as killing snakes, fighting off evil spirits, watching after children, and aiding (by fighting off evil spirits) women in labour (and thus p ...

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Bes, Bes - Mythology, Bes - Iconography, Bes - Worship, Bes - Sources

Read more here: » Bes: Encyclopedia II - Bes - Worship

Modern scholars such as James Romano demonstrated that in its earliest inceptions, Bes was a representation of a lion rearing up on its hind legs. Over time, this image became grossly distorted, and he came to be seen as a hideously ugly dwarf, with long tongue, bow legs, and some feline body parts, and sometimes a lion's head. After the Third Intermediate Period, Bes is often seen as just the head ...

See also:

Bes, Bes - Mythology, Bes - Iconography, Bes - Worship, Bes - Sources

Read more here: » Bes: Encyclopedia II - Bes - Iconography