- Representations of Banebdjedet
- Banebdjedet: From Osiris to Greek god Pan
- Banebdjedet | Lord of Sexual Pleasure
Representations of Banebdjedet
Banebdjedet is mostly depicted either as a squatting ram-headed god with the ankh symbol or as a seated god with the Atef crown; briefly in the 25th Dynasty, he appears as a naked god lying on a bier with a phallus, flanked by Isis and Nephthys.
In the Late Period, Banebdjedet is shown as a standing ram with his phallus partially immersed in a vessel. Also, Banebdjedet was a ram god associated with the town of Mendes (Djedet), Banebdjedet was the northern equivalent of the god Khnum.
Banebdjedet sacred animal was a ram or a goat. His cult Centre in the north-east Delta. His consort was a fish or dolphin goddess called Hatmehyt (Foremost of the Fishes), who seems to have been the original local deity of Mendes. And his son Harpokrates (Horus the child).
As the word for ram (ba), and the word for soul or manifestation sounded the same in Egyptian, ram gods were often regarded as manifestations of other deities.
Banebdjedet could be shown with four rams’ heads representing the four bas of the creator sun god. This linked Banebdjedet with Osiris, who was often named as a ba of the sun god.
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The Book of the Heavenly Cow states that “The ba of Osiris is the ram of Mendes.” Passages in the Coffin Texts suggest that the soul of Osiris took refuge in Mendes when his body was killed by Seth.
Banebdjedet could also be identified with the first four gods to rule Egypt: Ra-Atum, Shu, Geb, and Osiris. Huge granite shrines for these four deities were set up in the sanctuary at Mendes. This site, known today as Tell el- Ruba, has revealed a cemetery with sarcophagi for the burial of the sacred rams.
Banebdjedet: From Osiris to Greek god Pan
In the New Kingdom, Banebdjedet was equated with the Ba of Osiris; in the 26th Dynasty, he was seen as another form of Osiris. This association with the Ba of Osiris also linked him to the Bennu bird. During the Greco-Roman period, the Egyptians associated Banebdjedet with the ancient god-king Amun-Re. In the Interpretatio Graeca, Banebdjedet was equated with the Greek god Pan.
According to the Chester-Beatty Papyrus 1, Banebdjedet served as a judge in the divine conflict between Horus and Seth. He is often depicted as a ram with outwardly coiled horns, with a uraeus snake on his head. Banebdjedet was worshipped in several divine forms, including as “Ba-neb-djedet-anch-Re” (Living Djedet Ram of Re).
Banebdjedet was not always treated as a form of Osiris. In a New Kingdom story, he is consulted by the Divine Tribunal. When they order the ram god to judge between Horus and Seth, he diplomatically suggests that they ask the goddess Neith instead. When that fails to settle matters, Banebdjedet proposes that the throne be given to Seth because he is older than Horus.
Banebdjedet | Lord of Sexual Pleasure
Ram gods were particularly renowned for their virility, and one of Banebdjedet’s epithets was Lord of Sexual Pleasure. A stela from a chapel in the Ramesseum complex records that the god Ptah took the form of Banebdjedet to sleep with a mortal woman. The son that resulted was the future pharaoh, Rameses II.
The strong sexual urges displayed by rams are the probable reason for the interesting relationship between Banebdjedet and the mother of the pharaoh Ramesses III (Dynasty XX) who left an account of it on a stela in his mortuary temple at Medinet Habu in western Thebes.
The god TATENEN (called here PTAH-Tanen) states to the king, whom he regards as his son, that he transformed himself into Banebdjedet in order to copulate with the queen. But it could also be that the inscription is attempting to identify the chthonic deity Ptah-Tanen with the sun-god, traditional father of the Egyptian pharaoh, since the ram-god in the religious text known as the Litany of RA is represented as ‘lord of the sky’ and ‘life of Ra’.
Greek writers reported that a male goat was honored as a fertility god at Mendes and identified with the Greek god Pan. A Persian king of the fourth century BCE is alleged to have gone mad after sacking the temple and eating the sacred goat.
The sexual aspect of the cult at Mendes made it particularly disliked by early Christians. Banebdjedet’s form as a ram or goat-headed man was reinterpreted as a devil figure who entered Western tradition as the horned King of the Witches.
