Hapi (Nile god)

Hapi was the god of the annual flooding of the Nile in ancient
Hapi
Egyptian religion. The flood deposited rich silt (fertile soil) on
the river's banks, allowing the Egyptians to grow crops.[1] Hapi
was greatly celebrated among the Egyptians. Some of the titles of
Hapi were "Lord of the Fish and Birds of the Marshes" and "Lord
of the River Bringing Vegetation". Hapi is typically depicted as
an androgynous figure with a big belly and large drooping
breasts, wearing a loincloth and ceremonial false beard.[2]

Contents
Mythology
Iconography
References
Further reading
External links

Mythology
The annual flooding of the Nile occasionally was said to be the
Arrival of Hapi.[1] Since this flooding provided fertile soil in an Hapi, bearing offerings
area that was otherwise desert, Hapi symbolised fertility. He had Name in hieroglyphs
large female breasts because he was said to bring a rich and
nourishing harvest. Due to his fertile nature he was sometimes
considered the "father of the gods",[1] and was considered to be a Major cult center Elephantine
caring father who helped to maintain the balance of the cosmos,
Symbol Lotus plant
the world or universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious
system.[1] He was thought to live within a cavern at the supposed
source of the Nile near Aswan.[3] The cult of Hapi was mainly located at the First Cataract named
Elephantine. His priests were involved in rituals to ensure the steady levels of flow required from the
annual flood. At Elephantine the official nilometer, a measuring device, was carefully monitored to
predict the level of the flood, and his priests must have been intimately concerned with its monitoring.

Hapi was not regarded as the god of the Nile itself but of the inundation event.[1] He was also considered
a "friend of Geb" the Egyptian god of the earth,[4] and the "lord of Neper", the god of grain.[5]

Iconography
 Although male and
wearing the false beard,
Hapi was pictured with
pendulous breasts and a
large stomach, as
representations of the
fertility of the Nile. He
also was usually given
Limestone slab showing the Nile blue[2] or green skin,
flood god Hapi. 12th Dynasty. From representing water. Other
the foundations of the temple of attributes varied,
Thutmose III, Koptos, Egypt. Petrie Hapi, shown as an iconographic pair
depending upon the
Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, of genii symbolically tying together
region of Egypt in which upper and lower Egypt
London
the depictions exist. In
Lower Egypt, he was
adorned with papyrus plants and attended by frogs, present in the region, and symbols of it. Whereas in
Upper Egypt, it was the lotus and crocodiles which were more present in the Nile, thus these were the
symbols of the region, and those associated with Hapi there. Hapi often was pictured carrying offerings
of food or pouring water from an amphora, but also, very rarely, was depicted as a hippopotamus. During
the Nineteenth Dynasty Hapi is often depicted as a pair of figures, each holding and tying together the
long stem of two plants representing Upper and Lower Egypt, symbolically binding the two halves of the
country around a hieroglyph meaning "union".[2] This symbolic representation was often carved at the
base of seated statues of the pharaoh.[2]

Egyptian historian Al Maqrizi (1364–1442) related in his "El

Khutat El Maqrizia (The Maqrizian Plans) that living virgins
were sacrificed annually as "brides of the Nile" ("Arous El Nil")
and this has been historically accepted as late as the 1970s.[6] but
this claim is disputed by some Egyptologists such as Bassam El
Shammaa.[7]
Hapi is featured in Egyptian Money.

References
1. Wilkinson, p.106
2. Wilkinson, p.107
3. Wilkinson, p.108
4. Wilkinson, p.105
5. Wilkinson, p.117
6. Desmond Stewart, Wonders of Man The Pyramids and the Sphinx pg.99
7. https://www.masress.com/en/dailynews/107916
Works cited

Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt (https://
archive.org/details/completegodsgodd00wilk_0). Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-
05120-7.

Further reading
 Bonneau, Danielle (1964). La Crue du Nil: Divinité égyptienne, à travers mille ans d'histoire
332 av.–641 ap. J.–C., d'après les auteurs grecs et latins (in French). C. Klincksieck.

External links
Hapi, God of the Nile, Fertility, the North and South (http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoi
chi/themestream/hapi.html)
Egyptian God - Hapi: Father of the gods (http://www.egyptartsite.com/hapi.html)
Ancient Egypt: The Mythology - Hapi (http://www.egyptianmyths.net/hapi.htm)

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