Ash

**Ash**


 * Other Names:**

As


 * Titles:**

“Lord of the Land of the Olive Tree”

“Beloved of Set”

"He of //Nebut//" (the main center of his worship)

“Lord of //Tehenu"// (Libya)


 * Family:**

Ash was sometimes pictured as a companion and homosexual lover of Set (who had the duties of the god of desert storms.)

The god of the Sahara Desert, Ash was associated with the fertile oasis. In this capacity as a desert god he looked after those who had to travel through the desert, ensuring that they did not die of its cruel heat. He was also protector of the royal estates, as well as the vineyards of the western Nile Delta. Flinders-Petrie in his 1922 expedition to the Sahara found several references to Ash in wine jar seals: “I am refreshed by this Ash” was a common inscription.

Ash’s written history goes back to the 1st Dynasty and he was the very first god ever to be depicted with a human body and an animal's head. Ash was depicted as a man with the head of a falcon, or as having three heads: those of a lion, a cobra, and a vulture. On rare occasions, Ash and Set were depicted similarly, as the Set Animal.

Egyptian Deities - A