Banebdjedet

Banebdjedet


 * Other Names:**

Ba Neb Tetet, Banaded, Baneb Djedet


 * Meaning of Name:**

“The Soul of the Lord of the //Djed //” (Pillar of Stability)


 * Hieroglyphics:**


 * Titles:**

“Lord of the Sky”

“//Ba// Lord of Mendes” (Mendes was his main center of worship)

"Great of Souls"

“Life of the Sun”


 * Family:**

Banebdjedet’s wife was thought to be Hat-Mehit. Occasionally he was considered to be the father of Horus.

Banebdjedet was a god of peace and level-headedness who helped to judge the souls of the dead, and was also associated with sexual prowess. Worshipers prayed to this god to bring them prophetic dreams. Amulets of Banebdjetdet, made of gold, lapis lazuli, and faience, have been found. By coupling with the queen mother, Banebdjedet was claimed to have fathered Ramses the Great. A living, sacred ram was kept at Mendes and worshiped as the incarnation of the god. Banebdjedet was sometimes associated with the //Djed//.

There is some evidence that Banebdjedet incorporated the essence of the world in four spirits, corresponding to the four first rulers of the world; Ra, Shu, Geb, and Osiris. Banebdjedet was pictured as a ram, or as a ram-headed man. In some instances he was shown with four heads – two facing forward and two facing back – to symbolize the souls of the four gods he represented.


 * Quotes from the Book of the Dead and other sources:**

“O Exalted One Who is Praised, Great of Souls, Great and Powerful Ram, who strikes dread into the gods, crowned upon his great throne, who makes a way for the glorified spirit and soul of the Osiris.”


 * Modern Influence:**

This god has been sadly perverted in sensational “occult” fiction, for Banebdjedet is the benign original for a travesty called the “goat of Mendes” (Baphomet), who is supposed to be some sort of diabolic spirit. Egypt had no goat-gods - Banebdjedet was a sheep, not a goat. This mistake may have arisen from the Greeks, who associated Banebdjedet with their goat-footed god, Pan.

Egyptian Deities - B