Ihy

Ihy


 * Other Names:**

Ani, Ihi, Ehi, Ahi, Ihu, Ahy, Ehy


 * Meaning of Name:**

“Sistrum-Player”


 * Hieroglyphics:**




 * Titles:**

“Child of Gold”

“Bull of Confusion”

“Lord of Hearts”

“Jackal of Light”


 * Family:**

He was the son of Hathor and Horus. In some instances Ihy was thought to be the son of Isis, Nephthys, or Sekhmet.

Ihy was the protector of music and of musicians. He was invoked for rebirth and regeneration, and there is some evidence to suggest that Ihy ruled over blood, feces, and bodily fluids. In the Book of the Dead Ihy is called the “Lord of Bread” and is said to be “in charge of the beer,” in reference to offerings.

Ihy was depicted as a young man with a child’s Sidelock of Youth, wearing the White Crown and holding a sistrum. Ihy was thought to personify the jubilation emanating from the sistrum. As a child-god, Ihy was offered milk. During the Sed Festival of Hathor, Ihy was symbolized by a frisky bull-calf leaping at the head of a group of dancers. The hieroglyphic of a leaping bull-calf meant “fearlessness.” He was described in a hymn as “the splendid lotus flower beside his Mother.”

Ihy is associated with an obscure ritual in which bull calves were allowed to trample the plot of earth outside temples and burial chambers. “I bring the calves for you, that is, the black one, the white one, the speckled one, the red one, and the auburn one, so that all of your great, sacred land will be freed of all evil, your mysterious place concealed from all enemies.” The objective was to protect the Osiris’ body and his tomb. By trampling the soil, the calves, on a ritual level, forced the worms incarnating the corpse's morbid discharges to come out of the ground, so that the process of resurrection could begin.

How Ihy’s zest for life drives out all fear is touchingly encapsulated in an Old Kingdom tomb relief showing a herdsman fording a stream with his cattle. The herdsman must somehow overcome his cattle’s antipathy to the water where unknown perils and dangers lurk, and for this purpose, he carries on his shoulders a young bull-calf – the herdsman has armed himself with an incarnation of Hathor's fearless child. Through this ruse, which must have been much used by Egyptian herdsmen, his cattle’s affections are stirred, their fears forgotten, as they boldly plunge into the water, lured to their new pasture-land by the frisky young bull.


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

Hymn of Ihy


 * Outside of Egypt:**

Some theories state that the “golden calf” mentioned in the bible was meant to be a statue of Ihy (Exodus 32:4-32:6.)

Egyptian Deities - I