Anhur
Egyptian · deity · old kingdom · deity
Anhur is named after an errand. The Distant Goddess leaves Egypt for Nubia in a temper, in the shape of a lioness; somebody has to go and bring her back, because the land does not flourish while she is away; and this god is the one who did it, so his name is the sentence 'he who leads back the distant one'. He came home with a wife, Mehit, and a reputation as a hunter, and Egypt's soldiers took him as their own. The Greeks looked at the spear and the temper and called him Ares.
Domains
- war
- hunting
Relations
Sources
- Reference treatments of Anhur/Onuris, his name, his iconography, his wife and his identification with Shu.