Anhur

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

• spouse: MehitThe marriage his name is about.Reference treatment of Anhur, who brought his wife Mehit, his female counterpart, from Nubia. (secondary)
• counterpart of: ShuMerged with Shu, who holds the sky up — which is what 'one who carries the sky' would make Anhur too, if that reading of the name is the right one.Reference treatment of Anhur's identification with Shu as Anhur-Shu, on the strength of the shared four-plume headdress and of the 'sky-bearer' reading of his name. (secondary)

Sources

• Anhur, the Greek Onuris, is the Egyptian war god of Thinis and Abydos, husband of Mehit, whose name records his bringing back of the Distant Goddess from Nubia and who was identified with Shu as Anhur-Shu.: Reference treatments of Anhur/Onuris, his name, his iconography, his wife and his identification with Shu. (secondary)