Apep

The registry held Ra, Maat, the solar barque's destination and the whole machinery of the night journey, and not the reason any of it is dramatic. Apep is isfet — disorder — as a serpent so large he is measured in the texts by how many cubits of him there are, and he waits in the Duat every night for the boat. He is speared by Set, coiled against by Mehen, cut up by cats and by the sun's crew, and he is back the following night, because he is not an adversary who can be finished but a condition the world is under. The priests helped: the Bremner-Rhind Papyrus has them modelling him in wax, naming him so the spell will stick, and then spitting on him, treading on him, stabbing him and burning him, every day, as ordinary temple business.

Domains

• chaos
• darkness

Powers

• to stop the solar barque by drinking the underworld river dry

Relations

• enemy: RaThe enmity is the fixed point of Egyptian religion: it happens every night, it is always won, and it is never finished. The reciprocal edge is added to Ra's record in the same pass.The Amduat, the Book of Gates and the Book of Overthrowing Apep, on the nightly assault on the solar barque. (primary)
• enemy: MehenSerpent against serpent: Mehen is coiled round the shrine on the barque precisely to keep Apep off it.Underworld books showing the serpent Mehen coiled protectively around the solar cabin against the attacking serpent. (primary)

Sources

• Apep, the Greek Apophis, is the Egyptian serpent of chaos who attacks the solar barque nightly in the Duat and is repelled by Ra's defenders, and against whom the Book of Overthrowing Apep prescribes a daily execration rite.: The Amduat; the Book of Gates; the Book of Overthrowing Apep (Bremner-Rhind Papyrus). (primary); Reference treatments of Apep, of isfet and maat, and of the nightly solar journey. (secondary)