Apep
Egyptian · deity · primordial · deity
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
Sources
- The Amduat; the Book of Gates; the Book of Overthrowing Apep (Bremner-Rhind Papyrus).
- Reference treatments of Apep, of isfet and maat, and of the nightly solar journey.