Who is the God Apophis

Apophis was believed to be a serpent god who represented the powers of darkness, non-being and dissolution. It was believed that he had a great conflict with the Sun god Re. He was known to be an opponent of light and truth. He was also known as Apep.

Rivalry with Sun God Re

Apophis had a great rivalry with the Sun God Re. It was believed in ancient Egypt that the solar barque was attacked by the serpent god Apophis when the sun emerged every morning after his journey through the underworld. Sometimes, he was equated with the god of chaos. Seth.

He has many epithets such as ‘evil lizard’, ‘serpent of rebirth’ etc. The epithet ‘serpent of re-birth’ was probably implied to him because he was also believed to swallow the Sun god Re and later vomited him as a metaphor of re-birth.

Iconography of Apophis

Apophis is generally shown as a large serpent. An interesting image of Apophis came from the tomb of  Ramesses VI in the Valley of Kings. Here he is shown as a twelve-headed serpent above its back. Sometimes, he is shown to be cut up with a knife by Re or Hathor.

Eye of Apophis

‘Eye of Apophis’ is another interesting aspect related to Apophis. In several art scenes in ancient Egyptian temples, kings are depicted striking a ball-like object which symbolizes the evil ‘Eye of Apophis’. Abu Simbel temple is such kind of temple.

Book of Apophis

Book of Apophis was a so-called collection of those magical texts and spells which were used to get protection from Apophis. This collection is dated back to the late New Kingdom. The rituals were basically described in this book on how to get rid of from the harmful effects of Apophis.

Rituals Related to Apophis

Rituals related to Apophis actually showed the need to being protected from the evil powers of Apophis. Such type of ritual was cutting into pieces of a wax model of a serpent and then burning it. Another ritual was drawing a picture of the serpent on a piece of papyrus, then sealing it in a box and set it on fire.

Defeat of Apophis

While studying the religious system of any particular type, the presence of evil power and its destruction by the so-called good side of religion is a very common thing. In the case of Apophis, the same thing can be seen. In ancient Egyptian religious pantheon, other deities are shown involved in the process of the destruction of Apophis.

Such example can be given here about the ‘Great Cat’ of god Re, by whom Apophis was believed to be killed by cutting into pieces. In several funerary artistic representations, this scene is very clearly depicted. According to ‘Book of Gates’, Deities such as Serket, Neith, Isis were believed to capture the huge serpent with magical nets and defeat him.

Development of the cult of Apophis

Archaeological evidence shows that Apophis was actually not incorporated into the popular religion of ancient Egypt and thus he had no such type of cultic affiliation. But, one thing to be noted is the existence of Apophis can be traced to the very beginning of the universe, where he is believed to be formed in the waters of primaeval chaos.

From the period of the Middle Kingdom, the god came to prominence. Most of the information about Apophis came from the funerary texts of the New Kingdom.