Who the God Mehen is

Mehen was believed to be a protective snake god whose main duty was to protect Sun god Re from Apophis, the underworld serpent god who was one of the major enemies of Sun god. It was believed that Mehen protected the sun god on his journey in the night through the underworld when the sun god was in the threat of Apophis.

Antiquity of the Snake God

Snake deities covered a wide area in the mythologies of ancient Egypt. The antiquity of Mehen can be traced to the period of Middle Kingdom. A number of Coffin Texts have been discovered, belong to this period provide the earliest reference of Mehen. The reference to ‘Mysteries of Mehen’ is made here, which may have been indicating the rituals related to the worship of this snake god.

According to Coffin Texts also, Mehen is given the epithet ‘Warden of criminals’. In this context, the word ‘criminal’ probably indicates the enemies of the Sun god Re. It was believed that the deceased to whom the spells were inscribed, had to assist Mehen in this noble work of protecting Sun god.

Iconography of Mehen

Mehen is often depicted as a serpent coiled around the Sun god Re. According to the coffin texts, Mehen was also used to be depicted as nine concentric circles, known as ‘Roads of fire’. This iconography of Mehen signifies his protective nature towards the Sun god Re.

Mehen the Ancient Egyptian Game

Apart from the name of a snake god, the name ‘Mehen’ was also used to be referred to as a board game which was in fact used to be played in ancient Egypt. The earliest evidence of the playing of this game came from the pre-dynastic period. It was known as ‘Coiled serpent board game’.

According to Peter Piccione, an eminent scholar, the above-mentioned board game was based on the image of the serpent god Mehen. Although, there is debate whether this game was inspired by the image of the god or the god was a later representation of the inspiration of the board game.

During the period of New Kingdom, Mehen started to be extensively represented in the episodes of the ‘Underworld Books’. One example of such type of book can is mentioned here: Amduat. Here, Mehen is depicted as an extremely large serpent whose main purpose is to protect the Sun God Re.