Khnum is one of the ram-headed gods. He's an ancient divinity of Upper Egypt, related to ram god Ba-neb-djedet of Lower Egypt. A creator deity, Khnum directs the Nile floods and makes humans on his pottery wheel.
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At his island centers of worship, Khnum is revered in specific fertility rituals by women wanting to conceive. He's also important to the creative powers of the annual Nile floods. He directs flow of water from the caverns of Hapi (Hapy), who embodies the flood.
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The Nile floods come from the deluge of the rainy season in the Ethiopian highlands. The floods are crucial for life. The inundation provides welcome water after a hot dry season, fish, deposits of nutritious silt to feed the seasonal crops, and mineral-rich clay.
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For 5,000 years, the annual floods of the Nile River provides for the people of Egypt. With construction of the 1965 Aswan dam, fishing in the Nile Delta at the Mediterranean dwindles due to lack of nutrients to attract fish.
Basin irrigation is used by ancient Egyptians to channel and hold water to last through the hot dry times. Silt settles in the basins, a bounty of fertility for the fields. If the flood doesn't come, drought and famine set in.
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Egyptians grow such crops as emmer wheat, flax, hemp, castor bean, barley, broad bean, grapes and later cotton. Several gods are involved in the flood celebrations including Heqet, frog goddess and consort of Khnum.
In one myth of the Nile floods, the cascade is caused by the tears of Isis as she searches for her husband Osiris in the resurrection tale. A rebirth and fertility god of the dead, Osiris connects to the flooding and retreat of the Nile, and the cycle of growth and death of crops.
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Khnum is one of the oldest and longest-lived Egyptian gods. Worship of Khnum is known by the First Dynasty (c. 3500 - 3100 BCE) and lasts until the Greco-Roman period of (332 BCE - 395 AD). The earliest use of hieroglyphs or ancient writing is dated to c. 3100 BCE.
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Due to his elder status Khnum is thought in later periods to mold the other deities. He's also the creator of the animal kingdom. His main cult center is Herwer in Upper Egypt. Khnum and Heqet are worshipped together as Lord and Lady of Herwer.
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Khnum's primary form is that of a man with horns of a ram, one of the sacred animals of Ancient Egypt, or ram-headed deity. In this he's similar to Ba-neb-djedet of the Lower Nile. The ram represents fertility, rebirth, regeneration and resurrection.
He's a symbol of dominion and kingship since the 30th century BCE. Alongside the god Ptah of Memphis, who creates heaven and earth on a potter's wheel, Khnum is credited with molding, on his wheel, the great cosmic egg containing the Sun.
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Khnum is also linked to the Island of Elephantine in the Nile. The island is downstream of the river's First Cataract, at the southern border of Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia. The Nile has six cataracts or shallow rapids. The Nile flood is also called the Cataract, or Inundation.
Reverence of Khnum is known on the Island of Elephantine since c. 3150 BCE. In the New Kingdom (16th - 11th century BCE) he becomes the principal deity of the island. He receives the title Overseer of the First Cataract of the Nile River.
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With his daughter Goddess Anuket, deity of all six cataracts of the Nile, and his regional consort, the Goddess Satis, protector of borders, Khnum forms a sacred triad. Elephantine is at the border of Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia ( Land of Punt; Sudan).
The Egyptians raise two types of sheep. The breed with horizontally spiraled horns is the extinct Ovis longipes palaeoaegyptiacus, a type of Barbary sheep. After its extinction in the Middle Kingdom, the horizontal horns remain in iconography.
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Khnum can also be portrayed with the head of a crocodile to signify his dominion over the Nile. He may be mistaken for crocodile god Sobek. He might wear the Atef crown of Osiris, adorned with two ostrich feathers, or the white crown of Upper Egypt.
Khnum is associated with iw m hapy or "the coming of the Nile". He's also called Khnum-Ra, an aspect of the sun-god, Ra. Other names include "Creator God", "Potter God", "Lord of Life", "Lord of the Field", "the good protector" and "Lord of the Crocodiles".
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On the Island of Elephantine, rams dedicated to Khnum have been found. They're mummified, dressed with headpieces of gold and interred in stone coffins.
Limestone fragments and other items from the 13th Dynasty (c. 1773 - 1650 BCE) give insight into architectural features of the temple complex including an entrance, a room embellished with imagery of ceremonial rites, and a sacred boat shrine.
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Opposite Aswān, Upper Egypt, Elephantine is the Greek name for Egyptian Abu. From c. 1550 BCE onward, Pharaohs erect temples to Khnum, as well as to his consort, Satis, and daughter Anuket, goddess of nearby Sehel.
On the Island of Sehel to the north, Khnum is featured in a gigantic rock stele telling of a terrible seven-year famine and drought in the time of Pharaoh Djoser (27th century BCE). The stele itself is inscribed in the Ptolemaic period, 332 - 31 BCE.
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Some fragments are missing. The inscription reads:
"Royal sacrifice for Khnum-Re, lord of the cataract, first of Nubia, as reward for what you favor me with. I make you a gift of your western shore by the mountain of the dusk and your eastern shore by the mountain of dawn, from Elephantine to ...
... with twelve arouras (measurements of land) on the eastern and western shores, with the plants, with the harbors with the river and with every settlement on these arouras.
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"All the peasants working their fields with their laborers and bringing water to their new and high-lying lands, their harvest shall be stored in your granary in excess of the part that used to be your due ...
"All fishermen and trappers and hunters on the water and lion catchers in the desert, I impose on them a duty of one tenth of their catch. Every calf born by the cows on these arouras shall be given to the stables as a burnt offering and a remaining daily offering ...
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"Moreover one tenth of the gold and ivory and the wood and minerals and every tree stem and all things which the Nubians of Khenet-hen-nefer bring to Egypt shall be handed over together with every man who comes with them."
Khnum is featured at the temple at Esna (Latopolis), Upper Egypt, a site of ancient rituals and festivals. Popular among these is a fertility rite, exclusively for women seeking to conceive. Male priests are banned. The festival is also popular on the Island of Elephantine.
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Held late in the evening at the temple, the ceremony involves women presenting a potter’s wheel and intoning chants before a hidden statue of Khnum. The "Installation of the Potter's Wheel" finishes with a feast on the first day of Paremhat, 7th month of the Egyptian calendar.
The name Latopolis for Esna refers to the Nile perch, Lates niloticus, largest of the 52 perch species in the Nile. The Nile perch is also sacred to Goddess Neith, who's known by the Greeks as Pallas-Athene. The fish species has its own cemetery west of the town.
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An aroura is a measurement of land, the Greek term for Egyptian Sett or arable land. The aroura is a square with sides of 100 cubits or 2756 sq meters (30,000 sq ft). Land measurement, surveying and urban planning are among the duties of the Egyptian scribe.
The south of Elephantine Island is the site of ancient Abu. Its name means both 'elephant' and 'ivory' in Egyptian. The island is an important center of the ivory trade in the ancient world.
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Egypt conquers all of Nubia during the New Kingdom (c. 1550 - 1070 BCE), installing viceroys who administer the lands and collect tribute. In return, Nubia conquers all of Egypt between c. 750 and 712 BCE to establish the Kingdom of Kush.
After the c. 487 BCE destruction of Jerusalem, refugee Jews move onto the Island and erect a temple to Yahweh. In 410 BC, the Jewish temple, the House of Yahweh, is burned down by a Persian military commander bribed by priests of Khnum.
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In the Pyramid Texts of the later Old Kingdom (c. 2686 - 2181 BCE), Khnum creates ferry boats and a ladder ascending to heaven. In the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2465–c. 2325 bce) he's the creator of the solar barque used by the sun god Ra.
In the Middle Kingdom, Khnum is credited as the creator of humans (spell 214 of the Coffin Texts). He's also considered to craft the ka or life essence. In one version of the human ka creation myth, frog goddess Heqet breathes the ka into the person at birth.
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Hymns from temples at Elephantine and Esna feature Khnum as a central or significant figure. The Morning Hymn to Khnum connects him to primal gods Amun and Shu. It praises him as the "Lord of Life" and celebrates his ability to shape the bodies of humans.
Another composition, The Great Hymn to Khnum, honors him as the creator of humans, gods and animals, provider of minerals and nurturer of plants. The hymn describes Khnum's intricate craftsmanship in forming body parts and assigning their functions.
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Khnum also appears in The Hymn to Hapy, relating to the the Nile floods. Khnum is described as the "Ba-of" or aspects of different deities throughout Egypt. As ba he can merge with other gods representing an embodiment of their souls.
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