Aker (deity)
| Aker | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Twin lions (yesterday and tomorrow) believed to guard the eastern and western horizons as the points where the sun touches the twin-peaked mountain top of the earth where it leaves and re-enters the underworld. | |||||||||||
| Name in hieroglyphs |
or
or
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| Symbol | Horizon | ||||||||||
Aker was an ancient Egyptian personification of the horizon, and an earth and underworld god, believed to guard the eastern (Bakhu) and western (Manu) horizons.[1]
Description
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Aker was first depicted as the torso of a recumbent lion with a widely opened mouth. Later, he was depicted as two recumbent lion torsos merged with each other and still looking away from each other.[2]
From
In later times, Aker can also appear as two merged torsos of recumbent sphinxes with human heads.[4]
Cult
Aker appears for the first time during the
Mythology
Aker was first described as one of the earth gods guarding the "gate to the yonder site". He protected the deceased king against the three demonic snakes Hemtet, Iqeru and Jagw. By "encircling" (i.e. interring) the deceased king, Aker sealed the deceased away from the poisonous breath of the snake demons. Another earth deity, who joined and promoted Aker's work, was Geb. Thus, Aker was connected with Geb. In other spells and prayers, Aker is connected with Seth and even determined with the Set animal. This is interesting, because Seth is described as a wind deity, not as an earth deity.[6][2]
In the famous Coffin Texts of Middle Kingdom period, Aker replaces the god Kherty, becoming now the "ferryman of Ra in his nocturnal barque ". Aker protects the sun god during his nocturnal travelling through the underworld caverns.[2] In the famous Book of the Dead, Aker also "gives birth" to the god Khepri, the young, rising sun in the shape of a scarab beetle, after Aker has carried Khepri's sarcophagus safely through the underworld caverns. In other underworld scenes, Aker carries the nocturnal barque of Ra. During his journey, in which Aker is asked to hide the body of the dead Osiris beneath his womb, Aker is protected by the god Geb.[4]
In several inscriptions, wall paintings and reliefs, Aker was connected to the horizon of the North and the West, forming a mythological bridge between the two horizons with his body. Certain sarcophagus texts from the tombs of
See also
References
- ^ "The Mountains and Horizon of Ancient Egypt". www.touregypt.net. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
- ^ ISBN 9042911514, pp. 83 - 85.
- ISBN 1438131801, pp. 4 & 5.
- ^ ISBN 3525537816, pp. 119, 158 & 159.
- ^ Peter Kaplony: Die Inschriften der ägyptischen Frühzeit, 3rd edition. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1963, pp. 65.
- ISBN 3525530463, pp. 295, 296 & 311.
- ISBN 0195170245, page 99.