Khnum
Khnum was an Egyptian god who sat at a potter's wheel and shaped human beings from clay. When a body was finished, he placed it inside its mother's womb. A text in the Ipuwer Papyrus, from the 12th dynasty, shows what it meant when this work stopped. It mentions a famine and says that Khnum "does not fashion because of the state of the land." The land had fallen so low that even the creator had put down his tools.
Who was this potter? Why do his images show the horns of a ram, and sometimes the head of a crocodile? How did a god tied to a cataract of the Nile come to shape gods, animals and kings? And why was one of his rites open only to women?
Khnum began as a god of the Nile cataract in Upper Egypt, and he ranks among the earliest Egyptian deities we know. His job was to regulate the yearly inundation of the river. That flood was believed to pour out of the caverns of Hapi, the deity who embodied the flood itself.
The inundation left silt and clay across the land, and its water brought life to everything it touched. From that observation grew a larger idea. A god who controlled the source of clay and life could also be the maker of human bodies and of the ka, the life force that Egyptians believed each person carried.
His reach kept growing. Later sources describe him as the one who moulded the other gods, and he was honored as creator of the animal kingdom. In Lower Egypt, the god Banebdjedet filled the equivalent role.
Worship of Khnum reached back to the First Dynasty. It continued into the Greco-Roman period, long after native dynasties had stopped ruling Egypt.
The oldest images of Khnum give him horns that spiral flat out to the sides. Artists copied them from the Ancient Egyptian corkscrew-horned sheep, an extinct subspecies of the barbary sheep. In the New Kingdom, his horns turned downward, like those of Ammon. That shape was based on another extinct sheep subspecies, Ovis platyra palaeoaegyptiacus.
The ram was one of the sacred animals of Ancient Egypt. It stood for fertility, rebirth, regeneration and resurrection, which suited a god who made new lives. Khnum could also wear a crocodile's head, a sign of his command over the Nile. His headgear varied too. He appears in the atef crown with two feathers, or in the white crown of Upper Egypt.
The most familiar scene shows him seated beside a potter's wheel, with a newly formed figure standing on it. The frog-headed fertility goddess Heqet often helps him. She works at the wheel in a wall relief in the mammisi of Nectanebo II. At the Dendera Temple, the two of them mould the god Ihy.
The name Khufu, belonging to the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, was once part of a longer name. The full form was Khnum-Khufwy, which means "Khnum is my Protector." Parents and kings alike used the god's name in this way.
The name itself has several possible roots. The hieroglyph hnm comes from hnmt, a word for a well or spring. Scholars have also linked it to a Semitic root meaning sheep. Another reading takes it as "the beloved divine being." He was also described as iw m hapy, "the coming of the Nile." As Khnum-Ra, he was the soul of the sun-god Ra at the cataract.
His titles show how wide his powers had become. Egyptians called him Creator god, Potter god, Lord of Life, Lord of the Field, Lord of Esna, the good protector and Lord of the crocodiles.
Eventually the language borrowed from his craft. The Egyptian word khn.m came to mean to shape or to build.
By the Eleventh Dynasty, Khnum was documented at Elephantine alongside his consort Satis and his daughter Anuket. Satis and Anuket were Nubian goddesses, and the three formed a divine triad there. Khnum had a different home at first. His main cult center was Herwer in Middle Egypt.
He was present on Elephantine from the Early Dynastic Period. Only in the New Kingdom did he become the island's principal deity, with the title of overseer of the First Cataract. His temple there dates to the Middle Kingdom. New Kingdom leaders expanded the island's temples and added new buildings. Hatshepsut and Thutmose III oversaw the Temples of Khnum and Satis, plus a way-station for the festival barque of Khnum. Ptolemaic and Roman rulers later added their own touches.
Thirteenth Dynasty limestone fragments hint at an early layout. They suggest an entrance, an ornamented room with ceremonial scenes, and a sacred boat shrine. Parts of the Greco-Roman Temple of Khnum may come from the Middle Kingdom Temple of Satet. Across the river on the east bank at Aswan, a Ptolemaic chapel wall shows Khnum, Satis and Anuket together.
Sacred rams were also buried on the island. Excavators found them mummified, fitted with golden headgear and laid in stone coffins. Evidence also records friction between the temple staff and a nearby Jewish temple. The staff wanted to enlarge their own temple, and the Jewish community suffered for it. Today one of the few surviving parts of the Temple of Khnum is its grand monumental entrance.
A second great site lay south of Thebes, at Esna.
Late in the evening at the Temple of Esna, women who wanted children gathered for a ceremony closed to male priests. They presented a potter's wheel and sang chants before a hidden statue honoring Khnum. The rite was called the Installation of the Potter's Wheel. It ended with a feast on the first day of the month of Paremhat.
The temple at Esna was dedicated to Khnum, Neith and Heka, among others. Construction began in the Ptolemaic era, but most of what survives was built under Roman rule. The temple stood in a field of which Khnum was lord, and he was charged with keeping that land fertile. Hymns on its walls credit him with creating gods, people, plants and animals. The north wall shows the favor of Roman rulers, with scenes of emperors making offerings and meeting deities.
The family tree at Esna is crowded. His main consorts were Nebtuwi and Menhit, and his eldest son and successor was Heka. Khnum was sometimes called the "father of the fathers," and Neith the "mother of the mothers." Together they became the parents of Ra, who is also called Khnum-Re. Worship there also included Nebtu.
Esna marks the end point of hieroglyphic decoration in Egyptian temples. Its Esna-A temple, from the Ptolemaic era, became the first ancient Egyptian structure known to record a link between the zodiac and the two decan lists.
Much of the site now lies in ruins, because many blocks were reused to build a canal. What remains is largely hidden beneath modern housing.
On the island of Sehel, south of Elephantine, the Famine Stela records a seven-year drought. The inscription dates to the Ptolemaic Kingdom but is set in the reign of King Djoser of the Third Dynasty. In it, Djoser has a vision of Khnum, who promises to end the famine. The king answers with a decree giving one-tenth of all revenue to the Temple of Khnum. Above the text, Djoser presents offerings to Khnum, Satis and Anuket.
Hymns from the temples at Elephantine and Esna return to Khnum again and again. The Morning Hymn to Khnum pairs him with Amun and Shu, calls him "Lord of life," and credits him with shaping human bodies. The Great Hymn to Khnum goes further. It names him creator of all people, gods and animals, giver of minerals and nurturer of plants. It describes how he built each body part and assigned its function. It also says he made the different languages of different regions, unlike Egyptian speech. In it he is the "Ba-of" many deities across Egypt, merging with them as their souls. The Great Second Hymn shows Khnum-Ra sailing across the sky to set pillars with goddesses in the south, north and east, and perhaps the west. The Hymn to Hapy ties him to the Nile-god.
Earlier writings gave him quieter tasks. The Pyramid Texts of the later Old Kingdom have him build ferryboats and a ladder up to heaven. In the Fifth Dynasty, he is the maker of the solar barque that carries Ra. Spell 214 of the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts names him as creator of humans. In the Tale of Two Brothers, from the reign of Seti II, he creates the wife of Bata. A spell in the Book of the Dead also invokes him to stop the heart of the dead from turning against them in the Necropolis.
Stelas show kings face to face with him. On the Stela of Seti I, the king bows with two nw-pots. Khnum holds a was-scepter in his left hand and an ankh in his right, and wears a kilt and an atef crown topped with a solar disk. The text above him reads "Beloved of Khnum, lord of the West." On the Stela of Tutankhamun from Sinn el-Kabid, the king burns incense for the seated god. At Kumma, Khnum guards river and desert passes, shown by opposing bows at the entrances, and the text names him "Lord of the Cataract."
King Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty is shown at his birth suckling on the goddess Nekhbet, with Khnum standing beside them. Birth scenes like this helped legitimize a ruler, and Khnum is a recurring presence in them.
The Middle Kingdom Westcar Papyrus tells how a woman named Ruddedet gave birth to three triplet kings. Khnum and the other deities disguised themselves to help with the delivery. He gave "health" to the bodies of the future kings and received a sack of barley as his payment.
Hatshepsut's Divine Birth scene at the Temple of Deir el-Bahari shows her being made on Khnum's potter's wheel. He grants her "life, health, and strength, and all gifts," and the carving says he made "her appearance above the gods." Reliefs in the Luxor Temple show him crafting both the body and the ka of King Amenhotep III in the same way.
Khnum also stands beside rulers in other scenes. On the Great Hypostyle Wall at Karnak, he appears with Ramesses II and Horus, using a net to catch water fowl. A similar scene on the inner north wall at Esna pairs him with the Roman emperor Commodus. At the Temple of Beit el-Wali of Ramesses II, statues of Khnum, Satis and Anuket stood with Isis and Horus.
The god's creative power has even reached modern fiction. In Hirohiko Araki's 1989 manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, and its television adaptation, Khnum is the stand of Oingo, the first of the Oingo Boingo Brothers. It lets Oingo alter his appearance, a nod to the god who made human forms.
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Common questions
Who is Khnum in Egyptian mythology?
Khnum is an Egyptian god of creation and the Nile waters, and one of the earliest known deities of Upper Egypt. He fashioned human bodies and the ka on a potter's wheel and placed them in their mothers' wombs.
Why is Khnum shown with a ram's head?
Khnum is shown with a ram's horns because the ram was a sacred animal that stood for fertility, rebirth, regeneration and resurrection. His earliest horns spiral horizontally, and in the New Kingdom they turned downward like those of Ammon.
Where was Khnum worshipped in ancient Egypt?
Khnum was worshipped mainly at Elephantine and Esna, two riverside sites. His earlier cult center was Herwer in Middle Egypt, and he became principal deity of Elephantine in the New Kingdom.
What was the Famine Stela about in the story of Khnum?
The Famine Stela on the island of Sehel recounts a seven-year drought in the reign of King Djoser. Khnum appears to Djoser in a vision and promises to end it, and the king gives one-tenth of all revenue to the Temple of Khnum.
What does the name Khnum mean?
The hieroglyph hnm in Khnum's name comes from hnmt, meaning well or spring. The name has also been linked to a Semitic root for sheep and read as "the beloved divine being."
Who were the family and companions of Khnum?
At Elephantine, Khnum formed a triad with the goddesses Satis and Anuket. At Esna his main consorts were Nebtuwi and Menhit, and Heka was his eldest son and successor.
What was the Installation of the Potter's Wheel for Khnum?
The Installation of the Potter's Wheel was a fertility rite at the Temple of Esna, open only to women hoping to conceive. They presented a potter's wheel and chanted before a hidden statue of Khnum, and the rite ended in a feast on the first day of the month of Paremhat.
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