Khepri: He Who Comes Into Existence.
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Khepri was the one of the class of Egyptian gods associated with a particular animal. Khepri was the sacred scarab. The scarab is a type of dung beetle common throughout Egypt. The word Kheper means "scarab" in Egyptian and Khepri was also known as Khepera.
The scarab's habit of laying eggs in animal dung as well as the bodies of dead scarabs was noticed by the Egyptians. The subsequent hatching of the eggs from this seemingly unpromising material lead to the Egyptians associating the scarab with renewal, rebirth and resurrection. The scarab's habit of rolling up dung into spheres and pushing it across the ground was also noted by the Ancient Egyptians. Khepri was often associated with the Sun and was conceived as a gigantic scarab rolling the Sun before him across the sky. The renewal and rebirth associated with the scarab also came into play here. Khepri renewed the Sun each day before rolling it above the horizon and carried it safely through the other world after sunset to renew it the next day. Khepri was variously represented as a scarab, a man with the face of a scarab and a man whose head was surmounted by a scarab.
FROM: Khepri
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Cult Center: Heliopolis.
Attributes: A sun god, associated with the sunrise. Because of his association with the sunrise he is considered to be one of the creator gods. It was Khepri that pushed the sun across the sky in much the same fashion that a dung beetle (scarab) pushed a ball of dung across the ground.
Representation: A man with a scarab head. Or a scarab.
Relations: Self created.
Other possible Names: Khepra, Khepera
FROM: Egyptian God-Khepri
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Other Names: Kheper, Khepera
Patron of: the sun, creation, life, resurrection.
Appearance: A scarab-headed man, a scarab, and a man wearing a scarab as a crown.
Description: The word kheper means scarab, and as the animal was associated with life and rebirth, so was Khephri. The scarab lays its eggs in a ball of dung and rolls it to hide in a safe place. From this unlikely substance the Egyptians observed new life emerging. Similarly, they believed that Khephri, in the form of a gigantic scarab, rolled the sun like a huge ball through the sky, then rolled it through the underworld to the eastern horizon. Each morning Khephri would renew the sun so that it could give life to all the world.
FROM: TourEgypt: Khepri
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Khephir (also Kheper or Khepera or Khepri) was the Egyptian patron god of the sun, creation, life and resurrection. This god appeared as a scarab-headed man, a scarab or a man wearing a scarab as a crown. In some funerary papyri, he is shown as a scarab in a boat held aloft by Nun. In Petosiris Tom at Tuna el-Gebel, the god is shown wearing an atef crown of the god Osiris.
We known of Khephir from at least the 5th Dynasty (2494-2345 BC) from a pyramid text that invokes the sun to appear in the name of Khephir. However, he may have been one of the very earliest gods of Egypt, yet there is no record of him having an actual cult. Crude objects resembling scarabs have been discovered dating from as early as the Neolithic period (7000-5000 BC)
The word kheper (or hprr) means scarab, and as the animal was associated with life and rebirth. Literally the word means "he who is coming into being". Like Atum, Khephir was a self-created god. The scarab lays its eggs in a ball of dung and rolls it to hide in a safe place. From this unlikely substance the Egyptians observed new life emerging, seemingly from the the earth. Hence he was a god of creation. In Chapter LXXXV of the Papyrus of Ani, the
Creator states:
"I came into being of myself in the midst of the Primeval Waters (Nu) in this my name of Khopri"
Early in Egyptian history the beetle also came to represent the soul rising from death—resurrected, transcendent, fully formed and ready to make its journey and face its judgment in order to live in the Afterlife. By the New Kingdom (1539-1070 BC), the funerary texts from the papyri portray a scaraboid form as the most powerful symbol of life's victory over death. Similarly, they believed that Khephri, in the form of a gigantic scarab, rolled the sun like a huge ball through the sky, then rolled it through the underworld to the eastern horizon. Each morning Khephri would renew the sun so that it could give life to all the world. As a deity closely associated with resurrection, Khephir was believed to be swallowed by his mother, Nut each evening and passed through her body to be reborn each morning. Therefore he is also closely associated with Ra and Atum. Later funerary texts combine Khephra (scarab) with Atum (ram) into a ram-headed beetle, a portrayal of the supreme god overseeing the cycle of life and death (and Afterlife)...
FROM: Khephir, God of the Sun, Creation, Life and Resurrection by Mark Andrews
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A Creation Myth
. . . . .In one Egyptian creation myth, the sun god Ra takes the form of Khepri, the scarab god who was usually credited as the great creative force of the universe. Khepri tells us,"Heaven and earth did not exist. And the things of the earth did not yet exist. I raised them out of Nu, from their stagnant state. I have made things out of that which I have already made, and they came from my mouth." It seems that Khepri is telling us that in the beginning there is nothing. He made the watery abyss known as Nu, from which he later draws the materials needed for the creation of everything.
. . . . .He goes on to say, "I found no place to stand. I cast a spell with my own heart to lay a foundation in Maat. I made everything . I was alone. I had not yet breathed the god Shu, and I had not yet spit up the goddess Tefnut. I worked alone." We learn that by the use of magic Khepri creates land with its foundation in Maat (law, order, and stability). We also learn that from this foundation many things came into being. At this point in time Khepri is alone. The sun, which was called the eye of Nu, was hidden by the children of Nu. It was a long time before these two deities, Shu and Tefnut were raised out of the watery chaos of their father, Nu. They brought with them their fathers eye, the sun. Khepri then wept profusely, and from his tears sprang men and women. The gods then made another eye, which probably represents the moon. After this Khepri created plants and herbs, animals, reptiles and crawling things. In the mean time Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Geb and Nut, who in turn gave birth to Osiris and Isis, Seth, Nephthys.
FROM: Egyptian Creation Myths
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Khepera is associated with the life-giving powers of sunlight and with the act of sunrise itself, forming a special triad with Ra (noontime sun) and Tem (setting sun).
FROM: Kemet.org
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Scarab
Called the dung beetle because of its practice of rolling a ball of dung across the ground. The Egyptians observed this behavior and equated it with the ball of the sun being rolled across the sky. They confused this balled food source with the egg sack that the female dung beetle laid and buried in the sand. When the eggs hatched the dung beetles would seem to appear from nowhere, making it a symbol of spontaneous creation. In this role it was associated with the sunrise. Khepri was the scarab headed god.
FROM: Scarab
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Scarab
Appearance: The particular species of beetle represented in the numerous ancient Egyptian amulets and works of art was commonly the large sacred scarab (Scarabaeus sacer). This beetle was famous for his habit of rolling balls of dung along the ground and depositing them in its burrows. The female would lay her eggs in the ball of dung. When they hatched, the larvae would use the ball for food. When the dung was consumed the young beetles would emerge from the hole.
Millions of amulets and stamp seals of stone or faience were fashioned in Egypt depicted the scarab beetle.
Meaning: It seemed to the ancient Egyptians that the young scarab beetles emerged spontaneously from the burrow were they were born. Therefore they were worshipped as "Khepera", which means "he was came forth." This creative aspect of the scarab was associated with the creator god Atum.
The ray-like antenna on the beetle's head and its practice of dung-rolling caused the beetle to also carry solar symbolism. The scarab-beetle god Khepera was believed to push the setting sun along the sky in the same manner as the bettle with his ball of dung. In many artifacts, the scarab is depicted pushing the sun along its course in the sky.
During and following the New Kingdom, scarab amulets were often placed over the heart of the mummified deceased. These "heart scarabs" (such as the one pictured above) were meant to be weighed against the feather of truth during the final judgement. The amulets were often inscribed with a spell from the Book of the Dead which entreated the heart to, "do not stand as a witness against me."
FROM: Ancient Egypt: the Mythology - Scarab Beetle
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Other links:
- THE SHRINE OF KHEPRA
- Khepri - Total Solar Eclipse Scarab Beetle Sun God of Egypt
- Egyptian gods; K (first on list)
- Kemet.org Names of Netjer : Khepera
- Khepera - "Comes Into Being"
- Hymn mentioning him
About Scarab and Dung Bettles:
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