Hapi was the god of the annual flooding of the Nile in ancient Egyptian religion. The flood deposited fertile soil on the river's banks, allowing the Egyptians to grow crops.[1] Hapi was greatly celebrated among the Egyptians. Some of the titles of Hapi were "Lord of the Fish and Birds of the Marshes" and "Lord of the River Bringing Vegetation". Hapi is typically depicted as an androgynous figure with a big belly and large drooping breasts, wearing a loincloth and ceremonial false beard
The annual flooding of the Nile occasionally was said to be the Arrival of Hapi.[1] Since this flooding provided fertile soil in an area that was otherwise desert, Hapi symbolised fertility. He had large female breasts because he was said to bring a rich and nourishing harvest. Due to his fertile nature he was sometimes considered the "father of the gods",[1] and was considered to be a caring father who helped to maintain the balance of the cosmos, the world or universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious system.[1] He was thought to live within a cavern at the supposed source of the Nile near Aswan.[3] The cult of Hapi was mainly located at the First Cataract named Elephantine. His priests were involved in rituals to ensure the steady levels of flow required from the annual flood. At Elephantine the official nilometer, a measuring device, was carefully monitored to predict the level of the flood, and his priests must have been intimately concerned with its monitoring.
Hapi was not regarded as the god of the Nile itself but of the flooding event.[1] He was also considered a "friend of Geb" the Egyptian god of the earth,[4] and the "lord of Neper", the god of grain.
Although male and wearing the false beard, Hapi was pictured with pendulous breasts and a large stomach, as representations of the fertility of the Nile. He also was usually given blue[2] or green skin, representing water. Other attributes varied, depending upon the region of Egypt in which the depictions exist. In Lower Egypt, he was adorned with papyrus plants and attended by frogs, present in the region, and symbols of it. Whereas in Upper Egypt, it was the lotus and crocodiles which were more present in the Nile, thus these were the symbols of the region, and those associated with Hapi there. Hapi often was pictured carrying offerings of food or pouring water from an amphora, but also, very rarely, was depicted as a hippopotamus. During the Nineteenth Dynasty Hapi is often depicted as a pair of figures, each holding and tying together the long stem of two plants representing Upper and Lower Egypt, symbolically binding the two halves of the country around a hieroglyph meaning "union".[2] This symbolic representation was often carved at the base of seated statues of the pharaoh.[2]
Hapi is featured in Egyptian Money. Hapi is featured in Egyptian Money. Egyptian historian Al Maqrizi (1364–1442) related in his "El Khutat El Maqrizia (The Maqrizian Plans) that living virgins were sacrificed annually as "brides of the Nile" ("Arous El Nil") and this has been historically accepted as late as the 1970s.[6] but this claim is disputed by some Egyptologists such as Bassam El Shammaa. ___________________________________
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Interesting how this male God has female breasts although as a the fertility of the Nile symbol rather tan something sexual
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Hapi Represented as Hap-Meht (Upper Egypt) and Hap-Reset (Lower Egypt) Uniting Egypt by Tying the Lotus on One Side (Upper Egypt) and Papyrus on the Other Side (Lower Egypt) to the Sema Hieroglyph Sign for Unity. Luxor Temple, Egypt
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Hapi is unique in that he is one of the only deities depicted as overweight/fat with big belly and boobs. The only other deity depicted as such is the hippo goddess of maternity Tawaret.
Although it's very rare, there are instances in Egyptian art depicting corpulent men complete with man boobs such as Hemiunu and the Seated Scribe. By the way, there are studies showing black people of African descent to have a higher incidence of subcutaneous fat in the trunk area particularly in the upper part than in whites.
I remember reading in a book many years ago that obesity in ancient Egypt was a sign of affluence as well as fertility and even generosity. So I guess that along with the connotations of fecundity, Hapi would be viewed as a very generous rich man whose wealth is life giving waters itself.
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quote:By the way, there are studies showing black people of African descent to have a higher incidence of subcutaneous fat in the trunk area particularly in the upper part than in whites.
I wonder why this is? I would think people whose physiques are adapted to colder climates would have more body fat overall since it provides insulation.
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apparently there can't be a thread on an Egyptian God without the first comments being racial commentary
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quote:By the way, there are studies showing black people of African descent to have a higher incidence of subcutaneous fat in the trunk area particularly in the upper part than in whites.
I wonder why this is? I would think people whose physiques are adapted to colder climates would have more body fat overall since it provides insulation.
They do! subcutaneous fat is more widely distributed in the body among cold adapted peoples-- Europeans and East Asians while in Africans they tend to be localized in certain areas of the body. From what I recall the study says for Africans in the trunk area it is largely in the back, chest, and belly, though the largest accumulation is in the thighs, hips, and buttocks.
quote:Originally posted by the lioness,: apparently there can't be a thread on an Egyptian God without the first comments being racial commentary
My comment wasn't intended to be 'racial' but merely about the god's unique physique, and how comment such a physique is ancient Egypt. It just so reminded me a study on fat distribution differences by race.
Posts: 26260 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:They do! subcutaneous fat is more widely distributed in the body among cold adapted peoples-- Europeans and East Asians while in Africans they tend to be localized in certain areas of the body. From what I recall the study says for Africans in the trunk area it is largely in the back, chest, an belly, though the largest accumulation is in the thighs, hips, and buttocks.
OK, I understand now. I knew about steatopygia of course, but didn't realize the you-know-what was the only anatomical region of that localization.
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^ His attire is actually that of a farmer or field worker. You see such attire depicted on farm workers especially in the Archaic Period and Old Kingdom.
An important part of Egyptian farming is irrigation of fields and since Hapi is god of the Nile waters, his outfit makes sense.
-------------------- Mahirap gisingin ang nagtutulog-tulugan. Posts: 26260 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Hapi is a very underrated deity in Egyptian studies, yet he was one of the most important in Egypt as he presided over the very life-line of the country--the Nile inundation.
Interestingly he was one of the few major deities who had no actual temple of of his own suggesting that his shrine possibly consisted of a make-shift tabernacle. His cult center was in Elephantine Island on the Aswan border and was where his priests resided. Other than that, he was attached to the temples of other deities where special niches and depictions of him were dedicated.
His priests in Elephantine were said to perform special rituals to appease him as well as ritually using nilometer to measure the waters and estimate the inundation level.
Hapi was believed to reside in underground caverns in Nubia (or beyond) and he came forth releasing the Nile waters in the season of Akhet. The day of inundation called 'The Arrival of Hapi' is typically held as the Egyptian New Year's Day.
Hapi's nature and function is very similar to the Sumerian god Enbilulu.
(Hapi) Not to be confused with the son of Horus with the same name (see Hapy (1) here), Hapy is the God of the Nile, or, more strictly, of the Nile’s annual flood or inundation, which was responsible for Egypt’s agricultural productivity. Hapy is depicted anthropomorphically, with blue skin or other color symbolic of the Nile, with drooping male breasts and sometimes a pot belly, wearing a skimpy loincloth, generally with a clump of papyrus reeds on his head and often carrying bundles of papyrus and lotus or trays piled with offerings, representing the bounty of the Nile. Sometimes representations of Hapy bear the facial features of the reigning monarch, identifying the monarch as the source of the land’s prosperity, not merely through the performance of his ritual duties, but also through his just governance. Sometimes Hapy appears doubled, wearing the heraldic papyrus of Lower Egypt and sedge of Upper Egypt and tying these two plants together around the hieroglyph for ‘union’ to symbolize the role of the Nile in uniting Egypt’s north and south. The Nile’s inundation was attributed to a quantity of water being released, at divine behest, from twin subterranean caverns in the vicinity of Elephantine (although these caverns, like the exact moment at which the inundation shall commence, are paradigmatic in Egyptian thought for that which is secret); hence, in the Great Hymn to the Aten, the Hapy of Egypt, who emerges from the underworld, is contrasted with the “Hapy from heaven for foreign peoples,” that is, the rain upon which Egypt’s neighbors depended for their agricultural production (Lichtheim vol. 2, p. 99). Reference is also made to ‘Hapy of the Sky’ as maker of rain in a spell for water in the Book of the Dead (60). Hapy’s emergence from these subterranean caverns is the source of Hapy’s affirmation, in CT spell 318, that he fashioned the netherworld himself. In these caverns Hapy slumbers during the off-season, rejuvenating himself: “It is the house of sleep of Hapy, he grows young in it in his time,” (Lichtheim vol. 3, p. 97). Hapy’s flooding of the fields, which are personified as the Goddess Sekhet, is envisioned sexually: “Bounding up he [Hapy] copulates, as man copulates with woman, renewing his manhood with joy,” (the ‘Famine Stela’, in Lichtheim vol. 3, p. 97). The extent of the inundation, whether adequate, insufficient, or excessive, symbolized in Egyptian thought the very concept of the limit or boundary and of the limits placed upon human life by such inscrutable phenomena as the variability in the inundation; hence in the ‘Instruction of Ankhsheshonq’, it is said that “When Hapy comes he sets limits for everyone,” (Lichtheim vol. 3, p. 173) and by the same token “One sets no limits for him,” (‘Hymn to Hapy’, in Lichtheim vol. 1, p. 207). Every year, it is said that Khnum fashions Hapy anew, that is, the ‘body’ of the inundation is a different one each time, both regular and variable, comparable and incommensurable because it is only the present inundation which truly matters to the people and other animals who depend upon it. Inevitably, the quantity of the inundation was taken as an index of the virtue present in the population and in the government: “When free men are given land, they work for you like a single team; no rebel will arise among them, and Hapy will not fail to come,” (‘The Instruction Addressed to King Merikare’, in Lichtheim vol. 1, p. 103). Since all the produce which goes to the Gods as offerings depends upon Hapy, it can be said that he “gives sacrifice for every God,” (‘Hymn to Hapy’, in Lichtheim vol. 1, p. 206) or even that he has “made the Gods … all the Gods live according to <his> decree,” (CT spell 321). Furthermore, since books are written on papyrus “all books of godly words … exist through him” (ibid., p. 207). In spell 317 of the Coffin Texts, a ‘transformation’ spell which allows one to become Hapy, Hapy is said to be older than the primeval Gods of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad, and perhaps in connection with this reference is made here to eight Hapys. In CT spell 320 Hapy affirms that he is “in charge of births,” because of his general function of providing sustenance and/or because of an analogy between the Nile’s inundation and the waters of birth.
Interestingly the source above mentions Sekhet, the goddess of the (uncultivated) fields and marshes but not Meret who was his typical consort. Meret was the goddess of cultivated fields and was called 'Lady of the Treasury' with the treasure in question being land produce. She was also called 'Herald of the Gods' and 'Evoker' and was often depicted as a woman making the hand gestures of singing in evocation. Like Hapi, Meret had no temples either but even her cult and priestesses were not independent but attached to all other temples and shrines of other deities with her priestesses simply having the title of 'Meret' as a prefix to the names of the deities in whose temples they served.
Hymns to the Nile Flood: “1. Hymn to the flood Hail flood! emerging from the earth, arriving to bring Egypt to life, hidden of form, the darkness in the day, the one whose followers sing to him, as he waters the plants, created by Ra to make every herd live, who satisfies the desert hills removed from the water, for it is his due that descends from the sky – he, the beloved of Geb, controller of Nepri, the one who makes the crafts of Ptah verdant.
2. Lord of fish, who allows south marsh fowl, without a bird falling from heat Maker of barley, grower of emmer grain, creator of festivals of the temples. When he delays, then noses are blocked, everyone is orphaned, and if the offerings of the gods are distributed, then a million men perish among mankind
3. If he is greedy the whole land suffers, great and small fall moaning People are changed at his coming, the one who creates him is Khnum. When he rises, then the land is in joy, then every belly is glad, every jaw has held laughter, every tooth revealed.
4. Bringer of food rich in provisions, creator of all goodness, lord of reverence, sweet of scent, the one whose coming makes peace, creator of plants for the herds, provider of butchery for every god. While he is in the underworld, sky and earth are in his charge. Filler of storerooms, enlarger of granaries, the one who gives plenty to the orphan.
5. Grower of trees for every desire, without any cutting for it; creator of boats by his might, without any carpenter with stone (tools). The mountains are quarried by his flooding, without him being glimpsed, without workers, without management for him. One who carries off in secrecy, and the place that is his is not known, nor can his cavern be glimpsed in writings
6. Without sailings of his selection without a follower of his desire, (yet) youths and children follows him, and he is greeted as a king firm in his reign, arriving in his time, filling Upper and Lower Egypt. When drinking water, every eye is on him, the giver of surplus in his goodness.
7. Whoever is in want emerges in joy, Sobek child of Neit bares his teeth and the ennead within is parted. The one who spouts and causes the marsh to drink, the one who strengthens everybody. One man is made powerful by the doing of another, without any dispute with him. Maker of peace who cannot be bowed, and none can set a limit to him.
8. Illuminator coming out of the darkness fat for his cattle, it is his might that creates everyone, and none can live without him. People are clothed by the flax of his fields, he who makes Hedjhetep work for him, Shesem has made his oils, and there is no limit to Ptah in his form. All work is possible by him – all writings of hieroglyphs, his produce in the land of reeds.
9.
He who enters into the cavern, and come out on top constantly striving to emerge in secret; when heavy, the populace shrinks, the food for the year is killed, and the mighty is seen nervous, everyone distinguished by the weapons they carry, noone able to do their tasks, noone to cover what should be covered, the children of the rich cannot be adorned, no eye-paint for the face, a want of hair (?) for lack of it, no anointing for anyone.
10. What is right is fixed in the hearts of men, but falsehood is said after poverty A man who mixes with the marshwater is not one to master grain, and even if you praise all gods, there is no bird who will descend on desert lands. There is noone who beats his hand with gold, there is no man who is drunk on silver, you cannot eat steadfast lapis lazuli: barley is the foremost for strength.
11. For you are started songs with the harp For you they sing with hand-claps, For you youths and children shout out, For you the crowds are assembled. One who comes with riches, adorning the land, one who makes fresh the hue of the bodies of men, who enlivens the heart of the pregnant woman, who loves the multitude of herds.
12. When you rise in the city of hunger then people are sated on your supplies with stalk in the mouth, lotus at the nose, everything to sprout upon earth, all vegetables in the hands of children – they can forget the meals, goodness cast over the streets, and this entire land leaping for joy.
13. When the Flood strikes, they offer to you they butcher cattle for you, offering piles are made for you, birds are slaughtered for you, lions are snared for you in the desert, goodness is returned to you. They offer to every god according to what the Flood has created, in first quality incense, cattle large and small, birds for the flame. The Flood in his cavern is the mighty one. His name is not known in the underworld, and the gods do not emerge with it.
14. All people raising the praise of the Ennead Have fear for the awe made by his son the Lord of All to make the Two Riverbanks verdant Verdant the spirit at your coming, Verdant the spirit at your coming, O Flood Verdant the spirit at your coming, Come to Egypt, make its happiness, Make the Two Riverbanks verdant, Verdant the spirit at your coming, Verdant the spirit at your coming, O Flood Verdant the spirit at your coming, Men and herds are brought to life by your deliveries of the fields, Verdant the spirit at your coming, Verdant the spirit at your coming, O Flood Verdant the spirit at your coming.”Posts: 26260 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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