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I'm looking up creatures from mythology and folklore from across Africa to use in fantasy stories. I've noticed that while there are a plethora of creatures from various sub-Saharan mythologies, information about creatures from Egyptian or Kushite myths is harder to come by. The ones I know about are:
* Sphinxes, obviously. However, the ones in Egyptian tradition don't seem to have any interest in riddles like their Greek counterparts did.
* The Bennu bird, which was basically the Egyptian take on the phoenix.
* Apep, the giant snake deity that represents chaos in the Egyptian worldview. He was probably closer to their idea of "the devil" than even Horus's brother Sutekh/Set.
* Ammut, the crocodile/hippo/lioness hybrid that ate the hearts of untruthful departed souls.
* The serpopards (long-necked leopards) seen on the Narmer palette.
* The so-called "Set animal" (or Typhonian beast). Though I think this was really a stylized portrayal of an aardvark.
* Various chimerical "demons" said to have populated Duat (the underworld).
Can anyone here name any other monsters or legendary creatures from ancient Egyptian myth? Unless I am mistaken, my impression is that the Egyptians don't seem to have been as big on mythical monsters as the Greeks were.
posted
Denwen: Denwen was a fiery serpent god attested in the Pyramid Era, hence very old. he would have caused a conflagration destroying other deities were he not prevented from doing so by the king.
Posts: 44 | From: West Bumble... | Registered: Apr 2017
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quote:Originally posted by Itoli: Denwen: Denwen was a fiery serpent god attested in the Pyramid Era, hence very old. he would have caused a conflagration destroying other deities were he not prevented from doing so by the king.
A flaming snake that could destroy other gods? That sounds real cool!
a body that was part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile
Ammut (already mentioned)
Ammit (/ˈæmɪt/; "devourer" or "soul-eater"; also called Ammut or Ahemait) was a female goddess in ancient Egyptian religion with a body that was part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile—the three largest "man-eating" animals known to ancient Egyptians. A funerary deity, her titles included "Devourer of the Dead", "Eater of Hearts", and "Great of Death".[2]
Ammit lived near the scales of justice in Duat, the Egyptian underworld. In the Hall of Two Truths, Anubis weighed the heart of a person against the feather of Ma'at, the goddess of truth, which was depicted as an ostrich feather (the feather was often pictured in Ma'at's headdress). If the heart was judged to be not pure, Ammit would devour it, and the person undergoing judgement was not allowed to continue their voyage towards Osiris and immortality. Once Ammit swallowed the heart, the soul was believed to become restless forever; this was called "to die a second time". Ammit was also sometimes said to stand by a lake of fire. In some traditions, the unworthy hearts were cast into the fiery lake to be destroyed. Some scholars believe Ammit and the lake represent the same concept of destruction.
Ammit was not worshipped; instead she embodied all that the Egyptians feared, threatening to bind them to eternal restlessness if they did not follow the principle of Ma'at.
Ammit has been linked[who?] with the goddess Tawaret, who has a similar physical appearance and, as a companion of Bes, also protected others from evil. Other authors[who?] have noted that Ammit's lion characteristics, and the lake of fire, may be pointers to a connection with the goddess Sekhmet. The relation to afterlife punishment and lake of fire location are also shared with the baboon deity Babi.
Influence on popular culture[edit] Ammut appears (using the 'u' version of the name) as a recurring character in the cartoon Mummies Alive!. The evil ancient Egyptian wizard Scarab summons Set and Anubis in episode 3, and Ammut tagged along. He remains behind to be a general annoyance to Scarab and his familiar Heka. Ammut generally acts like a dog on the show. Ammit was made male as a character in the Palladium RPG. A monster of the same name is also a card in Yu-Gi-Oh! In addition, Ammit also intermittenly appears in The Kane Chronicles, a trilogy based on Egyptian Myths. In the book series, Ammit follows suit as the original myths, being the servant and companion of Anubis. Ammit is portrayed as tiny, about the size of a dog. Ammit is also featured in the Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris video game. Ammit Cryearth is a Grimoire in form of a hand mirror that reflects the true form of the holder; it appears in BlazBlue: Remix Heart manga. The Magic: The Gathering set Amonkhet, which is based on ancient Egyptian life and mythology, features the card Baleful Ammit, as well as an Ammit creature mentioned twice in its official lore. Ammit also appeared in the following set "Hour of Devastation" in the card Ammit Eternal.[3] One of the Titans, monsters summoned from magic amulets in the animated series, Huntik: Secrets & Seekers, is a large crocodile called Ammit Heart-Eater. The extinct crocodile Pristichampus in the season 3 premiere of Primeval is said to be the inspiration for the story of Ammit (called Ammut in the show) after going through the anomaly.
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posted
The fish Medjed, also known by its Greek name Oxyrhynchus.
It shall not be confused with the deity Medjed who looked like a walking paper bag.
Wikipedia has this to say about the Medjed fish:
quote: Medjed were a kind of elephantfish worshipped at Oxyrhynchus (Ὀξύρρυγχος) in ancient Egyptian religion.
The fish were believed to have eaten the penis of the god Osiris after his brother Set had dismembered and scattered his body. A settlement in Upper Egypt, Per-Medjed, was named after them. They are now better known by their Greek name Oxyrhynchus, meaning "sharp-nosed", a nod to the Egyptian depiction of the fish. As a sacred fish, they are frequently depicted wearing horned sun-discs. Some figurines have rings to enable their wear as pendant amulets.
Freshwater elephantfish (subfamily Mormyrinae) are medium-sized freshwater fish abundant in the Nile. Some of the species have distinctive downturned snouts, lending them their common name. The Oxyrhynchus fish depicted as bronze figurines, mural paintings, or wooden coffins in the shape of fish with downturned snouts, with horned sun-disc crowns like those of the goddess Hathor, have been described as resembling members of the genus Mormyrus.
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