Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyp ...

, Heryshaf, or Hershef ( egy, ḥrj š f "He who is on His Lake"),Forty, Jo. ''Mythology: A Visual Encyclopedia'', Sterling Publishing Co., 2001, p. 84. transcribed in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

as Harsaphes or Arsaphes ( grc-koi, Ἁρσαφής) was an ancient

ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

deity whose cult was centered in ancient Heracleopolis Magna. He was identified with Ra and

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He wa ...

ancient Egyptian religion Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with many deities believed to be present in, and in contro ...

, as well as

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...

in the ''

interpretatio graeca ''Interpretatio graeca'' (Latin, "Greek translation") or "interpretation by means of Greek odels is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures; a comparative methodology using ancient G ...

''. The identification with Heracles may be related to the fact that in later times his name was sometimes reanalysed as ''ḥrj-šf.t'' "He who is over strength". One of his titles was "Ruler of the Riverbanks". Heryshaf was a creator and fertility god who was born from the

primordial waters A cosmic ocean or celestial river is a mythological motif found in the mythology of many cultures and civilizations, representing the world or cosmos as enveloped by primordial waters. In ancient creation texts, the primordial waters are often ...

. He was pictured as a ram or a man with a ram's head.

Temple at Heracleopolis Magna

The site goes back to the Early Dynastic Period or the

Old Kingdom of Egypt In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourt ...

. The precise founding date of Herakleopolis is not known, but an entry on the Palermo Stone reporting king Den's visit to the

sacred lake Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, springs, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with the sacramental blessing of a cler ...

of Heryshef at Nenj-neswt, suggests that the town had already been founded by the 1st Dynasty. The site was called ''nn-nswt'' in Demotic which was pronounced ''ǝhnes'' in Coptic, Heracleopolis (Magna) during the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

and the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

and Ihnasiyya in

Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and ...

. No remains of the Old Kingdom temple survive.

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...

found remains of a temple at the site dating to the Twelfth Dynasty. The Twelfth Dynasty temple was rebuilt during the Eighteenth Dynasty and later refurbished during the Nineteenth Dynasty. During the reign of

Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded a ...

, a

pronaos A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

was added to the temple. The sixteen palm columns used were taken from existing temples, possibly those of

Djedkare Isesi Djedkare Isesi (known in Greek as Tancheres) was a pharaoh, the eighth and penultimate ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt in the late 25th century to mid- 24th century BC, during the Old Kingdom. Djedkare succeeded Menkauhor Kaiu and was i ...

Sahure Sahure (also Sahura, meaning "He who is close to Re") was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the second ruler of the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2465 – c. 2325 BC). He reigned for about 13 years in the early 25th century BC during the Old Kingdom Period ...

. Yasuoka speculates that Ramesses II's fourth son, Prince

Khaemweset Prince Khaemweset (also translated as Khamwese, Khaemwese or Khaemwaset or Setne Khamwas) was the fourth son of Ramesses II and the second son by his queen Isetnofret. His contributions to Egyptian society were remembered for centuries after his d ...

, may have been the official who directed this project.

High Priests of Heryshaf

Many of these names are known from the

Stela of Pasenhor The Stela of Pasenhor, also known as Stela of HarpesonBreasted, op. cit., § 785-786. in older literature, is an ancient Egyptian limestone stela dating back to the Year 37 of pharaoh Shoshenq V of the 22nd Dynasty (c.730 BCE). It was found in the ...

. * Nimlot C, son of pharaoh Osorkon II and his queen Djedmutesankh, Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt * Ptahudjankhef, son of Nimlot C and Tentsepeh C * Hemptah A, son of Ptahudjankhef and Tentsepeh D * Pasenhor A, son of Hemptah A and Tjankemit * Hemptah B, son of Pasenhor A and Petpetdidies Nedjemankh, whose coffin was looted from Egypt in 2011 and sold to the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, is also believed to have been a priest of Heryshaf.

References

External links

* {{Ancient Egyptian religion footer Animal gods Creator gods Egyptian gods Fertility gods Horned deities ca:Llista de personatges de la mitologia egípcia#H