Also called Khnemu, Chnoumis, the Divine Potter, Lord of the Cataract.
Their story
Khnum was worshipped at Elephantine near the First Cataract, where the Nile was believed to rise from caverns beneath his care. He was pictured shaping each child and its ka on his potter's wheel, and the birth reliefs of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari show him forming the queen. The Famine Stela on Sehel Island tells how, after seven years of low floods under King Djoser, Khnum appeared in a dream and promised to release the waters. At Esna, in Graeco-Roman times, hymns praise him as the maker of gods and people.
Best times to give to them
- the inundation
- Wepet Renpet
- the birth of a child
What they like being given
- water
- bread
- a small clay object you have made
- incense
How to honour them
- Work with clay or another craft and dedicate it to him.
- Ask his blessing when a child is expected.
How they can help you
- pregnancy and birth
- creative shaping
- health of the body
- drought and scarcity
Symbols
- ram with horizontal wavy horns
- potter's wheel
- water jar
The Famine Stela is a Ptolemaic inscription set in the reign of Djoser, not an Old Kingdom record.
Sources
- Famine Stela (Sehel Island)
- Esna temple inscriptions
- Hatshepsut birth reliefs, Deir el-Bahari
- Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
More Egyptian gods
- Osiris Lord of the afterlife and new growth
- Horus The falcon, protector of the rightful king
- Ra The sun who sails the sky
- Thoth Scribe of the gods, lord of wisdom
- Anubis Guardian and guide of the dead
- Khonsu The Traveller, the moon who heals
- Amun The hidden king of the gods at Thebes
- Ptah Creator by word and patron of craftsmen