Archive issues

Author: Christiane Zivie-Coche   |   Pages: 761–771


 

Abstract

Three different approaches of Banebeded, the Ba lord of Mendes offer an opportunity for a better understanding of the personnality of the god. In the Delta Papyrus, recently published by D. Meeks, we read an evocation of his creative and sexual energy under the name of Osiris. The text quotes the specific local Osirian relics and a female sexual organ, kȝt in Egyptian, in metal. In the cella of Hibis, one scene is devoted to Mendes deities with two figures of Banebdjed as a ram with a vase under the sex of the animals. In Ptolemaic texts of Edfu and Dendara, we find again mentions of the kȝt or the kȝt hidden in a vase. We can deduce from these different representations or mentions that the sexual activity of Banebdjed is symbolically represented by the offering of a female sexual simulacrum to ensure women’s fecundity. Contrary to the affirmations of classical authors, Banebdjed did not have sexual intercourse with women, but received the most appropriate symbol to increase his creative ability and power.

 

 

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