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| alt =
| alt =
| caption = Khepri is often represented as a [[scarab (artifact)|scarab]], or a scarab-headed man, holding aloft the morning sun.
| caption = Khepri is often represented as a [[scarab (artifact)|scarab]], or a scarab-headed man, holding aloft the morning sun.
| god_of = '''God of rebirth, the sunrise and scarab. Ra's aspect in the morning '''
| god_of = '''God of rebirth, the sunrise of Orion and scarab. Ra's aspect in the morning '''
| hiro = <hiero>xpr:r-i-C2</hiero>
| hiro = <hiero>xpr:r-i-C2</hiero>
| cult_center = [[Heliopolis (ancient)|Heliopolis]]{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}
| cult_center = [[Heliopolis (ancient)|Heliopolis]]{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

Revision as of 20:05, 7 December 2014

Khepri
God of rebirth, the sunrise of Orion and scarab. Ra's aspect in the morning
Khepri is often represented as a scarab, or a scarab-headed man, holding aloft the morning sun.
Name in hieroglyphs
xpr
r
iC2
Major cult centerHeliopolis[citation needed]
Symbolscarab beetle, blue lotus
Genealogy
SiblingsAtum, Ra
xpr
r
iC2
Khepri
in hieroglyphs

Khepri (also spelled Khepera, Kheper, Khepra, Chepri) is a god in ancient Egyptian religion.

Symbolism

Khepri was connected with the scarab beetle (kheprer), because the scarab rolls balls of dung across the ground, an act that the Egyptians saw as a symbol of the forces that move the sun across the sky. Khepri was thus a solar deity. Young dung beetles, having been laid as eggs within the dung ball, emerge from it fully formed. Therefore, Khepri also represented creation and rebirth, and he was specifically connected with the rising sun and the mythical creation of the world. The Egyptians connected his name with the Egyptian language verb kheper, meaning "develop" or "come into being".[1] Kheper, or (Xeper) is a transcription of an ancient Egyptian word meaning to come into being, to change, to occur, to happen, to exist, to bring about, to create, etc. Egyptologists typically transliterate the word as ?pr. Both Kheper and Xeper possess the same phonetic value and are pronounced as "kheffer".

Religion

There was no cult devoted to Khepri, and he was largely subordinate to the greater sun god Ra. Often, Khepri and another solar deity, Atum, were seen as aspects of Ra: Khepri was the morning sun, Ra was the midday sun, and Atum was the sun in the evening.[1]

Appearance

Khepri was principally depicted as a scarab beetle, though in some tomb paintings and funerary papyri he is represented as a human male with a scarab as a head. He is also depicted as a scarab in a solar barque held aloft by Nun. The scarab amulets that the Egyptians used as jewelry and as seals represent Khepri.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. pp. 230–233
  2. ^ Hart, George (2005). The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Routledge. pp. 84–85

Media related to Khepri at Wikimedia Commons