Reshef

Also known as Reshep

Mythology of Reshef

Picture: Depiction of Reshef with his characteristic gazelle head ornament worn on a simple headband and with a Syrian-style beard show the god's West Semitic origins.

Reshef was the West Semitic god of war and thunder who was assimilated into Egyptian religion, along with various other Near Eastern deities, in New Kingdom times. The god was identified with the Mesopotamian deity Nergal, god of pestilence and warfare, and is attested in the Hebrew Bible and at ancient sites ranging as far afield as Spain. He was probably introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos and is first attested in names of foreign origin, but by New Kingdom times he was connected with Egyptian gods with whom he shared pestilent or martial affinities, especially Seth and the Theban war god Montu, though he retained his alien character and identity. The consort of Reshef was the goddess Itum who is mentioned alongside the god in Egyptian texts; however he was also associated with other Near Eastern deities, and was frequently venerated as part of a triad consisting of Min, Qadesh and Reshef.

Iconography of Reshef

Picture: Limestone statuette of the Syrian deity
Reshep with Egyptanized iconography. Late Period. Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York.

Always represented anthropomorphically, Reshef was depicted as a bearded god (usually with the full Near Eastern style beard), wearing a short kilt and the White Crown of Upper Egypt, which was often decorated with a long streamer and either the horns or complete head of gazelle. This ornament may have reflected the god's desert origins or could have been a result of his identification with Seth, though in some instances Reshef may wear a uraeus in place of the gazelle emblem. Usually represented standing in striding stance, the god characteristically brandishes weapons of various kids, most commonly a spear, mace, axe, or sickle sword in the right hand and in the left hand a shield or sometimes a was scepter or ankh sign.

Worship of Reshef

Reshef was worshipped in a temple at Memphis and perhaps in other locations where Asiatic people settled, though evidence of the god has been found throughout Egypt from the Delta to the Sudan. Well attested in New Kingdom times, he continues to appear well into the Ptolemaic Period both in temple lists and in artifacts of various types. Many bronze statuettes apparently depicting the god have been found as well as a single clearly identified stone statue, and he appears on numerous stelae - either alone or with other deities, particularly Min and the Syrian goddess Qadesh. The image or name of the god also occurs on many scarabs. The material nature of Reshef made him an idea royal deity, and his adoption in this way is seen in the famous stele set up by Amenophis II near the Great Sphinx at Giza and inother monuments of that king. His martial nature could also be turned to healing, and Reshef was sometimes named in spells to overpower inimical influences such as the demon Akha who was believed to cause abdominal pain.