The Role Of Overthrowing Apep In Ancient Egypt

No individual Egyptian god is considered to be the most powerful. Every god lived with the threat of destruction, and even of the greatest of the gods faced these threats everyday. Apep, or Apophis, is the powerful opponent of the sun god, Ra. He represented chaos, darkness, and evil spirit. He is a huge snake who is thought to have existed in the beginning of time, in the ocean of darkness. Many times, he threatened to destroy Ra. In Egyptian hieroglyphs, he is often depicted as a snake. Apep is the leader of an army of demons that feed on both the living, and the dead.

Apep is the dark-spirited figure that slithers through the underworld at night, hoping to come across Ra, wanting to destroy him. Many theories present the fact …show more content…
The order made sure that all living things were truthful, justified, and balanced. Apep was the leader of an army of demons that had the power to feed on the living and the dead. People knew this, so they started to do ceremonies that would drive Apep away from them, which they called: The Banishing of Apep. They would use spells and learn to trap him, and kill him. These spells and instructions can be found in The Book of Overthrowing Apep, today.

The Banishing of Apep is an ancient rite performed by the priests of Ra. Normally, a statue of the Aten, or disk of the sun, is taken to a temple. The statue is drenched with all the evils known to them. Then, the statue is beaten, covered in mud, and burned to ashes. Some other rituals involve a piece of papyrus with an image of Apep, and the paper-like material would then be burned. Another is where a wax idol of Apep is dismembered until there is nothing left.

Serqet was a kind scorpion goddess who is believed to have also defended Ra’s barque. She has power over snakes, all sorts of reptiles, and all poisonous animals. She is believed to have been able to hold Apep by his tail. Maahes was the lion-god of war. He protected Ra in the time of a