Heryshaf: Difference between revisions

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In [[Egyptian mythology]], '''Heryshaf''', or '''Hershef''' ({{lang-langx|egy|[[wikt:ḥrj#Egyptian|ḥrj]] [[wikt:š#Egyptian|š]] [[wikt:f#Egyptian|f]]}} "He who is on His Lake"),<ref name=forty>Forty, Jo. ''Mythology: A Visual Encyclopedia'', Sterling Publishing Co., 2001, p. 84.</ref> transcribed in [[Greek language|Greek]] as '''Harsaphes''' or '''Arsaphes''' ({{lang-langx|grc-koix-koine|Ἁρσαφής}}) was an ancient [[sheep|ram]] deity whose cult was centered in ancient [[Heracleopolis Magna]]. He was identified with [[Ra]] and [[Osiris]] in [[ancient Egyptian religion]],<ref name=forty/> as well as [[Dionysus]]<ref>[[Antoninus Liberalis]], Metamorphoses 28 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer 2nd century AD)</ref> or [[Heracles]] in the ''[[interpretatio graeca]]''. The identification with Heracles may be related to the fact that in later times his name was sometimes reanalysed as ''ḥrj-šf.t'' "He who is over strength". One of his titles was "Ruler of the Riverbanks". Heryshaf was a creator and fertility god who was born from the [[primordial waters]]. He was pictured as a ram or a man with a ram's head.

The site goes back to the [[Early Dynastic Period (Egypt)|Early Dynastic Period]] or the [[Old Kingdom of Egypt]]. The precise founding date of Herakleopolis is not known, but an entry on the Palermo Stone reporting king Den's visit to the [[sacred lake]] of Heryshef at Nenj-neswt, suggests that the town had already been founded by the 1st Dynasty. The site was called ''nn-nswt'' in [[Demotic (Egyptian)|Demotic]] which was pronounced ''ǝhnes'' in [[Coptic language|Coptic]], Heracleopolis (Magna) during the [[Hellenistic period]] and the [[Roman Empire]] and Ihnasiyya in [[Egyptian Arabic]].<ref>Reviewed Work: Ihnasya el-Medina (Herakleopolis Magna): Its Importance and Its Role in Pharaonic History by Mohamed Gamal el-Din Mokhtar, Review by: Hans Goedicke, ''Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt'', Vol. 20 (1983), p. 119; via JSTOR.</ref>