 or oath of protection. In reality, it is both; a theophoric name, Greek for “bearing a deity”, or the practice of embedding a god in a child’s name in order to secure protection from the deity. Egyptologist, Wallis Budge, discusses the Khnum quandary in Volume II of his 1912 book, ‘The Gods of The Egyptians’: ‘The name of Khnemu is connected with the root Khnem, “to join, to unite,” and with Khnem, “to build”; astronomically the name refers to the “conjunction” of the sun and moon at stated times of the year, and we know from the texts of all periods that Khnemu was the “builder” of the gods of men.” Serendipitously, Budge’s analysis seems eerily appropriate for a king who ‘created’ the greatest monument in history.
So, who exactly was Khnum? As god of the source of the River Nile, Khnum was one of the earliest Egyptian deities and, by definition, a god of the south, where he was associated with Amun and Osiris. The Osiris association is not surprising, for Khnum is depicted with a ram’s head, which sometimes resembles the head of a bull, and each were potent symbols of procreation in ancient times, as was Osiris. Khnum was the creator god, and afforded each new life a fixed number of years, called ‘that which is ordained’, giving rise to the modern notion of ‘Fate’.
Khnum’s many titles included ‘Divine Potter’ and ‘Lord of Created Things from Himself’, due to the fact that he used a potter’s wheel to construct children’s bodies from clay. Khnum’s work was considered complementary with that of the Memphite God Ptah, who similarly sported ram horns and fashioned new bodies for the souls of the dead in the underworld; each was believed to be carrying out the orders of the god, Thoth. His primary cult was centred on the ancient island of Abu, known today as Elephantine – site of the first city, according to Egyptian mythology – and it was here that he formed a triad with his wife, the goddesses Satis, and their daughter Anuket.
Satis was an early deity of war, hunting, and fertility, as well as the goddess of the inundation of the River Nile. Her daughter, Anuket, was known as the goddess of the River Nile itself and became known as the ‘Eye of RA’, which later evolved into the ‘Eye of Horus’. Curiously, Satis is also associated with the planet Sirus, whose heliacal rising signaled the annual flooding of the River Nile, an event that is entirely consistent with the roles of Khnum, Satis and Anuket; a trinity that appears to have been worshipped long before the Fourth Dynasty, possibly back to pre-dynastic times.
It is also interesting that at Elephantine we have the famous ‘Famine Stele’, which contains instructions for the construction of pyramids, given by Khnum, in a dream by the Third Dynasty King Zoser, who commissioned his official Imhotep to build the first Egyptian pyramid, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. The stele depicts the trinity of Khnum, Satis and Anuket receiving offerings from Zoser, who has been informed that Khnum is angry and has inhibited the flow of the River Nile. Upon learning this, Zoser commissions offerings to Khnum and re-establishes Khnum’s temple at Elephantine and then dreams that Khnum will end the drought. The story is fascinating, for it confirms the importance of Khnum as early as the Third Dynasty, as well as how he is associated with the construction of sacred structures, such as pyramids.
Over time, Khnum grew tired of his procreation responsibilities and placed a potter’s wheel in each woman’s womb, so they may bear children without his help, thus allowing him to focus on maintaining the energy life force, not creating it. Still, Khnum created all other deities, and was an extremely important god within the Egyptian pantheon. Barbara Watterson reflects on Khnum in her 1984 book, ‘Gods of Ancient Egypt’: “The most famous scene of Khnum in this role is found in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir-el-Bahri, where he is shown modelling the queen and her ka on his potter’s wheel.” We will return to Hatshepsut and her association with Khnum shortly, for it is important to our understanding of Khu