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The gods of the temple
According to Aldred the gods worshipped in this temple included Tephenis, Arsenubis, Knuhm,
Toth, the Osirian triad and Pedesi and Pihor, who were worshipped as gods. Tephenis was not a
very well known goddess and not a lot of information is available on her form or powers. It is
therefore very difficult for me to describe her possible role or reason for being worhispped in this
temple.
Arsenubis was the companion to Isis and worshipped primarily at Philae. He was depicted
as a lion or a man with a crown of feathers (Wilkinson 2003, 98).
Knuhm was mostly represented as the creator god or the guardian of the source of the Nile. His
sacred animal was a ram and he could therefore be depicted as a Ram-headed god. He was
worshipped in the area of Aswan from the early periods as the god of creation (Wilkinson 2007,
83; Baines et al. 1991, 43).
Toth was a Lunar god, the god mostly associated with the moon. He was also associated with Ibis
and baboons. He was the patron god of scribes. Other gods associated with the moon included
Osiris and Knuhm (Wilkinson 2003, 83; Baines et al. 1991, 37).
Fig. 19 The Ibis (www.janetthomas.wordpress.com, accessed on 3-4-2019)
Fig. 20 The baboon (www.ancient.eu, accessed on 3-4-2019)
The Osirian triad included Osiris, Isis and Horus. The most complete versions of the myth of Osiris’
death and rebirth date from the new kingdom to the Roman period. In this myth Osiris was
murdered by his brother Seth. His sisters, Isis and Nepthis, collected his body parts. They revived
him long enough to impregnate his wife/sister Isis. Isis gave birth to her son Horus. Horus then
battled Seth of the throne of Egypt. Seth stood for chaos, Horus represented the pharaoh that
stopped this chaos. This myth was likely related to the passing of kingship in which the dying
pharaoh was represented by Osiris and the pharaoh-to-be by Horus (Baines et al. 1991, 44).