Hapi was a deification of the
annual floodA flood is an overflow or accumulation of an expanse of water that submerges land. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide....
ing (inundation) of the Nile River, in
Egyptian mythologyAncient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over more than 3,000 years, from the predynastic period until the adoption of Christianity in the early centuries AD...
, which deposited rich silt on its banks, allowing the Egyptians to grow crops. When pairing of deities began to occur in the
Egyptian pantheonMost Egyptologists today side with Sir Flinders Petrie that Egyptian religion was strictly polytheistic. His contemporary adversary, E. A. Wallis Budge, however, thought Egyptian religion to be primarily monotheistic where all the gods and goddesses were aspects of the God Ra, similar to the...
, occasionally a token wife, named
MeretIn Egyptian mythology, Meret was a goddess who was strongly associated with rejoicing, such as singing and dancing.-In myth:...
(simply meaning
beloved), was given to him. However, more usually, since the Nile was tied to the land, later, Hapi was said to become the husband of the patron of the land, which in
Upper EgyptUpper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
was
NekhbetIn Egyptian mythology, Nekhbet was an early predynastic local goddess who was the patron of the city of Nekheb, her name meaning of Nekheb...
, and in
Lower EgyptLower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
was
WadjetIn Egyptian mythology, Wadjet, or the Green One , was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep, which became part of the city that the Egyptians named Per-Wadjet, House of Wadjet, and the...
.
Hapi was a deification of the
annual floodA flood is an overflow or accumulation of an expanse of water that submerges land. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide....
ing (inundation) of the Nile River, in
Egyptian mythologyAncient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over more than 3,000 years, from the predynastic period until the adoption of Christianity in the early centuries AD...
, which deposited rich silt on its banks, allowing the Egyptians to grow crops. When pairing of deities began to occur in the
Egyptian pantheonMost Egyptologists today side with Sir Flinders Petrie that Egyptian religion was strictly polytheistic. His contemporary adversary, E. A. Wallis Budge, however, thought Egyptian religion to be primarily monotheistic where all the gods and goddesses were aspects of the God Ra, similar to the...
, occasionally a token wife, named
MeretIn Egyptian mythology, Meret was a goddess who was strongly associated with rejoicing, such as singing and dancing.-In myth:...
(simply meaning
beloved), was given to him. However, more usually, since the Nile was tied to the land, later, Hapi was said to become the husband of the patron of the land, which in
Upper EgyptUpper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
was
NekhbetIn Egyptian mythology, Nekhbet was an early predynastic local goddess who was the patron of the city of Nekheb, her name meaning of Nekheb...
, and in
Lower EgyptLower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
was
WadjetIn Egyptian mythology, Wadjet, or the Green One , was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep, which became part of the city that the Egyptians named Per-Wadjet, House of Wadjet, and the...
. After a while, he became identified with
NunIn Egyptian mythology, Nu or Nun is the deification of the primordial watery abyss. In the Ogdoad cosmogony, the name nu means "abyss"....
, a paired deification created for the primordial waters,
NaunetIn Egyptian mythology, Nu or Nun is the deification of the primordial watery abyss. In the Ogdoad cosmogony, the name nu means "abyss"....
, in the late
OgdoadIn Egyptian mythology, the Ogdoad were eight deities worshipped in Hermopolis during what is called the Old Kingdom, the third through sixth dynasties, dated between 2686 to 2134 B.C...
cosmogony. Thus, Hapy gained her as wife also, since Nu was created to make a pair for Naunet.
His name means
Running One, probably referring to the current of the Nile. Some of the titles of Hapy were,
Lord of the FishA fish is any aquatic vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins...
es and Birds of the Marshes and
Lord of the River Bringing Vegetation. It may be the case that originally,
Hapi (or a variation on it), was an earlier name used for the Nile itself, since it was said (inaccurately) that the Nile began between
Mu-Hapi and
Kher-Hapi, at the southern edge of Egypt where the two tributaries entered the region (its sources are two lakes, one of which is
Lake VictoriaLake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza is one of the African Great Lakes. The lake was named after the United Kingdom's Queen Victoria, by John Hanning Speke, the first European to see the lake....
).
The annual flooding of the Nile occasionally was said to be the
Arrival of Hapy. Since this flooding provided
fertileFertility is the natural capability of giving life. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. This is different from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
soil in an area that was otherwise desert, Hapi, as its patron, symbolised fertile lands. Consequently, although
maleMale refers to the sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...
and wearing the false
beardA beard is the hair that grows on a person's chin, cheeks, neck, and the area above the upper lip. Typically, only males going through puberty, or post-pubescent males are able to grow beards. However, women with hirsutism may develop a beard...
, Hapy was pictured with full breasts and a large belly, as representations of the
fertilityFertility is the natural capability of giving life. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. This is different from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
of the Nile. He also was usually given blue or green skin, resembling that of Nu, representing water.
Other attributes varied, depending upon the region of Egypt in which the depictions exist. In Lower Egypt, he was adorned with
papyrusPapyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
plants and attended by
frogFrogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by long hind legs, a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
s, present in the region, and symbols of it. Whereas in Upper Egypt, it was the
lotusBlue lotus may refer to:* Nymphaea caerulea, an aquatic flower* Nymphaea nouchali, an aquatic flower* Nelumbo nucifera, an aquatic flower* The Blue Lotus, a book in the Tintin series...
and
crocodileThe Nile Crocodile is an African crocodile which is common in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zambia.-Distribution and habitat:...
s which were more present in the Nile, thus these were the symbols of the region, and those associated with Hapi there. Hapi often was pictured carrying offerings of food or pouring water from an
amphoraAn amphora is a type of ceramic vase with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body. The word amphora is Latin, derived from the Greek amphoreus , an abbreviation of amphiphoreus , a compound word combining amphi- plus phoreus , from pherein , referring to...
, but also, very rarely, was depicted as a
hippopotamusThe hippopotamus or hippo is a large, mostly plant-eating mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae...
.
The cult of Hapi was mainly located at the First Cataract named
ElephantineElephantine is an island in the River Nile, located just downstream of the First Cataract at at the southern border of Ancient Egypt. This region is referred to as Upper Egypt because the land is higher than that near the Mediterranean coast. It may have received its name because it was a...
. Here, many temples were built that were dedicated to him. His priests were involved in rituals to ensure the steady levels of flow required from the annual flood. At Elephantine the official nileometer, a measuring device, was carefully monitored to predict the level of the flood, and his priests must have been intimately concerned with its monitoring.
The name Hapy can be spelled either
Hapi or
Hapi, but not to be confused with Hapi, one of the four sons of
HorusHorus is one of the oldest and most significant of the deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horuses are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...
.
Hapi's wives are also
Two LadiesIn Ancient Egyptian texts, Two Ladies is a religious euphemism for Wadjet and Nekhbet, the deities who were the patrons of the Ancient Egyptians and worshiped by all after the unification of its two parts, Lower Egypt, and Upper Egypt...
: Nekhebet and
WadjetIn Egyptian mythology, Wadjet, or the Green One , was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep, which became part of the city that the Egyptians named Per-Wadjet, House of Wadjet, and the...
.
The
Hymn to the Flood says:
- Lightmaker who comes from the dark
- Fattener of herds
- Might that fashions all
- None can live without him
- People are clothed with the flax
Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. This is called as Agasi/Akshi in Kannada, Jawas/Javas or Alashi in Marathi...
of his fields
- Thou makest all the land to drink unceasingly, as thou descendest on thy way from the heaven
Heaven may refer to the physical heavens, the sky or the seemingly endless expanse of the universe beyond. This is the traditional literal meaning of the term in English...
s.