Hapi (original) (raw)

Hapi ("runner") was the Egyptian solar deity and the symbolization of the annual flood of the Nile River, which deposited rich silt on the banks, allowing the Egyptians to grow crops. He lived in a cave with a group of crocodile gods and a harem of frog goddesses.

Hapi was one of the sons of Horus depicted in funerary literature as protecting the throne of Wesir in the Underworld. Hapi is depicted as a baboon-headed mummified human on funerary furniture and especially the "canopic" jars which held the organs of the deceased (Hapi's jar held the lungs). Later Hermetic philosophers would equate Hapy with the element of air because of his association with the funerary protectress Nebt-het and the direction of east

There's a confusion here. The Nile god (Hapy) and the canopic jar god (Hapi) are two different characters. See, for example, the corresponding French page http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/H�pi -- ne pas confondre avec le dieu du Nil, H�py.

Alternative: Hapy, Hep, Hepr