Who is The Egyptian God Bes

Bes appears frequently on household objects. They point to his several functions.

Left: Golden Amulet of God Bes, Egypt New Kingdom, 16th century BCE, Louvre Museum.
Photo Credit: Rama, Wikimedia Commons, CC-SA.

Amulets like these would be worn by mothers or hopeful mothers, or by infants.

This amulet clearly shows Bes' leonine features: ears, mane and tail. Sometimes he wears a lionskin; otherwise he seems half-dwarf, half-lion himself. Does the lion suggest a hero? A champion who defeats dangers and keeps away harm? Or is Bes a sort of animal spirit? Other Egyptian gods may have an animal head or take fully animal guises, but none quite in this blended form. Another oddity: by convention, Egyptian art depicts faces in profile; Bes is quite rare in looking out at us directly.

His unique appearance may be a relic of the Sudanese culture and art whence he came, or it may be the Egyptians' way of symbolizing that he is a foreigner.

Bes was introduced from the Sudan in the Twelfth Dynasty (c 2000 BCE onwards). At first, he was a protector of royal children and appears on artwork commemorating royal births; later, "he was enthusiastically adopted by the common people and became one of the most popular deities" (Ions p. 108).

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Right: Carved ivory headrest (Egyptian pillow) in the shape of a miniature folding chair, Tomb of Tutankhamun, 14th century BC.

A head of Bes with his tongue sticking out decorates this unusual headrest. Yes, the Egyptians really slept with their heads propped on these (often padded)! Bes was the protector of children from start to finish, and the Egyptians knew quite well where children came from. So he often appears as a fertility motif in bedroom furniture. Since this headrest was placed in a tomb, Bes may also have signified rebirth of the deceased pharaoh.

Left: Hippo-tusk magic wand in shape of boomerang, Egypt New Kingdom, 18th century BCE, British Museum.
Photo Credit: Nic McPhee, Creative Commons.

Ivory wands like this were used for apotropaic (Greek for "away-turning") magic to ward off evil spirits at birth and during the vulnerable time of early childhood. As the British Museum website notes, these wants are carved in the shape of Egyptian throwing-sticks used to hunt birds in the marshes. Strange, whimsical creatures and Egyptian gods are carved on them; Bes is usually present. This one shows Bes strangling a pair of serpents -- fear of snakes entering children's cradles is common in that part of the world. Most of the other symbols are gods in animal-form, most of them aspects of the sun, dawn and rebirth; a few, perhaps including the "giraffe," represent dangerous forces which must be curbed).

In the late period, images of Bes are popular figures in the sculptures of Mammisis, shrines commemorating the birth of divine child-gods.

Bes looks more like a clown, jack-o-lantern, or even a Greek head of Medusa than the usual ideally-proportioned deities of Egyptian art. There's a good reason why.

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