KHENSU, the Egyptian god

-Created on March 18, 2003-
-Last Updated on March 22, 2003-

A few ways to depict the name of the god KHENSU in Egyptian Hieroglyphics:
'Khnsu' in Hieroglyphics

KHENSU in Thebes, Nefer-hetep

The dual god KHENSU standing upon crocodiles

The third member of the great triad of Thebes was KHENSU,

, who was declared to be the son of Amen-Ra and Mut, and who was worshipped with great honour at Thebes. Khensu was the "traveller", and as he was a form of Thoth and was identified by the Thebans with the Moon-god the epithet was appropriate. As far back as the time of Unas the motion of Thoth as the Moon-god in the sky was indicated by the word khens,

, "to travel, to move about, to run," for in line 194 we read, "Unas goeth round about heaven like Ra, and travelleth through heaven like Thoth".

Under the Early Empire, Khensu occupied a very important position in the mythology of the period as the "messenger" of the great gods, and the "traveller" who journeyed through the sky under the form of the moon.

There is every reason to believe that the existence of Khensu was formulated in the minds of the Egyptians in very primitive times, and that his name is older than the dynastic period.

Among certain ancient Oriental nations the worship of the Moon always preceded that of the Sun, and there is reason for thinking that several of the oldest gods of Egypt were forms of the Moon in her various phases. In the theological system which the priests of Heliopolis succeeded in imposing upon the country some of these were preserved either by identification with the gods of the new scheme or by adoption, and comparatively fixed attributes were assigned to them. At a still later period, when the cult of Amen and Amen-Ra was common throughout the country, a further selection from the old gods was made, and some gods had positions apportioned to them in the company of the gods of Amen-Ra at Thebes. The priesthood of that city showed great astuteness in making Khensu,one of the most ancient forms of the Moon-god, to be the son of Amen-Ra, and in identifying him with the sons of the great cosmic gods Horus and Ra.

The chief centre of the worship of Khensu in the latter part of the dynastic period was Thebes, where Ramses III built the famous "House of Khensu in Thebes",

, or "House of Khensu in Thebes, Nefer Hetep,"

. As the great deity of his temple he was styled "great god, lord of heaven," "Khensu in Thebes, (surnamed) Nefer-Hetep, Horus, lord of joy of hearts in the Apts," and the texts show that shrines were built in his honour at Bekhent, in the Delta, at Shentu, at Nubit, at Behutet, at Sma-Behutet, and at Khemennu (Hermopolis). In the last place he was called "KHENSU-TEHUTI, the twice great, the lord of Khemennu," a fact which proves that in the late dynastic times he was wholly identified with Thoth; as Khensu-Tehuti he was also worshipped at Behutet, or Edfu. In Thebes his name was united with that of Ra and Shu, and we find such forms as KHENSU-RA,

, and KHENSU-SHU,

. The great temple of Khensu at Thebes appears to have contained three shrines, which probably corresponded to three aspects of the god, and we thus have :- 1. The Temple of Khensu. 2. The Temple of Khensu in Thebes, Nefer-hetep. 3. The Temple of Khensu, who worketh [his] plans in Thebes.

The forms of the god KHENSU-PA-KHART,

, i.e. "Khensu the Babe," and KHENSU-HUNNU,

, i.e. "Khensu the Child," were probably worshipped in the main portion of the temple, for they were purely forms of the moon-god, and they bore the same relation to him that Heru-pa-khart (Harpocrates) and Heru-Hunnu bore to Horus the Great or to Ra.

From the inscriptions on the temple of Khensu at Thebes we find that he was the "lord of Maat,", like Ptah, and the "moon by night"; as the new moon he is likened to a mighty, or fiery bull, and as the full moon he is said to resemble an emasculated bull. As Khensu-pa-khart he caused to shine upon the earth the beautiful light of the crescent moon, and through his agency women conceived, cattle became fertile, the germ grew in the egg, and all nostrils were filled with fresh air. He was the second great light in the heavens, and was the "first great [son] of Amen, the beautiful youth, who maketh himself young in Thebes in the form of Ra, the son of the goddess Nubit, a child in the morning, an old man in the evening, a youth at the beginning of the year, who cometh as a child after he has become infirm, and who reneweth his births like the Disk." From this passage it appears that Khensu-pa-khart was both the spring sun, and the spring moon, and also the moon at the beginning of each month, in fact, the symbol of the renewed light of the sun and moon, and the source of generation and reproduction. In these aspects he was readily identified with many forms of the young Sun-god, whether Horus or Ra, and with some of the gods of reproduction, e.g., Amsu, or Min. As a Horus god he became the son of Osiris, the "Bull of Amentet," and of one of the forms of Isis, and as the "Bull of his mother,"

, he was identified with Amsu-Ra,

, and was regarded as the brother of the Bull Osiris. The "two Bulls" mentioned in texts of the late period are Osiris and Khensu, and they represent the Sun and the Moon.

The forms in which Khensu is depicted on the monuments are of considerable interest, and may be thus described. Whether standing or seated on a throne he had usually the body of a man with the head of a hawk; sometimes, however, his head is also that of a man. He wears on his head the lunar disk in a crescent,

, or the solar disk with a uraeus, or the solar disk with the plumes and a uraeus. As "Khensu of Behutet, the great god, lord of heaven," he is seen seated on a throne and holding in his hands

and

. As Khensu Nefer-hetep he appears on the stele of Pai,

, in the form of a mummified man seated on a throne; over his forehead is the uraeus of royalty and by the side of his head is the lock of youth. Behind his neck hangs the menat

, and below his chin is the collar which is usually worn by Hathor; in his hand are

, and

. On the stele behind his back are two pairs of ears and two pairs of eyes,

, and the deceased is made to address the god as "lord of the gods, Khensu-Nefer-hetep-Tehuti, lord of Annu rest (i.e. Annu of the South), Chief Mabi

, peace, peace, O gracious one, who art at peace, and who lovest peace." As "Khensu, the mighty, who cometh forth from Nu,"

, he is provided with two hawks' heads, one facing to the right and the other to the left, and four wings, and he stands with each foot upon the head of a crocodile; on hihead rests the lunar crescent and disk. In this form he represents both the sun at sunrise and the new moon, and the two crocodiles symbolize the two great powers of darkness over which he has triumphed. As "Khensu, the chronographer,"

, he wears the solar disk on his head and holds a stylus in his right hand, and as Khensu-Ra,

, he wears the crown,

The phase of Khensu which appears to have been of the greatest interest to the Egyptians was that which was deified under the name of Khensu Nefer-hetep. This god not only ruled the month, but he was also supposed to possess absolute power over the evil spirits which infested earth, air, sea, and sky, and which made themselves hostile to man and attacked his body under the forms of pains, sickness, and diseases, and produced decay, and madness, and death. He it was, moreover, who made plants to grow, and fruit to ripen, and animals to conceive, and to men and women he was the god of love.

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Bibliography:
The pictures of the god KHENSU, the text, and the hieroglyphics imbedded in the text are from: The Gods of the Egyptians, by E. A. Wallis Budge, Late Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum.
The additional hieroglyphics are from: Ancient Egyptian Language, by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, M.A., LITT.D., D.LIT., Late Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum.