how did ancient egyptians call the moon?
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Iah
Iah (Egyptian: jꜥḥ, Coptic ⲟⲟϩ) is a lunar deity in ancient Egyptian religion. The word jꜥḥ simply means “Moon”. It is also transcribed as Jah, or Aah.
Worship
By the New Kingdom (16th century to 11th century BC) he was less prominent than other gods with lunar connections, Thoth and Khonsu. As a result of the functional connection between them he could be identified with either of those deities.
Iah was sometimes considered an adult form of Khonsu and was increasingly absorbed by him. He continued to appear in amulets and occasional other representations, similar to Khonsu in appearance, with the same lunar symbols on his head and occasionally the same tight garments. He differed in usually wearing a full wig instead of a child’s sidelock, and sometimes the Atef topped by another symbol.
God of the new moon
As time went on, Iah also became Iah-Djehuty, meaning “god of the new moon”. In this role, he assumed the lunar aspect of Thoth (also known as Djehuty), who was the god of knowledge, writing and calculation. The segments of the moon were also used as fractional symbols in writing.
Iah was also assimilated with Osiris, god of the dead, perhaps because, in its monthly cycle, the Moon appears to renew itself.
Khonsu
Mythology
Khonsu’s name reflects the fact that the Moon (referred to as Iah in Egyptian) travels across the night sky, for it means “traveller,” and also had the titles “Embracer,” “Pathfinder,” and “Defender,” as he was thought to watch over those who travel at night. As the god of light in the night, Khonsu was invoked to protect against wild animals, and aid with healing. It was said that when Khonsu caused the crescent moon to shine, women conceived, cattle became fertile, and all nostrils and every throat was filled with fresh air.
Attributes
In art, Khonsu is typically depicted as a mummy with the symbol of childhood, a sidelock of hair, as well as the menat necklace with crook and flail. He has close links to other divine children such as Horus and Shu. He is sometimes shown wearing an eagle or falcon’s head like Horus, with whom he is associated as a protector and healer, adorned with the sun disk and crescent moon.
Khonsu is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts, in which he is depicted in a fierce aspect, but he does not rise to prominence until the New Kingdom, when he is described as the “Greatest God of the Great Gods”. Most of the construction of the temple complex at Karnak was centered on Khonsu during the Ramesside period.
Great snake
His temple at Karnak is in a relatively good state of preservation, and on one of the walls is depicted a creation myth in which Khonsu is described as the great snake who fertilizes the Cosmic Egg in the creation of the world.
Khonsu’s reputation as a healer spread outside Egypt; a stele records how a princess of Bekhten was instantly cured of an illness upon the arrival of an image of Khonsu. King Ptolemy IV, after he was cured of an illness, called himself “Beloved of Khonsu Who Protects His Majesty and Drives Away Evil Spirits”.
Locations of Khonsu’s cult were Memphis, Hibis and Edfu.
In popular culture
In The Kane Chronicles (2010-2012) by Rick Riordan, an adventure series inspired by Egyptian myths, Khonsu is allowed by Osiris to visit the main characters, Sadie and Carter, who need three hours to pass through the Houses of Night. He explained that, as being god of the moon, he could grant them the hours they required, but the only way he would grant them three hours is if they bet their Rens, or secret name, a word that held great power over a soul, on a game of Senet, an Ancient Egyptian board game.
He would give one hour for every game piece they got off the board, but for every game piece he got off the board, he would take one Ren. After counseling from a god and friend, Bes, the main characters made a move that got their third game piece off the board, but then allowed Khonsu to get a piece off the board as well. So Khonsu took Bes’s secret name, and his body, despite not being part of the agreement. He then disappeared before Carter could attack him.
The Fist of Khonshu
In Marvel Comics, the character Moon Knight is the avatar of Khonshu and is also known as “The Fist of Khonshu” Khonsu grants him supernatural abilities to fight evil in his name, but also slowly drives him insane. Moon Knight’s strength, endurance, and reflexes are enhanced depending upon the phases of the moon. During Volume 2, Moon Knight is given special weapons by the cult of Khonshu.
In the web serial Worm, Khonsu is the name given to one of the Endbringers, a giant monster in the series who can manipulate time.
In the novel The Claws of Time by Jason Charles, Khonsu sends the female protagonist Dimiza/River five hundred and twenty years into the future (from 1483 to 2003) to escape being executed by her lover, King Richard III, whom she helped become king.
Night At the Museum
In the film series Night At the Museum, the Tablet of Ahkmenrah, which gives inanimate objects the ability to come to life at night, is powered by Khonsu. The Pharaoh Ahkmenrah, one of the principal characters in the films, was gifted by his parents the magically blessed tablet shortly before his death, with the intention of granting him eternal life.
Thousands of years later when his tomb is excavated, his mummy and the tablet along with it, are brought to the Museum of Natural History where its powers (likely unintentionally) extend to the rest of the museum exhibits. In the third installment, Secret of the Tomb, it is revealed that exposure to moonlight is required to recharge the tablet’s powers. This is explained by Khonsu’s deep-rooted associations with the moon. The deity’s connections to healing and fertility may also relate to its life-giving properties.
How did Ancient Egyptians call the Moon?
Khonsu’s name reflects the fact that the Moon (referred to as Iah in Egyptian) travels across the night sky, for it means “traveller,” and also had the titles “Embracer,” “Pathfinder,” and “Defender,” as he was thought to watch over those who travel at night. As the god of light in the night, Khonsu was invoked to protect against wild animals, and aid with healing. It was said that when Khonsu caused the crescent moon to shine, women conceived, cattle became fertile, and all nostrils and every throat was filled with fresh air.
The moon is an essential part of numerous folklore myths and legends. No wonder it is depicted on many state flags! However, the full moon has been always thought to be an omen.
It is amazing that Ancient Egyptians have never considered the full moon as a scary phenomenon. In Ancient Egypt, the moon was associated only with the kindest and noblest deities such as Horus or Bastet. It is an interesting fact that for some period of time the moon had been known as Yah (and that was just a name for the satellite) and then it suddenly turned out to be the eye of Horus! In any case, there is no doubt that the nation was fond of this celestial body.
Ancient Egypt and the Moon:
The night luminary, the moon, has been a favorite object connected to stories and myths. People even professionals used to believe in a strong connection between mania and the moon. Sir William Herschel, a prominent British astronomer, thought aliens lived on the moon and made observations about the progress of their construction projects.
Did Egypt go to space?
Egypt became the first Arab country to put a telecommunications satellite into space with the launch of NileSat 101 in 1998. That satellite was followed in 2000 by Nilesat 102, which helped distribute hundreds of satellite TV channels.
How did ancient Egypt travel?
The roads in ancient Egypt were little more than paths. To get around on land, people walked, rode donkeys or travelled by wagon. They carried goods on their head, but the donkeys and wagons hauled heavier loads. Camels were almost unknown in Egypt until the end of the pharaonic period.
Is the moon the eye of god?
The Egyptians often referred to the sun and the moon as the “eyes” of particular gods. The right eye of the god Horus, for instance, was equated with the sun, and his left eye equated with the moon. Because many concepts in Egyptian belief are fluid, the roles of the two eyes frequently overlapped.
What did the ancients think of the moon?
The ancient Greeks believed that the Moon was smooth. Looking through a telescope Galileo could see the Moon’s surface is actually rough, with mountains and craters. In the 2nd century a man named Lucian wrote a book about a ship that is lifted on a waterspout to the Moon.
Is yah an Egyptian god?
For the ancient Egyptians, Yah was the moon god (crescent moon) and the personification of the two moon deities Thoth and Khonsu. He was usually depicted as a man with the head of a falcon. His symbols were variously the ibis, falcon and new moon. Yah was worshipped at Thebes and Hermopolis.
Is there an Egyptian moon god?
Khons, also spelled Khonsu or Chons, in ancient Egyptian religion, moon god who was generally depicted as a youth. A deity with astronomical associations named Khenzu is known from the Pyramid Texts (c. 2350 bce) and is possibly the same as Khons.
What was the role of the Moon in ancient Egypt?
Among the ancient Egyptians, the Moon was either Thoth, the god of wisdom and writing or Khonsu a healer, protector but also an enigmatic figure with his dark side. The ancient Greeks had a lunar deity Selene who was associated with the word selas’ which also means ‘light’, and Artemis, goddess of the Moon, and the twin sister of Apollo.
What was the best way for ancient Egyptians to travel?
It also traveled through the center of the nation. Ancient Egyptians could easily travel by boat between large cities such as Thebes and Memphis. Ancient Egypt had many desirable qualities, from rich culture to prosperity in farming.
Why was a lunar eclipse bad for the Egyptians?
Interruptions in the usual lunar cycle were feared by the ancient Egyptians. A lunar eclipse was seen as a bad omen, evidenced from some Late Period texts that describe the sky swallowing the moon.
How did the Egyptians calculate the lunar months?
The earliest sources (clay tablets of the 13th century bce, the writings of Homer and Hesiod) imply the use of lunar months; Hesiod also uses reckoning determined by the observation of constellations and star groups; e.g., the harvest coincides with the visible rising of the star group known as the Pleiades before dawn.
Which ancient Egyptian gods were associated with the Moon in the way Ra is associated with the Sun?
Several Egyptian deities could be identified with the moon. There was Iah, whose name means simply ‘moon’. He was a relatively minor deity, typically an attribute of others. Thoth, master of hieroglyphs and knowledge, and Khonsu, son of Amun and Mut at Thebes, were both lunar deities associated with the marking of time and healing. The moon could also be seen as one of the eyes of the god Horus in his ancient cosmic form, the other eye being the sun.
In the stories about the struggle between Horus and the transgressive Seth, the eye of Horus was variously injured, abducted, or swallowed. It was Thoth who restored and healed this wedjat (the hale one) eye, a process that was perpetually manifest in the waning and waxing of the moon. As a symbol of that which is injured and made whole, the moon could be associated with Osiris, the re-membered and reanimated god-beyond-death.
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