Baboon gods in ancient Egypt
Symbol of virility and guardians of the underworld
Baboons
were well-represented in ancient Egypt and were kept as sacred animals in several Egyptian temples. Featured in hieroglyphics, paintings, artworks, statues and in sacred tombs, the ancient Egyptians believed that baboons were the first creatures to pay proper religious observances, as they were often
portrayed with their arms raised in worship of the sun.
Since baboons exhibit many human characteristics, it was believed that they were deceased ancestors. The baboon god Babi, also known as Baba, was worshipped for its sexual virility and was endowed with the aggressive characteristics of a dominant male baboon – attributes admired by the first kings of Egypt who fought for dominance in the land and their domains.
Statues of Baba, simply translated as the “bull of the baboons”, were based on the dog-faced baboon ( Papio hamadryas cynocephalus) and it was this fierce, bloodthirsty baboon god who was prayed to in order to ensure that an individual would not suffer from impotence after death.
Baboons also appeared in the Book of the Dead as helpers or subsidiaries of Thoth, the God of Knowledge. Ancient artwork depicts four baboons with scorching breath guarding the Lake of Fire in the underworld, presiding over the scales in the ‘weighing of the heart ceremony’ in the judgement of the dead.
The cult center of Baba was based at Hermopolis in present day Egypt where he superseded the previous, more benign baboon sun god Hedjwer. It was in the form of a baboon that Thoth travelled through the Nubian desert in search of Ra’s daughter, and it was the emergence of Thoth that resulted in the decline of the worship of Baba. ag