Bennu

Benu was the name of an ancient Egyptian god of the dead. In Egyptian mythology, he was later worshiped as the divine bird, reborn as he returned to his appearance as a purple herons and migratory bird from its wintering area to Egypt. Benu embodied in the Egyptian astronomy the planet Venus, which was also shown with a halo. He was considered the patron god of the sacred ram.

Background

In the Middle Kingdom, the Egyptians saw at sunset in Benu a hawk that is born after his night stay in the Duat during the dawn as herons. In addition, the Benu was considered Ba - soul of the Osiris, who was staying in imiut of Anubis to rebirth in secret. Ba - Djedet was also considered Ba of Osiris.

Myth of the Benu

The myth of the Benu told that he was the first being settled by the creation in the emerging from the flood land. At certain intervals he comes from Arabia or India to Heliopolis, where he built up a nest of myrrh in the temple of the sun god. He burns at sunrise in the glow of dawn in order to rise rejuvenated from its ashes and fly up to heaven. This should be done every 500 or 1461 years.

Representations

He is usually depicted in the form of a human-sized heron with two long back of the head feathers and golden- red or four colored plumage.