| Shezmu | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Shezmu presenting offerings | |||||||||||
| Name inhieroglyphs |
| ||||||||||
| Symbol | Oil,Wine,Perfume,Ointment, andBlood | ||||||||||
Shezmu (alternativelySchesmu andShesmu) is anancient Egyptian deity with a contradictory character. He is anUnderworld judge of the damned. He was worshiped from the earlyOld Kingdom period.[2]
He was considered a god ofointments,perfume, andwine. In this role, he was associated with festivities,dancing, andsinging. But he was also considered a god ofblood, who could slaughter and dismember other deities. It is thought possible that the ancient Egyptians usedred wine to symbolize blood in religious offerings, explaining why Shezmu is associated with both blood and wine.
Shezmu is an ancient Egyptian deity associated with the process ofembalming, as well as withviolence andprotection. He is sometimes considered an aspect ofNefertum, Sometimes, they are even presented as brothers, with Nefertem having a lion’s head and Shezmu as the beautiful youth.
Shezmu was an ancient Egyptian deity who fought and defeatedApep, the serpent of chaos, during the sun god Ra’s nightly journey through the underworld. By destroying Apep, Shezmu prevented the annihilation of the sun and saved the world from falling into nonexistence.
Shezmu was seldom depicted but when he was he appeared as a man with alion's head holding a butcher's knife. In later times he appeared as a lion. If only his name was mentioned it often appeared with thedeterminative of an oil press, and sometimes only the oilpress was depicted.[2][3] he was also depicted as a man with the head of avulture holdingbutcher knives.
Shezmu was a god with a contradictory personality. On one hand, he waslord of perfume,maker of all precious oil,lord of the oil press,lord of ointments andlord of wine. He was a celebration deity, like the goddessMeret. Old Kingdom texts mention a special feast celebrated for Shezmu: young men would press grapes with their feet and then dance and sing for Shezmu.[2]
On the other hand, Shezmu was very vindictive and bloodthirsty. He was alsolord of blood,great slaughterer of the gods, andhe who dismembers bodies. In Old KingdomPyramid Texts, several prayers ask Shezmu to dismember and cook certain deities in an attempt to give the food to a deceased king. The deceased king needed the divine powers to survive the dangerous journey to the stars.[3][2][4]
However, the interpretation remains open if the word "blood" is to be taken literally, as the ancient Egyptians symbolically offered red wine as "the blood of the gods" to several deities. This association was based simply on the dark red color of the wine, a circumstance that lead to connections of Shezmu with other deities who could appear in red colors. Examples include deities such asRa,Horus, andKherty. The violent character of Shezmu made him a protector among the companions of Ra's nocturnal barque. Shezmu protected Ra by threatening the demons and brawling with them. In the Pyramid Texts, he does similar things.[2]
It appears that starting in theNew Kingdom, Shezmu's negative attributes became gradually overshadowed by the positive ones, although on a21st Dynasty papyri his wine press appears to be filled with human heads in place of grapes (a depiction which was common earlier, onMiddle KingdomCoffin Texts). Then later, on the26th Dynasty sarcophagus of theDivine AdoratriceAnkhnesneferibre, Shezmu is recorded as a fine oil maker for the god Ra. And even later, during theGreco-Roman period, the manufacture of the finest oils and perfumes for the gods became Shezmu's primary role.[4]
Shezmu's main cult center was located at theFayum. Later, there were further shrines erected atEdfu andDendera.[2]
Media related toShezmu at Wikimedia Commons
