Bes
The Egyptian god Bes
Beginning about 2500 BC, near the end of the Old Kingdom period in Egypt, people started worshipping a new god, Bes. Nobody knows for sure where Bes came from, but he may have started out as a Nubian god, from south of Egypt. People in southern Egypt (Upper Egypt) worshipped Bes long before people did in Lower Egypt (in the north). The word "besa" means "cat" in Nubian, and maybe Bes originally looked like a lion standing on his hind legs.
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(a project)
People didn't worship Bes in temples, but by the New Kingdom (about 1500 BC) many Egyptian families kept a statue of Bes in their house. Bes was so ugly that he could frighten evil spirits, so people kept him by the door (like we put pumpkins by our doors on Halloween). Bes also protected pregnant women and women having children from evil spirits, so he was a god of childbirth.
To find out more about the Egyptian god Bes, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, by Leonard Fisher (1999). For younger kids.
The Egypt Game (Yearling Newbery), by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (reprinted 1985). A great kids' story about kids who pretend to be Egyptian gods and goddesses.
Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice, by John Baines, David Silverman, and Leonard Lesko (1991). Pretty hard going, but it will tell you everything you need to know about Egyptian religion.
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