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| God Babi Hieroglyphic Name |
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| God Babi |
God Babi, in Egyptian mythology, was the deification of the baboon, one of the animals present in Egypt. His name is normally transformed as Bull of the baboons, and roughly means Alpha male of all baboons, i.e. chief of the baboons.
Baboons showing many human characteristics, it was considered in early times, at least since the Predynastic Period, that they were deceased antecedents. In particular, the alpha males were named as deceased rulers, concerned to as the great white one (Hez-ur in Egyptian), since Hamadryas baboon (the mintages regular in Egypt) alpha males have a famous light grey streak. For Instance, Narmer is drawn in some images as having varied into a baboon. Since baboons were seen to be the dead, Babi was considered as an Hades deity. Baboons are highly competitive, and omnivorous, and so Babi was viewed as being very violent, and living on entrails.
Therefore, he was viewed as devouring the souls of the wicked after they had been weighed against Ma'at (the construct of truth/order), and was therefore said to stand by a lake of fire, doing destruction. Since this trying of righteousness was an outstanding part of the Hell, Babi was said to be the first-born son of Osiris, the god of the dead in the same realms in which people believed in Babi. Baboons also have observably high sex drives, in addition to their full level of venereal marking, and so Babi was seen the deity of virility of the dead. He was usually portrayed with an hard-on, and due to the connexion with the judgments of souls, was sometimes represented as using it as the mast of the ferry which carried the righteous to Aaru, a series of islands. Babi was also prayed to, in order to ensure that an own would not suffer from impotency after death.