#ihty

The name Bes (perhaps from the word besa, 'to protect') is a relatively late term used to describe what are really a number of deities and demons of Egypt, perhaps not all originally related, through all of similar form. Perhaps ten separate gods -Aha, Amam, Bes, Hayet, Ihty, Mefdjet, Menew, Segeb, Sopdu and Tetetenu- share similar, if not identical, characteristics making 'Bes' a complex and not always clearly understood figure. Although the developed deity came to be one of the most popular and widespread of the Egyptian gods, little can be said with certainty of his beginnings. In the past different scholars have assigned him both African and Near Eastern roots, but this is unnecessary and the god is attested in Egypt -if somewhat indirectly- since Old Kingdom times. He (or related deities such as Aha: 'fighter') appears on scores of artifacts of Middle Kingdom date, but it is not until the New Kingdom and later that Bes figures and images become truly widespread and reflect popular acceptance of the developed deity. Despite his appearance, which changed in many details over time, Bes was deemed beneficient to humans and he was accepted by all classes of Egyptians as a powerful apotropaic deity. He was especially associated with the protection of children and pregnant women and those giving birth and often depicted alongside Taweret in this role. Just as the Bes figure subsumed various minor gods and demons, in later times he was himself syncretized with other protective deities, forming the 'core' of a composite deity whose elements included Amun, Min, Horus, Sopdu, Reshef and other gods. Mythologically, Bes could also be associated with Re, Hathor and Horus -sometimes as the combined Horbes- and a female form of the got, Beset, sometimes appears as the mother of Horus.