View source for Bennu

{{About|the ancient Egyptian deity|the near-Earth asteroid named after the deity|101955 Bennu|the video game development platform|BennuGD}}
{{short description|Ancient Egyptian deity}}{{Infobox deity
| type = Egyptian
| name = Bennu
| image = Bennu bird.svg
| caption = The deity, Bennu, wearing the Atef crown
| symbol = [[Grey heron]]
| cult_center = [[Heliopolis (ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]]
}}
'''Bennu''' ({{IPAc-en|'|b|ɛ|n|u:}})<ref>{{dict.com|Bennu}}</ref> is an [[ancient Egyptian deity]] linked with the Sun, creation, and rebirth. He may have been the original inspiration for the [[phoenix (mythology)|phoenix]] legends that developed in [[Greek mythology]].
==Roles==
{{Ancient Egyptian religion}}
According to [[Egyptian mythology]], Bennu was a self-created being said to have played a role in the [[ancient Egyptian creation myths|creation of the world]]. He was said to be the ''[[ancient Egyptian concept of the soul#Ba|ba]]'' (personality component of the soul) of the sun deity [[Ra]], and to have enabled the creative actions of [[Atum]].<ref name="Hart">{{cite book |last=Hart |first=George |title=The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses |edition=Second |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |pages=48–49 |isbn=0-415-34495-6 }}</ref> The deity was said to have flown over the waters of [[Nu (mythology)|Nun]] that existed before creation, landing on a rock and issuing a call that determined the nature of creation. He was also a symbol of rebirth and, therefore, was associated with [[Osiris]].<ref name="Wilkinson">{{cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Richard H. |title=The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt |location=London |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2003 |page=[https://archive.org/details/completegodsgodd00wilk_0/page/212 212] |isbn=0-500-05120-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/completegodsgodd00wilk_0/page/212 }}</ref>
Some of the titles of Bennu were "He Who Came Into Being by Himself",<ref name="Hart"/> and "Lord of [[Sed festival|Jubilee]]s"; the latter epithet referring to the belief that Bennu periodically renewed himself like the sun was thought to do.<ref name="Wilkinson"/> His name is related to the Egyptian verb ''wbn'', meaning "to rise in brilliance" or "to shine".<ref name="Hart"/>
==Depiction==
{{Hiero|Bennu or heron|<hiero>G31-.-G32</hiero>|align=right|era=egypt}}
The [[Pyramid Texts]], which date to the [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]], refer to the 'bnw' as a symbol of Atum, and it may have been the original form of Bennu. In that word the shape of a bird used is definitely not that of a heron, but a small singing bird. The German ''[[Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache]]'' (Dictionary of the Egyptian Language) surmised that might have been a [[Western yellow wagtail|Yellow Wagtail]] (''Motacilla flava''), but no clear reason is given.<ref name="Hart"/> However, the same bird is used in the spelling of a word 'bn.t' in a painted limestone relief wall fragment from the sun temple of the Vth Dynasty Old Kingdom king [[Nyuserre Ini|Niuserre]]. The hieroglyph clearly shows traces of blue-grey paint on much of the bird's body, indicating a different bird species. Rather, the shape and colour seem to point to a (Mediterranean) [[Common kingfisher|Kingfisher]] (''Alcedo atthis'') for which, however, another name was in use: 'hn.t<y' (lit. 'the one of the canal'). It could be surmised that a Kingfisher flying low over water and shrieking loudly would be a reasonable basis for the mythical creator deity Atum of Heliopolis as having risen from the first dark waters, called Nun, in order to start his creation of the world. If so, the Kingfisher 'bnw' or 'bn.t' is a good match for the mythical and cultic [[Egyptian goose|Nile goose]] (I.e.  'smn') of the creator deity Amun in later periods, imagined to have been honking loudly in the primeval dark above the still waters in order to bring forth all creation by its voice.{{cn|date=March 2021}}
[[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] artwork shows Bennu as a huge [[grey heron]] with a long beak and a two-feathered crest. Sometimes Bennu is depicted as perched on a [[benben]] stone (representing Ra and the name of the top stone of a pyramid) or in a willow tree (representing Osiris). Because of the connection with Osiris, Bennu sometimes wears the [[Atef]] crown,<ref name="Wilkinson"/> instead of the solar disk.
==Possible animal model==
Remains of a giant, human-sized heron species, thought to have gone extinct around 1500 BC, were discovered in the [[United Arab Emirates]] in 1977.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wondermondo.com/wonders-of-united-arab-emirates/ |access-date=20 October 2020 |title=Wonders of the United Arab Emirates |date=June 2013 |publisher=Wondermondo}}</ref><ref name=Hoch1777>{{cite conference |title=Reflections on prehistoric life at Umm An-Nar (Trucial Oman) based on faunal remains from the third millennium B.C. |last=Hoch |first=Ella |date=1977 |book-title=South Asian Archaeology 1977 |editor=M. Taddei |pages=589–638 |conference=Fourth International Conference of the Association of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe}}</ref> It lived on the [[Arabian Peninsula]] and shared many characteristics with Bennu, and scientists believe it may have been the animal model for the deity. In reference to this, archaeologist Dr. Ella Hoch from the Geological Museum at [[Copenhagen University]] named it the [[Bennu heron]] (''Ardea bennuides'').<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shuker |first1=Karl |title=Giant Birds from the Tombs of the Pharaohs |url=http://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2016/05/giant-birds-from-tombs-of-pharaohs.html |website=karlshuker.blogspot.com |access-date=9 March 2021 |date=31 May 2016}}</ref>
==Worship==
[[File:Fenix bennu.jpg|thumb|A depiction of Bennu with a sun disk on his head, from the tomb of Irynefer at [[Deir el-Medina]]]]
Like Atum and Ra, Bennu was probably worshipped in the deities' cult centre at [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]].<ref name="Wilkinson"/> Bennu also appears on funerary [[scarab (artifact)|scarab]] amulets as a symbol of rebirth.<ref name="Hart"/>
==Connection with the Greek phoenix==
The Greek historian [[Herodotus]], writing about Egyptian customs and traditions in the fifth century BC, wrote that the people at Heliopolis described the "phoenix" to him. They said it lived for 500 years before dying, resuscitating, building a funerary egg with [[myrrh]] for the paternal corpse, and carrying it to the temple of the Sun at Heliopolis.<ref name="Lecocq">{{cite journal |last=Lecocq |first=Françoise |title=L'œuf du phénix. Myrrhe, encens et cannelle dans le mythe du phénix |journal=Schedae |volume=6 |issue=1: L‘animal et le savoir, de l’Antiquité à la Renaissance |year=2009 |pages=73–106 |url=http://www.unicaen.fr/puc/images/preprint0172009.pdf |access-date=2016-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174320/http://www.unicaen.fr/puc/images/preprint0172009.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> His description of the phoenix likens it to an eagle with red and gold plumage, reminiscent of the sun.<ref name="Wilkinson"/>
Long after Herodotus, the theme of the fire, pyre, and ashes of the dying bird,  ultimately associated with the Greek phoenix, developed in Greek traditions.
The name "phoenix" could be derived from "Bennu", and its rebirth and connections with the sun resemble the beliefs about Bennu; however, Egyptian sources do not mention a death of the deity.<ref name="Hart"/>
==See also==
* [[Fenghuang]]
* [[Firebird (Slavic folklore)]]
* [[Vermilion Bird]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Labrique |first=Françoise |chapter=Le regard d'Hérodote sur le phénix (II, 73) |language=fr |editor1-last=Coulon |editor1-first=Laurent |editor2-last=Giovannelli-Jouanna |editor2-first=Pascale |editor3-last=Kimmel-Clauzet |editor3-first=Flore |title=Regards croisés sur le Livre II de l'Enquête d'Hérodote. Actes de la journée d'étude organisée à la Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée – Lyon, le 10 mai 2010 |year=2013 |publisher=Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée |isbn=978-2-35668-037-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Lecocq |first=Françoise |year=2016 |chapter=Inventing the Phoenix: A Myth in the making Through Words and Images |editor-last=Johnston |editor-first=Patricia A. |editor-last2=Mastrocinque |editor-first2=Attilio |editor-last3=Papaioannou |editor-first3=Sophia |title=Animals in Greek and Roman Religion and Myth |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |pages=449–478}}
* {{cite journal |last=Lecocq |first=Françoise |year=2019 |url=http://www.enim-egyptologie.fr/index.php?page=enim-12&n=12 |title=L'oiseau bénou-phénix et son tertre sur la tunique historiée de Saqqâra. Une interprétation nouvelle |lang=fr |journal=ENiM (Égypte nilotique et méditerranéenne) |volume=12 |pages=247–280}}
* {{cite book |last=Van Den Broek |first=Roelof |title=The Myth of the Phoenix According to Classical and Early Christian Traditions |translator-first=I. |translator-last=Seeger |year=1971 |publisher=Brill}}
* {{cite journal |last=Wolterman |first=Carles |title=On the Names of Birds and Hieroglyphic Sign-List G 22, G 35 and H 3 |journal=Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente Lux |volume=32 |date=1991–1992}}
==External links==
* {{commonscat-inline|=Bennu}}
{{Ancient Egyptian religion footer}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Egyptian legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Egyptian hieroglyphs: birds]]
[[Category:Legendary birds]]
[[Category:Phoenix birds]]
[[Category:Epithets of Amun-Ra]]