5th February: Birthday of Apophis

The Ancient Egyptians believed that today was the birthday of the god Apophis, or Apep. Here are 10 facts about this deity. How many parallels with Satan can you spot?

1. Apophis/Apep was the god of chaos which made him the enemy of light and order as represented by the sun god Ra.
2. He was depicted as a giant golden serpent that was miles long and huge enough to eat the Sun, and was constantly trying to do so.
3. Of course, it was obvious that there was never a giant Snake chasing the sun across the sky during the day, so Apophis must be lying in wait below the horizon, or in the underworld. Stories varied as to whether he was lurking in Bakhu, a western mountain, or somewhere in the east where the sun rose. The possibility that he could be in both places gained him the title World Encircler.
4. If Apophis lived in the underworld, then it stood to reason that the souls of the dead were in danger from him - so people would be buried with anti-Apophis spells.
5. Apophis was seen as the god of evil and responsible for frightening natural events. Earthquakes happened because Apophis was moving about; thunderstorms were Apophis battling with Ra and a Solar Eclipse was him swallowing the sun.
6. The Egyptians carried out a rite once a year called the Banishing of Chaos, where an effigy of Apophis was made, which contained all the evil in the world. It would be beaten, spat upon and finally burned to keep evil away for the rest of the year.
7. There were whole books dedicated to fighting the evil god. The Book of Apophis contained instructions for making wax models to mutilate and the spells to recite while doing so.
8. The Egyptians believed that Apophis could never be completely destroyed, only temporarily defeated, and so he was one of the most powerful of their gods.
9. Although generally considered evil, there were two Egyptian kings who were named after him - Fourteenth Dynasty king Apepi and of the Greater Hyksos king Apophis.
10. Even in our modern world, it was believed for a time that Apophis might actually destroy the earth. Not the god, but 99942 Apophis, a near-earth Asteroid which appeared to be on a possible collision course with us and would hit Earth on April 13, 2029 or April 13, 2036. Further study determined that the probability of this happening was very small, but for a time, Apophis set the record for being the most dangerous asteroid ever, reaching 4 on the Torino impact hazard scale.