Apep (Apophis) ancient Egyptian deity of chaos

Apep (Aapep, Apepi or Apophis) was the ancient Egyptian spirit of evil, darkness and destruction who threatened to destroy the sun god Ra as he travelled though the underworld (or sky) at night. 

Origin

The most well-known stories of Apophis are surely those that tell of his battles with the sun god Ra. Every day, Ra would travel across the sky in his solar barge (some legends call it a chariot) until disappearing beneath the Earth. While in the underworld, the giant snake would try to stop Ra from bringing the dawn again.

On Ra’s barge were a number of defenders, who would slit the snake’s belly every day so that Ra could pass.

Of the gods who traveled on the barge with Ra to protect him from Apophis, the most surprising is probably Set. He is also a god of evil, darkness and chaos. It doesn’t seem as though Ra and Set were always associated with each other, however, and later stories swap Set for another god such as Hathor.

While many stories of these battles tell of other gods fighting and defeating Apophis, there is also a story of Ra himself transforming into a cat to defeat the snake.

Appearance

Apophis is literally a giant snake, which is why he had nicknames such as “evil lizard” or “serpent from the Nile”. There have been some stories about the details of his appearance. For example, there are legends that say his body is 50 feet (nearly 15 meters) long. Other stories say that his head is made of flint, a type of hard and sharp stone. Apophis’ other name, Apep, probably derives from another Egyptian word that means “to slither”. It can also refer to the word for being spat out, which would be appropriate given that Apophis is known for being shunned and pushed aside. In funerary texts he is usually shown in the process of being dismembered in various ways. 

In a detailed depiction in the tomb of Ramesses VI twelve heads are painted above the head of the snake representing the souls he has swallowed who are briefly freed when his is destroyed, only to be imprisoned again the following night. In an alternative depiction inscribed in a number of tombs of private individuals Hathor or Ra is transformed into a cat who slices the huge serpent with a knife. 

The serpent was also represented by a circular ball, the "evil eye" of Apep, in numerous temple scenes.

He was not worshiped, he was feared, but was possibly the only god (other than The Aten during the Amarna period) who was considered to be all powerful. He did not require any nourishment and could never be completely destroyed, only temporarily defeated.

Family

Apophis is the child of Neith, who was goddess of the hunt as well as of war. Apophis was also brother to a number of important gods: Ra, Hathor, Sobek, Thoth and Serqet.

Some stories, probably later Roman retelling, describe Apophis as an enormous golden snakes that was miles long, and who tried to swallow the sun every night as Ra traversed the underworld.

Apophis is certainly one of the few Egyptian gods to always be shown with a monstrous form.

Like Set, Apep was also associated with various frightening natural events such as unexplained darkness such as solar eclipse, storms and earthquakes. They were both linked to the northern sky (a place that the Egyptians considered to be cold, dark and dangerous) and they were both at times associated with Taweret, the demon-goddess. However, unlike Set he was always a force for evil and could not be reasoned with.

Apep is not mentioned by name until the Middle Kingdom, but depictions of large serpents on Predynastic pottery may relate to him or to any of the variety of serpent gods or demons who appear in early texts (such as the Pyramid Texts) as representatives of evil or chaos. However, the mythology surrounding him largely developed during the New Kingdom in funerary texts such as the Duat (or Amduat). During the Roman Period, he was called "he who was spat out" and considered to have been born of the saliva of the goddess Neith.

Apep led an army of demons that preyed on the living and the dead. To defeat this malevolent force a ritual known as "Banishing Apep" was conducted annually by the priests of Ra. An effigy of Apep was taken into the temple and imbued with all of the evil of the land. The effigy was then beaten, crushed smeared with mud and burned. Other rituals involved the creation of a wax model of the serpent which was ritually dismembered and the burning of a papyrus bearing an image of the snake. The "Book of Apophis" is a collection of magical spells from the New Kingdom which were supposed to repel or contain the evil of the serpent.