Khnum was an ancient Egyptian deity associated with fertility, water, and pottery. As the great potter, he was believed to have created humans and gods from clay. Originally a god of the Nile River, Khnum later took on the role of regulating the river's flooding and silt deposits. He was typically depicted as a ram-headed man or a man with ram horns, reflecting his associations with water, fertility, and the first domesticated long-horned ram species.

1. Khnum (Khenmew, Khnemu,
Khenmu, Chnum), from the
Egyptian 'unite', 'join' or
'build', was an ancient
deity of fertility, water
and the great potter who
created children and their
ka at their conception. He
was mentioned in the
pyramid texts and the
pyramid builder Khufu's

2. name was actually 'Khnum-
Khufu' meaning 'Khnum is
his Protector'.
His cult was popular
before the cult of Ra
eclipsed it. The next
pyramid builders were his
son and grandson who added
'Ra' to their names -
Khafra and Menkaura.
Khnum was possibly even a
predynastic god. The
Egyptians believed that he
was the guardian of the
source of the Nile who was
originally a Nile god, but
who became a helper of
Hapi.

3. His role changed from river
god to the one who made
sure that the right amount
of silt was released into
the water during the
inundation. In working with
the silt, the very soil
that the ancient Egyptian
potters used, he became the
great potter who not only
molded men and women, but
who molded the gods
themselves and the world.
He was depicted as a ram,
ram-headed man or as a full
male with the horns of a
ram who wears a plumed
white crown of Upper Egypt.
In early times he was shown
as the first domesticated

4. ram, the Ovis longipes
palaeoaegyptiacus, with
long corkscrew horns
growing horizontally
outwards from his head.
This species died out,
though even so he was still
depicted as that breed of
sheep until much later in
Egyptian history.
Eventually he was shown as
the Ovis platyra (the type
of ram associated with
Amen) with horns curving
inward towards his face.
Sometimes he was shown with
four ram heads, aligning
him with the sun god Ra,
the air god Shu, the earth
god Geb and Osiris, lord of
the dead.

5. In his four headed form,
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