Nefertum

     Many of the Egyptian's gods are well known and often seen in tomb paintings, on papyri or on temple walls. Many more of the ancient gods were fairly to extremely obscure and were not often represented in art. Nefertum is one of the fairly obscure Egyptian gods.

     Nefertum is sometimes mentioned as a lily plant that arose out of "Nun" (the primeval ocean that covered the earth) at the creation of the world, and is often represented with a lily on his head (see figure 1). There is often a "menat" on either side of the lily (as the "menat" is a symbol of the important goddesses of Egypt). The "menats" (a plate with strands of beads attached so that it can be worn on the chest) likely denote his association with either Sekhmet or Bastet (who were considered to be his mother, with Ptah as his father). Commonly, this god is shown carrying a scimitar in his hand.

     This particular example is from the Late Period and is made of bronze and is currently on loan to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.