Apophis (Apep)

AP-oh-fis

egyptian: ꜥꜣpp

Definition

Apophis — Greek for the Egyptian Apep — is the great serpent of chaos, the enemy the sun-god Re must overthrow on the solar circuit, the path the Sun travels by day and through the Duat (the underworld) by night. Each dawn Apophis waits to swallow the solar barque (the boat the Sun sails in), and Re, helped by the blessed dead, casts him down so the Sun can rise. He is disorder itself, threatening the ordered world. (See Day and Night Barque and Eclipse for the sky-events tied to him.)

In Tradition

Egyptologists read Apophis as the embodiment of disorder set against the cosmic order the Sun upholds — not a star or planet, but the force that menaces the solar journey. His defeat is the recurring plot of solar religion: across the Book of the Dead and the underworld guidebooks, Re overcomes him every single day so that light returns.

In Practice

For Egyptian astral religion, Apophis is the adversary of the daily solar cycle — the reason the Sun's safe passage was never taken for granted. He is kept distinct from Set: where Set is the storm-god who stands in the barque's prow to defend Re, Apophis is the chaos-serpent being fought. The Book of the Dead preserves the daily-overthrow formula — in Allen's translation, "Khepri in the midst of his Bark, he has overthrown Apophis every day" (BD 134), repeated across BD 140, 144, and 147; Faulkner's Papyrus of Ani has the deceased pray, "may I drive off the rebel-serpent, may I destroy Apophis when he acts" (Plate 1). When the Sun briefly failed — in storm or eclipse — Apophis was read as the cause, the serpent momentarily swallowing the barque.

Historical Origin

Apophis is attested by name across the New Kingdom and Late Period Book of the Dead. Raymond Faulkner translates him on Plate 1 of the Papyrus of Ani (New Kingdom; Faulkner & Goelet, *The Egyptian Book of the Dead*, printed p. 15). Thomas George Allen renders the daily-overthrow formula in the later Saite Recension at BD 134, the serpent recurring at BD 140, 144, and 147 (Allen, *The Book of the Dead*, p. 219). "Apophis" is the standard Egyptological form of the Egyptian Apep.

Further Reading

  • Raymond O. Faulkner & Ogden Goelet, The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day
  • Thomas George Allen, The Book of the Dead, or Going Forth by Day