Nefertem- Egyptian GodDeity"He Who is Beautiful"

The Flower at Dawn

The blue lotus opens at dawn and closes at sunset. Nefertem was the god of this flower, the sacred Nymphaea caerulea whose intoxicating fragrance and mild narcotic properties placed it at the boundary between the earthly and the divine. In the creation myth, the first lotus emerged from the primordial waters and opened its petals, and the infant sun god arose from within, flooding the world with light and scent.

Pyramid Text utterance 266 captures it in a single image: "Nefertem is the lotus at the nose of Ra." The sun god held the flower to his face each morning and was revived by its perfume. Nefertem was the freshly risen sun still carrying the lotus's beauty, the new light before the day's heat hardened it. He was patron of perfume-makers and the fragrant arts: incense and the scented oils applied to the dead.

The Lioness's Son

In Memphis, Nefertem was the child of Ptah the creator and Sekhmet the destroyer. He could appear with a lion's head and a scimitar in hand, the delicate lotus concealing the lioness's son. Beauty had teeth.

The lotus's daily resurrection gave Nefertem power over death. Lotus flowers were placed in tombs and on mummies. The Book of the Dead contains a spell for "being transformed into a lotus," the deceased hoping to emerge fresh from the waters as the flower does each dawn.