TYPE: Primeval deity associated both with Osiris and Re
ORIGIN: Egyptian
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: from circa 2700 BCE and probably earlier, until the end of Egyptian history (circa CE 400)
SYNONYMS: Arsaphes (Plutarch)
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Hnes (Ihnasya el-Medina) near Beni Suef.
ART REFERENCES: Reliefs and sculptures including a gold figurine held by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
LITERARY SOURCES: Stela from Hnes later moved to Pompeii (Naples Museum).
INFORMATION: Herysaf is a rain god said to have emerged from the primeval ocean, possibly recreated in the form of a sacred lake at Hnes, the capital of Lower Egypt for a time at the beginning of the third millennium (during the First Intermediate Period). The god is depicted with a human torso and the head of a ram wearing the atef crown of Lower Egypt.
Hersyaf began as a local deity but took on national importance as the soul (ba) of Re, and of Osiris. Herysaf's sanctuary was enlarged by Rameses II and the god is said to have protected the life of the last Egyptian pharaoh when the Persian and later Macedonian dominations began. He eventually became syncretized with Herakles in Greco-Roman culture and Hnes became known as Herakleopolis.