Nehebkau

A benevolent god, Nehebkau was prayed to for relief from food poisoning and harmful creatures, and was also associated with fertility and the growing of barley. He was thought to have gained his great power by swallowing seven cobras, becoming immune to water, fire, and harmful magic.

Nehebkau was believed to be immortal and to reside in the Primordial Ocean, Nun. Legend has it the Ra tamed Nehebkau and made him his servant. Nehebkau accompanied Ra during his voyage through the underworld, coiling around the solar boat to protect it.

After death, Nehebkau protected the pharaoh, and offered containers of food and the “Milk of Light” to the deceased. He was also said to intervene with other deities on the behalf of the deceased during the Weighing of the Heart, attesting to their good character.

His image often appeared on divine thrones, and protective amulets of Nehebkau were highly popular. Such amulets were often buried with the dead.

Described as a “great serpent, multitudinous of coils,” Nehebkau was pictured as a large constricting snake, sometimes with falcon wings. In a few instances Nehebkau is pictured as an ouroboros, a snake biting its own tail, in order to protect whatever he was coiled around.

The similarity of Nehebkau to Apophis is obvious. Nehebkau is a very old deity, and perhaps the original sun-god before Ra. As Ra’s prominence rose, snakes were associated more and more with the forces of chaos. But the "beautiful and peaceful" Nehebkau could not be seen as wholly evil. Thus Apophis was “split off” of Nehebkau, to be the great enemy of Ra. Because Apophis was not attested to before the Middle Kingdom, this split seems to have happened during the uncertain and fearful times which followed the Pyramid Age.

Nehebkau was thought to be the son of Geb and Renenutet (as well as her husband.) Sometimes he was considered to be the son-husband of Selket.