Apedemek | |||||||
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Nubian Lion God of War | |||||||
Name in hieroglyphs |
Apedemak Jprmk | ||||||
Major cult center | Lion Temple, Naqa | ||||||
Consort | Amesemi | ||||||
Equivalents | |||||||
Roman equivalent | Jupiter | ||||||
Bakongo equivalent | Nzambi | ||||||
Egyptian equivalent | Amun |
Apedemak or Apademak (Meroitic: 𐦠𐦧𐦡𐦷𐦡𐦨𐦲,[1] originally, due to the absence of the /p/ phoneme in Meroitic, it was probably pronounced 'abedemak' [2]) was a major deity in the ancient Nubian and Kushite pantheon. Often depicted as a figure with a male human torso and a lion head, Apedemak was a war god worshiped by the Meroitic peoples inhabiting Kush. He has no Egyptian counterpart.[3] As a war god, Apedemak came to symbolize martial power, military conquest, and empire. Apedemak is also closely associated with Amun, the state-sponsored Egyptian deity during the preceding Napatan period, and is assumed to hold an equal level of importance.
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