Apep

Definition

In Egyptian cosmology, the great chaos-serpent that threatens to swallow the solar barque each midnight as Ra crosses the underworld. Apep is the personification of cosmological dissolution, the constant counter-force the order of Ma'at must overcome each cycle.

Literal meaning

Egyptian ꜥꜣpp, written with the serpent-with-knives determinative. The Greek tradition transliterated the name as Apophis. The Coffin Texts and the Book of Gates give the most extended descriptions of the nightly battle.

Esoteric meaning

Apep names the dissolutive principle that any ordered cosmos generates as its shadow. Where Ma'at names the principle of integrating order, Apep names the unbinding. Egyptian liturgy includes daily defensive rites against Apep, the Books of Overthrowing Apep, in which priests cut wax serpents and burned them to support the cosmic battle through ritual identification.

Extended meaning

Apep is described in the underworld books as a serpent of monstrous size with cutting knives ranged along its body. Set, in his earlier and more positive aspect, is the Neter who stands at the prow of the solar barque to spear Apep at the moment of greatest danger. The motif of the dragon-slaying hero across world mythology recapitulates this Egyptian antecedent.

Comparative tradition

Babylonian Tiamat in the Enuma Elish. Vedic Vritra in Rigveda I.32. Greek Typhon and Python. Norse Jörmungandr the world-serpent. Christian Leviathan and the dragon of Revelation 12. The dissolutive serpent appears across the cosmologies of every continent.