Khonsu, the Lunar God

Khonsu, Chons, or Khons is the god of the moon and the god of time in ancient Egypt. As a lunar god, Khonsu is associated with the other lunar god, Thot. He is originally part of the triad with Amun and Mut. He is the child of the union between the air and the sky. He was primarily worshipped at Thebes. In the north, he was considered the son of Ptah and Sekhmet. At the Greco-Roman Kom-Ombo Temple, Khonsu is the son of Sobek and Hathor. He has his own temple at the Karnak Complex. It is from there that his statue was transported, during the Thebian New Year Festival,  to join his parents at the Luxor Temple.

Khonsu's Name 

There has been a dispute about the meaning of his name. Some scholars suggested that it represented the royal placenta. It is more accepted that Khonsu is derived from the hieroglyphs for "wanderer" or "traveller". (hns) means to travel or to cross, referring to the journey of the moon through the sky.

Khonsu's Appearance

He is usually depicted as a young man for he is mostly known as the "son" of the triads. He is depicted in the shape of a mummy with crossed arms with a braid side lock (symbol of youth) holding a flail and a crook. His garment is tight-fitting making his limbs undistinguished. He is mostly wearing a crescent-shaped pendant necklace. 

Sometimes Khonsu is depicted as a human with a falcon's head. In this case, he wears the lunar symbol on his head with the full moon resting above. 

Khonsu is depicted as a young man with the characteristic braid of youth. 
This statue bears resemblance to the personal features of the Boy King Tutankhamun
and belongs to his reign. The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Cairo. 

Khonsu's Roles

He was the God of the moon and time. Khonsu also terrorized the bad spirit attacking the human body in the form of pain, sickness, and diseases and leading to death and weakness.

During the new kingdom Khonsu was also worshipped as a god of love and fertility for humans, animals, and crops. It is customary to link between the moon and fertility in Ancient Egypt. It was believed that the moon is associated with the menstrual cycle and thus fertility. Khnosu is thus also known to help women conceive children.

When it comes to time, Knosu was sometimes regarded as a controller of destiny as (heseb ahau) or the "controller of the life-span". Khonsu had a much-feared baboon form known as the Keeper of the Books of the End of the Year. These books carried the names of those who were going to die as fated by the gods. Ancient Egyptians would appease to "Khonsu the Merciful" to alter their fate. He was also associated with judgment and punishment in later ancient Egyptian history. 

The Dark Side of Khonsu

Khonsu may have been a benevolent God in the New Kingdom. However, during the Old Kingdom, he was a dangerous, terrifying, violent God. He was known as the "angry one of the gods". In the Pyramid Texts, he appears in the "cannibal Hymn". 

In the walls and sarcophagus he was described as a "blood-thirsty deity", he helped the deceased king who became deified to find the other gods and eat their hearts. In other texts, he is called" Khonsu who lived on hearts". As a god with a vicious side, he was invoked in protection spells against powerful demons. One popular tale from the reign of Rameses II depicts just that. But that's a tale for another article!