- Bes -
Bes was the patron of women in childbirth, the protector of pregnant women and of newly born children. As such, he is often associated with mother-godesses such as Hathor.
He was normally depicted as a bearded dwarf with a leonine face, large animal ears and a protruding tongue. The protruding tongue was a sign of challenge, a challenge that Bes sent to the evildoers that would harm young children.
Like many dwarfs, his legs were bent and he often had a large belly. He was clothed in animal skins, bore a tail and a feathered head dress. Contrary to the typical manner in which the Egyptians represented people in paintings and reliefs, Bes' face is almost always show from the front and only rarely from the side.
The strange way Bes in which is represented has lead some scholars to think that Bes was of Mesopotamian or of African origin. The epithets "Lord of Punt" and "Lord of Nubia" also seem to point in that direction. On the other hand, Bes is known to the Egyptians from the Old Kingdom on, or before. There are no representations of or references to Bes of non-Egyptian origin found outside Egypt.
Bes may owe the epithet "Lord of Punt" to his dwarf-like figure: Punt, a legendary African society, appears to have been populated, among others, by pygmies.
On some occasions, he was represented as a lion or armed with swords, spears and maces, symbolizing his power and fierceness. In the mamisi of the temples of the Greek-Roman era, he is often shown making music: playing the harp, a flute or a tambourine. These musical instruments were not only necessary to celebrate the birth of the child-god in the temple, but also to scare away the demons and monsters that would do harm to the newly born.
A typical representation of the dwarf-god Bes, found on a relief fragment at the temple of Hathor at Dendara. This relief may have belonged to one of the mamisi or birth-temples at Dendara.
