Encyclopedia of African Religion

using his considerable power and energy, to span
the lifetime of his subjects, Bes remained a popu-
lar deity down through the Ptolemaic Era of
Egyptian history.
Indeed, during the Ptolemaic reign, images of Bes
were painted on the walls of temples, and certain
rooms of those temples became the sleeping rooms
of pilgrims who sought to have healing dreams to
revitalize their sexuality in the presence of painted
images of Bes with naked women. Clearly, Bes

accommodated many people and functioned to bring

blessings to the Nile Valley for thousands of years.

Molefi Kete Asante

See alsoChildren; Fertility; God

Further Readings

Aldred, C. (1965).Egypt to the End of the Old

Kingdom. New York: McGraw Hill.

122 Bes

This is a photograph of the ancient deity Bes from a column at the Temple of Karnak in Upper Egypt.

Source: Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama.