Apedemak Lion-headed Nubian warrior god.

[GateKeeper]

He was indigenous to the Sudanese culture of Meroe. The Meroitic civilisation displays many Egyptian influences and incorporates gods from the pharaonic panntheon but Apedemak is likely to be a totally African deity. He is represented as anthropomorphic to the shoulders with leonine head and holding a sceptre surmounted by a seated lion. his association with battles is admirably captured in the lion imagery- in pharonic Egypt too the lion-motif can represent a killer-deity in a southern enviroment. Mention of Apedemak is rare in Lower Nubia although in a chapel dedicated to Isis at Dabod, just above the first cataract of the Nile, Meroitic ruler Adikhalamani (around 200BC) calls himself 'beloved of Apedemak'. The main sanctuary of Apedemak was at Musawwarat es-Sufra in the sands of the Butana, north of the sixth Nule Cataract. For about 800 years from 300BC this vast temple complex, which included a major temple to Apedemak (as well as chapels to him and another Meroitic deity Sebiumeker), was the destination of sacred pilgrimages. From reliefs in his monuments Apedemak's cult involves specially bred temple cattle and an important regard for the African elephant.

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