Turtle-Headed Demon Still Missing! by Dagmara Haladaj

Turtle headed creatures are quite rare in iconography of ancient Egypt and examples are scattered through different contexts. We can meet them mostly in funerary sphere where they serve as guardians. In the case of late Third Intermediate Period coffins, turtle headed creatures can be seen on three different coffins dating to the times of 25th and 26th Dynasties.

MISSING: Armed and Possibly Dangerous! by Jed Rual

This demon has a distinguishable iconography in which it can be seen as a hybridised being — an anthropomorphic, seated body with the head of a turtle. Within its hands it holds two daggers (be careful, this could be a dangerous being!) and is often seen protecting a gate within the netherworld. It could be classed as a guardian-demon.

Demon Bunnies from Ancient Egypt by Kasia Szpakowska

This Friday the 13th seemed like a good day to explore the concept of the dastardly BUNNY! These...

What is an Ancient Egyptian Demon? by Zuzi Bennett

There is much academic discussion over the definition of ancient Egyptian demons. A variety of modern terms have been used to describe these entities, including “genius,” “minor divinity,” and “demon” (alternatively spelt “daemon”).

The Destructrix: An Ancient Egyptian Destroyer of Hostile Demons by Kasia Szpakowska

“She lives from the blood of the damned and from her provisions which these gods give” is the Ancient Egyptian name of a goddess who consumes the unjustified dead.

Turtle-Headed Guardian by Zuzi Bennett

Today’s demon is a turtle-headed guardian! It is always interesting to see how the ancient...

Genius Demons of Ancient Egypt: Taweret by Kasia Szpakowska

What makes a demon such a genius? It is not that she is so very smart. “Genius” is the term used for a hybrid being who is composed of animal parts. A popular one in Ancient Egypt combined the form of a hippopotamus, lioness (or other big wild feline), and crocodile. This form is used for a number of entities including Taweret (“the Great One”), Ipet, and Reret.

Welcome to Demon Things!

Demon Things is an ancient Egyptian demonology project about the imaginal realm of ancient Egyptian supernatural beings. This website serves as a portal for the subject of liminal entities in ancient Egypt from its earliest times (Predynastic ca. 3500 BCE) to the Byzantine Period (ca. 400 CE).

The word “demon” is used here as a popular reference to the liminal entities from the ancient Egyptian worldview that generally fall outside modern categorizing as a major deity. Unlike the well-known and better attested major deities, these liminal entities generally did not have temples of their own dedicated to them, and they are often found at the margins of primary source evidence. The term “demon” here is a blanket term for those ghosts, guardians, monsters, and other supernatural entities (both hostile and beneficial) that hovered between the categories of god, man, and king. In both the modern and ancient world, demonic entities embody and are blamed for a host of physical and psychological afflictions, while helpful entities are called upon to aid the sufferer. These beings are known in many cultures by a multitude of names. A sample of the more recognizable includes: gremlins, imps, faeries, ghosts, daemons, genies, Mischwesen, goblins, pixies, sprites, gnomes, pucks, sirens, fay, enchanters, fiends, monsters, and even angels

In ancient Egypt, liminal entities were described in texts and imagery. For ordinary people, they played vital roles as mechanisms for coping with and manifesting abstract stresses, afflictions, fears, hopes, and desires, with the entities regularly acting as healers or armed defenders. The main aim of this project is to explore and illuminate this less-visible side of Ancient Egyptian life. While much is known about temple religions and gods of Ancient Egypt, this other side of Egyptian religion remains opaque. Through the surviving rituals and paraphernalia we created a DemonBase and interactive portal for the public to learn about these entities.

A group of statues from the tomb of Horemheb representing guardian divinities with the heads of a turtle, hippo, baboon, and gazelle.

Statues of protective deities from the tomb of Horemheb (BM EA 50704, 50703, 50699, 50698 © The Trustees of the British Museum).