Ash (deity)

In Egyptian Mythology Ash (or As) is Set's companion and was sometimes known as "the Lord of Libya". It is possible that he was the original god of Ombos before Set came along. The first records of this god date back to the early dynastic times but only continue until the end of the Old Kingdom at which point Seth takes over completely. It is possible this was an early example of syncretism.

This god was a benign god as he was the protector of the Sahara Desert and creator of the oases. In the late Second Dynasty his importance grew and he became protector of the royal estates.

As was the first god to be depicted with the body of a human and the head of an animal. The animal whose head he took varied between a lion, vulture, hawk or a snake. Additionally he was also depcited with a pig like head similar to Set's.

Interestingly, Ash is the only god in Egyptian myth ever to be depicted with multiple animal heads. All other such gods (Horus with a Falcon, Thoth with the Ibis, etc.) are depiced with a single head. Ash is shown in some inscriptions with three heads. Flinders-Petrie in his 1922(?) expedition to the Sakara found several refrences to Ash in wine jar seals: "I am Refreshed by this Ash" was a fair example inscription. In an article in the journal Ancient Egypt (1923), and again in a apendix to her "The Splendor that was Egypt" Margret Murray expands on the multiheaded god concept and draws a parallel to a Scythian diety refrenced in Sebastian Meunster's Cosmographia Universalis. Ash is of Libyan origins in that he is said to be a god of the Libhu and Tinhu, two tribes called "People of the Oasis" and identified with the area of present day Libya.