From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume III
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © July 20, 2002, all rights reserved
"Volume III - Gods/Goddesses of Ancient Egypt"
SHESMU
(Shezmu, Shesemu, Shezmou, Shesmou,
Sezmu, Sesmu, Schesmu, Schezemu)

 
    To return to the
Denderah Decan 5 - Grand Temple Decan 16
(male figure with a hawk head and a Uraeus
in striking posture on his head),
or List of Netjeru.
 
    As seen on the above two images on Grand Temple Decan 16 its name is seen as     Chemsou, Shesmu, or Seshmu, seen as Shesmu, Demon-God fo the Wine Press, Oils and Slaughterer of the Damned, can be seen in great detail on http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/shesmu.html by Caroline Seawright, dated October 29, 2001.    She claims that the Shesmu Decan or Grand Temple Decan 16 (Denderah Decan 5), which shows him as a full man, a lion-headed-man or as a hawk, seen on a boat with a uraeus on top of his head, between two stars.
    Shezmu/Shesemu a patron deity of wine and unguent oil presses.    He is depicted as a master of a (wine) press, who has dual personality as a demon who squeezes heads like grapes and lassoes sinners to the slaughter-block, or his benign side he gives out the best of fowl, perfumes and oils.
    Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs used specialized terms for grapes, specially: (yrp), raisins (wnsy), grapevines (yarrt), and wine press.    Shesmu's name includes the word "wine press," which could be spelled out as smw or as the hieroglyph of the wind press (is the same as the two middle hieroglyphs in the diety's Grand Temple Decan name seen above).
    In early times, his cult was strong at Faiyum, and was worshipped at Edfu and Iunet, as a god found in the stars, and entitled "Lord of the Blood."
    In the Pyramid Texts, Shesmu offers the pharaoh and the deceased in their travels red wine - or blood.    It also calls Shesmu, the headsman of Osiris.
    Others claim that he is Heru-ur (the Old Horus), who dwells in Sekhem (the incorporeal personifcation of the life force of a man, which lived in heaven with the Akhu, after death), or that he is Thoth, or even Nefertem and Sept.
    In the New Kingdom, Shesmu was revered as a god of the oil press.    On the sarcophagus of Ankhnsneferybra of the 26th Dynasty, Shesmu was the manufacturer of the Oil of Ra.

 
    Grand Temple Decan 16 is actually a male figure with a hawk head and a (Uraeus, emblem of Lower Egypt, the "fiery eye of Re") or a Cobra in striking posture sitting on his head, where we see two stars, one on each side of it.
    Its name is seen as     Chemsou, Shesmu, or Seshmu, seen as
a sign for Egypt. c, or s,
then the twisted flax wick sign, Egypt. h,
next a sign for Egypt ms, with the sign to the right is also called Sa a symbol meaning protection, representing a rolled up herdsman's shelter or a papyrus life-preserver used by ancient Egyptian boaters.
and then a sign for Egypt. ou.
    This is [c-h-ms-ou] or [s-h-ms-ou].
    As seen on "http://home.main.rr.com/imyunnut/Den.Round.html" by Joanne Conman, it is implied that Seshmu means "The Guide" or possibly "The Counterpart," on the basis that "this decan rose heliacally (just before sunrise) at the time Sirius rose acronychally (just after sunset)."    Also mentioned is Sawey Seshmu meaning "The Two Sons of Seshmu," but I have not located this name in the normal list of the decan names, except as seen above.
    The deity is seen as     Our ou Hor (Heru or Ur).

    This file was created on June 18, 2005.

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