Editing Bes (section)

== Worship ==
[[File:Flickr - Gaspa - Dendara, tempio di Hator (67).jpg|thumb|left|Egyptian composite capital with a Bes capital above it, in the [[Dendera Temple complex]] (Egypt)]]

Bes was a [[Household deity|household protector]], becoming responsible– throughout ancient Egyptian history– for such varied tasks as killing snakes, fighting off evil spirits, watching after children, and aiding women in labour by fighting off evil spirits, and thus present with [[Taweret]] at births.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statue of the Goddess Taweret |website=The Fitzwilliam Museum |url=https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-our-collection/highlights/E221955 |access-date=2024-03-02 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kelley |first=Erika |date=2022 |title=Coping with Trauma: Evidence that Suggests the Ancient Egyptians used Transpersonal Psychology to Cope with Birth-Related Trauma |journal=History in the Making |volume=15 |url=https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1260&context=history-in-the-making |via=Google Scholar}}</ref><ref name="van Oppen de Ruiter-2020">{{Cite journal |last1=van Oppen de Ruiter |first1=Branko |date=17 April 2020 |title=Lovely Ugly Bes! Animalistic Aspects in Ancient Egyptian Popular Religion |journal=Arts |language=en |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=51 |doi=10.3390/arts9020051 |doi-access=free |issn=2076-0752 }}</ref>

Images of the deity, quite different from those of the other gods, were kept in homes. Normally Egyptian gods were shown in [[wiktionary:profile|profile]], but instead Bes appeared in full face [[Portrait painting|portrait]], [[Ithyphallic#Ancient Egypt|ithyphallic]], and sometimes in a soldier's [[tunic]], so as to appear ready to launch an attack on any approaching evil. He scared away demons from houses, so his statue was put up as a protector.<ref name="El-Kilany-2017"/> Since he drove off evil, Bes also came to symbolize the good things in life– [[music]], [[dance]], and sexual pleasure.<ref name="El-Kilany-2017"/> In the Middle Kingdom, Bes is depicted on a variety of objects, including masks, amulets, infant feeding bottles, and magic knives.<ref name="El-Kilany-2017"/> In the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]], [[tattoos]] of Bes could be found on the thighs of dancers, musicians and servant girls.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Faience Figurine and Bowl - Archaeology Magazine, from the Archaeological Institute of America |url=https://www.archaeology.org/issues/107-features/tattoos/1352-faince-egypt-amunet-hathor-bes |access-date=2023-07-10 |website=www.archaeology.org}}</ref>

Later, in the [[Ptolemaic Egypt|Ptolemaic]] period of Egyptian history, [[Room|chambers]] were constructed at [[Saqqara]], painted with images of Bes and his female counterpart Beset, thought by [[Egyptology|Egyptologists]] to have been for the purpose of curing [[fertility]] problems or general [[healing]] rituals.<ref name="van Oppen de Ruiter-2020" />

Like many Egyptian gods, the [[worship]] of Bes or Beset was exported overseas. While the female variant had been more popular in [[Minoan civilization|Minoan Crete]], the male version would prove popular with the [[Phoenicians]] and the ancient [[Cyprus|Cypriots]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Weingarten |first=Judith |chapter=The Arrival of Bes[et] on Middle-Minoan Crete |editor1=Jana Mynárová |editor2=Pavel Onderka |editor3=Peter Pavúk |name-list-style=and |title=There and Back Again – the Crossroads II. Proceedings of an International Conference Held in Prague, September 15-18, 2014 |publisher=Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts of the Charles University |location=Prague |publication-date=2015 |isbn=978-80-7308-575-9 |pages=181–196}}</ref>

At the end of the 6th century BC, images of Bes began to spread across the [[Achaemenid Empire]], which Egypt belonged to at the time. Images of Bes have been found at the Persian capital of [[Susa]], and as far away as central Asia. Over time, the image of Bes became more Persian in style, as he was depicted wearing Persian clothes and headdress.<ref name="Abdi-2002"/>