Editing Khonsu (section)

===Role as a moon god===
Khonsu's connection to the moon traces back to the association of the crescent moon with the ancient Egyptian [[sickle sword]], which Khonsu embodies as an instrument of justice, giving him the epithet "Khonsu the sharp."<ref>Nasr (2022), pp. 307-310.</ref><ref> Priskin, Gyula/Brandy, Bernadette (2019). [https://edit.elte.hu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10831/40518/dissz%20priskin%20gyula%20tortenelemtud.pdf ''The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Moon: Coffin Texts Spells 154-160'']. Oxford:Archaeopress Publishing, p.4. </ref> The earliest indications of Khonsu's lunar attributes appear in Coffin Texts Spells 197 and 195, where the deceased encounters Khonsu returning from Punt. The land of Punt symbolizes the east and the place of the sun's and moon's rising in ancient Egyptian literature.<ref>Gyula, Brandy (2019), p.7.</ref>

In the New Kingdom period, the lunar cycle was associated with the phases of life.<ref>Gyula, Brandy (2019), p.16.</ref> The crescent moon was also linked to the horns of a bull and became a masculine symbol of fertility. A Ptolemaic inscription from the Khonsu Temple in Thebes describes Khonsu and the sun god as bulls crossing the sky and meeting in the east as "the two illuminators of the heavens". This meeting of the two bulls is theorized to either refer to the arrival of the full moon or the simultaneous presence of the sun and moon in the sky. Here, the crescent moon is portrayed as a young bull; while Khonsu ages into an old, castrated bull during the full before renewing himself at the beginning of the next lunar cycle.<ref>Gyula, Brandy (2019), p.74.</ref>

Depictions of Khonsu as a child, or young bull, symbolized the beginning of the lunar cycle and the month's renewal. The rarer depiction of Khonsu as a two-faced child represents the time when the moon is not visible at night.<ref>Gyula, Brandy (2019), p.87.</ref>
His development from a child to an old man was also applied to the annual cycle, making Khonsu in his youthful manifestation (Khonsu-pa-khered) the bringer of spring and fertility. Inscriptions in his temple in Karnak refer to him as: "the first great [son] of Amun, the beautiful youth; who maketh himself young in Thebes in the form of Ra, the son of the goddess Nubit. A child in the morning, an old man in the evening, a youth at the beginning of the year; who cometh as a child after he had become infirm, and who reneweth his births like the Disk.”<ref>Budge,Ernest Alfred Wallis (1904). [https://archive.org/details/godsofegyptianso02budg ''The Gods of the Egyptians: Studies in Egyptian Mythology''] / Volume 2. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company. pp.36-37.</ref>

In the [[Temple of Edfu]], the "Complex of Khonsu" contains the "Chamber of the Leg," dedicated to Khonsu. His association with the leg originates from the [[Osiris]] myth, in which Osiris' leg was found and preserved in Edfu. Thus, Khonsu is referred to in Edfu as the "Son of the Leg."<ref>Hart, George (2005). ''The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses''.London:Routledge. ISBN 0-415-34495-6.p.88.</ref>

Khonsu and Osiris were also equated in the Temple of the Goddess Ipet, located next to the Khonsu Temple in Karnak. In the Ipet Temple, Amun was worshiped as the sun god and son of the goddess [[Ipet]]-[[Nut (goddess)|Nut]]. As a part of a mythical journey, the sun was said to die daily and enter the underworld as the god Osiris and become Khonsu when it is reborn at dawn.<ref>Loeben, Christian E. (2021). [https://www.academia.edu/49109438/Taweret%20and%20Bes%20A%20demonic%20goddess%20and%20a%20divine%20demon ''Taweret and Bes: A demonic goddess and a divine demon?''] Glyptoteket: The Glyptotek's publications.ISBN 978-87-7452-376-5. P. 76.</ref>

According to Ptolemaic Egyptian legends, Thebes was the first city in Egypt, founded by Osiris and named after his mother, the sky goddess Nut. This connection is a play on the ancient Egyptian word for city ("niwt"). For this reason, in Ptolemaic inscriptions, Thebes is referred to as the  heaven itself that houses both the sun (Amun-wer) and the moon (Khonsu).<ref>Klotz, David (2008). ''Kneph: The Religion of Roman Thebes''. Ann Arbor : ProQuest LLC. pp.57‐61.</ref>