Banti

Overview

Banti stands in the tenth hour of the night with the head of a baboon, holding a sceptre, and his job is to make the doors open.

Budge gives his function in a single translated line: "The god who is in this picture adjureth the pylons to open to Ra, and he goeth on his way by his side" [budge-1905-gates].

Adjureth — he does not push the gates or unlock them. He commands them, verbally, and then walks alongside the boat. In a system where every door in the underworld opens to the correct spoken name, a god whose entire office is issuing that command is a piece of very tidy design.

Attestation history

The register. In the lower register of the tenth division, Budge lists [budge-1905-gates]:

1. Twelve male beings, each carrying a paddle — "gods who never diminish" 2. Twelve female beings, each grasping a rope, a star above each head — "the hours who tow along the boat of Ra" 3. Banti, cynocephalus-ape-headed, holding a sceptre 4. Seshsha, man-headed, a star above him, holding a sceptre 5. Ka-Amenti, bull-headed, holding a sceptre 6. Renen-sbau, man-headed, a star above him, holding a sceptre 7. A monkey with a star over his head, called "the god of Rethenu" 8. A bracket, on which rests the Utchat 9. Her-nest-f, holding a sceptre

The description. Budge prints four unattributed paragraphs of description and then works out who they belong to: "The above four paragraphs must refer to the four gods Banti, Seshshaa, Ka-Amenti, and Renen-sbau, and therefore the god of Rethenu, the Utchat, and the god Her-nest-f remain without descriptions" [budge-1905-gates].

That attribution is Budge's inference, stated as such, and this entry preserves the caveat: the first paragraph is assigned to Banti because he is the first of the four listed, not because the text names him in it.

What the texts say

A baboon at the gate. The cynocephalus ape is Thoth's animal, and Thoth is the god of words that work. A baboon-headed god whose function is to speak gates open sits exactly where you would expect that association to put him. No source archived here draws the connection, and it is offered as a reading.

He accompanies rather than guards. "He goeth on his way by his side." Banti is not stationed at a door; he travels with the boat and opens each door as it comes. That distinguishes him from gate-guardians like Ab-ta, who belong to a place. Banti belongs to the journey.

Iconography

A god with the head of a cynocephalus ape, holding a sceptre [budge-1905-gates]. Budge's plate for this register is captioned "The Twelve Akhemu-Seku Gods with their Paddles."

Cult and practice

None. He exists inside one scene of one composition.