الفهرس 
Definitions of AkerOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
This thesis attempts to discern the image of Aker and his role in the ancient Egyptian religion through the texts that concerns Aker and the entity called Akeru.
The thesis resulted that some points have been revealed.
A.The origin of Aker
The texts do not refer exactly from where Aker originate, but it seems that he was regarded as a primeval earth god, especially that he is mentioned during the creation in which Aker personified the earth, just like Geb was in the Heliopolis theory of creation but in a different manner. Aker appeared as well in the 26 th Dyn. together with the jackal-headed souls of Nekhen and the hawk-headed souls of Buto, as a reference to Upper& Lower Egypt, a known practise referring to ancient traditions (Fig.17).
Though Akeru were the ones mentioned to be the ancestors of Geb, Aker can be considered as an ancestor of Geb as well, because Akeru are considered to be a part of Aker and the latter made appearance first in the Pyramid Texts. Furthermore, there are early allusions of Aker in the Early Dynastic Period while Geb made his appearance in the Pyramid Texts. Thus Aker is an earth god, of unknown origin and predecessor of Geb.
B.The double nature of Aker
It has been widely approved by the scholars and proved by texts that Aker was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as being the earth and the underworld since the Pyramid Texts, but by the time of the New Kingdom, he became more attached to the underworld either as its personification or its guardian.
In the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts Aker was more connected with the course of the deceased, so he can be helpful or represents a threat to the deceased, just like the earth in its physical truth: -useful as being the source of life regarding food and water, but at the same time harmful as being the place of serpents- a threat in the minds of the ancient Egyptians, earthquakes and volcanos. Thus as an earth god, Aker reflected this nature.
C.Who is Akeru?
Akeru has been regarded by scholars as serpents, earth spirits or primeval earth deities of uncertain origin, all refering to Akeru in a hostile sense.
Generally, when texts refer to Aker as earth, they employ the single form, whereas most of the texts that mention Akeru refer to him as an evil entity. However, Aker may also assume this attribute, especially in relation to Seth.
Nevertheless, Akeru is used as a variant for Aker , the earth in PT 393b (&ti), so Akeru were as well regarded as the earth. Akeru were also used as variant for Aker in acting with Geb against Seth in Chap.96 of the Book of the Dead. In turn Aker was a variant for Akeru several times, as a hostile entity as in CT I, 398, and in Chaps. 108,149 of the Book f the Dead. Thus Aker and Akeru exchange the two faces of the earth.
It is striking that it was not until the Greco- Roman Period that Akeru were personified in a scene representing a group of four serpent headed gods (Fig.79), each has a different name, attributed as being guardians of the temple of Edfu- a function given to Aker in the same temple-while Aker assumed clearly the figures of the double lion, sphinx and man, though all of these figures appeared as determinatives in Akeru’s names. Maybe during the absence of Akeru after the New Kingdom (diagram 9), a change occurred in the religious thought concerning Akeru, thus they appeared as serpents during the Greco-Roman Period.
This is not a reason to assume that Akeru were regarded by the ancient Egyptians as being serpents, at least not from the beginning, if so the serpent figure would be attributed to Akeru in an earlier date, and the other determinative would not be used in writing the name. Furthermore, the serpent was included in the name of Aker as well as Akeru. Though the serpent was used more frequently in writing the name of Akeru than in the name of Aker (compare diagrams 2 and 7, 3 and 8) One can assume that the serpent was related to both Aker and Akeru, simply because serpents are the creatures of the earth, just like Geb who as an earth god appeared with a head of a serpent and was called: lord of serpents.
It seems now that Aker and Akeru are two faces for one thing, that is the earth in its double nature, so they can exchange functions, and by that Akeru can be a group of earth deities or an entity stemmed from Aker, and by the time of the Greco-Roman Period they were regarded as serpent gods who work as guardians.
D.The prominent features of Aker
The names of Aker and Akeru employed several determinatives as mentioned before, and from the diagrams, one can see that during the Old Kingdom, only six determinatives were used, all going around the sense of Aker as the earth with two heads, or using the archaic determinative, falcon on standard (diagram 1), this was almost the same with Akeru (diagram 6).
The scribes of the Middle Kingdom added more determinatives to both names with the determinative of the seated god more frequently used than the double lion and the serpent being used in writing Akeru more than Aker ( diagrams 2, 7).
During the New Kingdom the seated god continued to appear more in both names with the use of the double lion (see diagram 3, 8) and the strip of land with two heads being used in the name of Akeru (see diagram 8), and a man was used as well. Some cases of the names did not use determinatives at all (see tables C, I) during the Late Period Akeru did not make appearance while their was little occurrence of Aker (see diagrams 4, 9).
In the Greco-Roman Period the seated god was frequently employed in the name of Aker, and the determinative of a man appeared in his name once (see diagram 5), while there were three cases without determinatives (table E). It is not strange to see that the name of Akeru during this period was only written with the serpent, especially that Akeru appeared as serpents in the Temple of Edfu (Fig. 79).
It seems that Aker was regarded as a double lion since the Early Dynastic Period, and by the time of the 5th Dyn., he appeared as a strip of land with two heads, while the double sphinx appeared during the Middle Kingdom. It is not known from where did the shape of the double lion came- of course not from nature- but perhaps the ancient theologians saw in the figure of the double lion double strength, or that the two heads represent the two ends of the earth, or that the underworld -in whom Aker was represented- will be protected from both sides, the entrance and the exit. Perhaps the double figures or the two heads corresponds with the duality known in ancient Egypt thus refering to Upper and Lower Egypt.
One can not securely determine whether the scenes of the two full lions seated back to back supporting the sun or the sign of horizon belongs to Aker or not, but Aker’s relation to these scenes can not be totally excluded.
But the earliest unambiguous figures of Aker, where his name was clearly mentioned, date back to the New Kingdom underworld books. The first appearance is that in the Book of the imy-dwAt (18th Dyn.), as a double sphinx, while he appeared in the Book of Caverns (late 19th Dyn.) as a double lion. In the Book of Aker (20th Dyn., version of Ramses VI), he appeared twice as a double sphinx and once as a double lion.
Aker’s first appearance as a man -bending to hold the sun disk- was in the 20th Dyn., on the sarcophagus of Ramses III, and in the tomb of Ramses IV. The god also appeared as a man in the same manner that he appeared with earlier or as a man standing, wearing a short kilt, holding the sign anx, and a sceptre on Greco-Roman sarcophagi.
E.The Role of Aker in the Egyptian theology with other gods
In the Egyptian theology, the gods were so related that sometimes they exchanged their attributes.
Aker was connected with Ra more than any other god, this appeared since the Coffin Texts and continued to be more strong by the time of the New Kingdom, where Aker was Ra’s guardian, especially in the domain of Sokar.
Aker appeared as well in connection with Osiris, the important god of the underworld, since the Coffin Texts, and by the time of the New Kingdom, Aker guarded the forms of Osiris.
Since the Pyramid Texts, the doors of Aker and those of Geb were put parallel, and by the Coffin Texts, the picture became more clear as the two gods, were mentioned together as being the earth twice, with Aker being mentioned first. By the time of the New Kingdom, Aker and Geb worked together against Seth and Aker was guardian of Geb.
Though Aker had many common aspects with the double bull xns , as both being double animals and part of the underworld where the sun goes every night and comes up every morning, they were not the same entity nor variants of each other (compare Fig.11 with Fig.23).
Aker’s connection with the chaos god, Seth reflected his hostile nature, but sometimes Aker acted against him as well.
F.Why Aker is important to the sun’s nightly journey?
It is now known that the relation between Aker and Ra, the sun god dates back to the Coffin Texts, but this relation is particularly emphasised in the scenes and texts of the Book of Aker, where the sun is said to:’’ traverse to the west’’, and the solar bark is on the back of the double sphinx of Aker and is described as:’’ he traverse darkness when he he enters Aker”, thus Aker is a place that the sun has to go through to be reborn.
In the tomb of Ramses IV, the solar journey is summarized in two words written on both sides of the double sphinx which are: ’’good entrance” and ’’good exit’’.
Aker appears as the landscape of the underworld in beautiful scene where both the solar barks are towed and the sun disk being raised with the arms of Nun, and may be the double lions of Aker are considered to be the two banks which the sun has to cross (Fig.44). This is understandable, but what appears to be too much is the appearance of Aker as a double sphinx twice (in the same version) with the sun bark on his back, as if the sun has rise, especially that the two scenes do not seem either as opening or ending themes, but perhaps together with the appearance of lots of sun disks, the ancient Egyptians tried to stress the fact that the idea of this composition is the rebirth of the sun.
In order to do that the sun has to be protected and again it is Aker, the western one, who do so, and protect the forms of Osiris who is considered to be the symbol of the sun’s resurrection.
So Aker is the place where the sun has to go through to be alive again and under his protection as well.