Apesh

{{short description|Ancient Egyptian deity}}

{{infobox deity

|type = Egyptian

|name=Apesh

|caption=Apesh, based on a turtle headed god

|image=apesh.svg

|hiero=a:p:S-Styw

|enemy = Ra

}}

Apesh was an Ancient Egyptian god of night who had the head of a turtle or tortoise. He was considered to be an evil god because turtles were considered to be an evil animal and Apesh represented them.{{cite book |last1=Budge |first1=E. A. Wallis |author1-link=E. A. Wallis Budge |title=The Gods Of The Egyptians Or Studies In Egyptian Mythology |date=1904 |page=376 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.22227/page/n485/mode/1up |access-date=17 April 2025 |volume=2}} In the Book of the Dead the turtle and by extension Apesh is depicted as an "enemy of Ra"; in chapter 161 of the Book of the Dead, Thoth is quoted repeating "May Ra live and turtle die".{{cite journal |last1=Abd el-Maguid el-Kady |first1=Marwa |title=The Religious Concept of the Dual Character of the Turtle in Graeco-roman Egypt |journal=The Scientific Journal of the Faculty of Tourism and Hotels |date=1 January 2011 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=55–70 |doi=10.21608/THALEXU.2011.160162 |url=https://thalexu.journals.ekb.eg/article_160162_bf2a56ee2a8aed7d326eb69ed0e883a2.pdf |access-date=17 April 2025 |publisher=Alexandria University}}