NEF, NOUB, NOUM
The Egyptians worshipped, under the name of Ammon-Cnouphis , or Ammon -Chnoubis , the uncreated Spirit , the great Soul of the Universe, from which emanates the intellectual principle which communicates movement and life to all created beings. By the name of Amon (Ammon), the incomprehensibility of his essence was expressed; and by the names of Hnèf and Hnoub , which the Greeks wrote Cnèph , Cnouphis , or Chnoubis , words which evidently relate to the Egyptian roots NÈF, NÈB, NIFE and NIBE, Flare , Afflare , Πνεῖν, it was intended to indicate that this unknown and hidden Being was the Spirit (Πνεῦμα) which animates and preserves the World.
Archaeologists have believed until now that the serpent, emblem of the Good Genius Cnouphis , was that reptile remarkable for the dilation of its body, which decorates the headdress of the Gods and Kings, and is so frequently seen in Egyptian sculptures, either grouped with other symbols, or isolated and having its head adorned with various headdresses; but this asp, which has nothing in common with the serpent of the Good Genius , bore among the Egyptians the name of Οὐραῖος ( Ouraios ) [32] , a word which, stripped of the ending that the Greeks added to it when transcribing it, contains, without doubt, the Egyptian word OURO, King ; this is why this asp was at the same time the emblem and the badge of the royal Power ; also 16the Greeks translated his name as Βασιλίσκος, a word derived from Βασιλεὺς, King , like the Egyptian name itself.
The Serpent of the Good Genius , symbol of Cnouphis the Soul of the World, is depicted on Egyptian monuments, either alone or accompanying the God himself. It has been easy for us to recognize it by means of a mythical scene, painted in various manuscripts and on the coffins of several mummies. The God Ammon-Cnouphis , who occupies a distinguished rank in all the copies of this scene, is represented there sometimes with a human body with a ram's head , sometimes in the form of an enormous Serpent mounted on human legs; and, in a beautiful manuscript from the Cabinet du Roi, we read, next to the Serpent, the inscription (no . 1 of our plate), Great God , Supreme Lord , or Lord of the Upper Region (PÊTPÉ), which is the usual legend of Ammon-Cnouphis , and which we find next to this divinity with the head of a Ram , on this same manuscript, and a short distance from the scene where the God shows himself in the form of a Serpent .
This reptile, emblem of the Good Genius , the true Serpent Agathodæmon , is often bearded , as on our plate; it is also found bearded on the reverse of several medals of Nero, struck in Egypt; medals in which, a very remarkable circumstance, this emperor bears the title of New Agathodæmon , ΝΕΟΑΓΑΘΟΔΑΙΜΩΝ, engraved around the Serpent itself. The Greek inscription of the Sphinx also gives to this same prince the title: Ὁ Ἀγαθὸς Δαίμων τῆς οἰκουμένης, the Good Genius (the Agathodæmon) of the Universe .
It is rare to see on great monuments, as on papyri, an image of Ammon-Cnouphis , mounted on his symbolic boat, without also finding there the Serpent Agathodæmon , his emblem, which covers the God under the vast folds of his body. This sacred animal is depicted on a very large number of engraved stones, called Gnostic or Basilidian . The Serpent bears various heads there; but it is constantly accompanied by its Egyptian name transcribed in the Greek forms, ΧΝΟVΒΙϹ, ΧΝΟVΦΙϹ and ΧΝΟVΜΙϹ.
