Babi

Within the framework of ancient Egyptian religion, Babi is not an invented supernatural species but the sacred personification—the deification—of the local hamadryas baboon. The supplied source frames Babi as one instance of a broader Egyptian pattern in which animals present in the environment are sacralized and incorporated into the divine roster; the deity’s name, usually rendered “bull of the baboons” or “chief of the baboons,” signals elevated status among baboons rather than an origin tale or narrative biography in the provided materials.

Babi is typically represented with baboon form or baboon characteristics and is often portrayed with an erection, an explicit attribute in the sources linking him to virility. In at least one mythic text (Papyrus Jumilhac) a narrative depicts Babi in that episode as a red dog with yellow eyes, showing a textual variant in how he appears within specific stories.

Sources describe Babi as aggressive and bloodthirsty, associated with eating entrails and as one who 'devoured the souls of the sinful' after they had been weighed against maat. He stands at a lake of fire in underworld scenes and functions as an enforcer of posthumous punishment. He is the god of virility for the dead; funerary spells sometimes identify the deceased's phallus with Babi to secure sexual competence in the afterlife. In Papyrus Jumilhac he also appears in an accusatory role against Thoth and is ultimately neutralized by Thoth's magic.