Aker

Aker was an Ancient Egyptian earth and death deity.

Description
Aker was first described with the torso of a recumbent lion with a widely opened mouth. Later, he was depicted as two recumbent lion torsos merged with each other and looking away from each other.

From Middle Kingdom onwards, Aker appears as a pair of twin lions, one named Duaj (meaning "yesterday") and the other Sefer (meaning "tomorrow"). Aker was thus often titled "He who's looking forward and behind". When depicted as a lion pair, a hieroglyphic sign for "horizon" (two merged mountains) and a sun disc was put between the lions. The lions were sitting back-to-back.

In later times, Aker also appeared as two merged torsos of recumbent sphinxes with human heads.

Mythology
Aker was first described as one of the earth gods guarding the "gate to the yonder site". He protected the deceased king against the three demonic snakes Hemtet, Iqeru, and Jagw. By encircling the deceased king, Aker sealed the deceased away from the poisonous breath of the snake demons. Another earth deity, who joined and promoted Aker's work, was Geb. Thus, Aker was connected with Geb. In other spells and prayers, Aker is connected with Set and even with the Set animal which is curious since Set is described as a wind deity, not an earth deity.

In the famous Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom period, Aker replaces the god Kherty, becoming now the "ferryman of Ra in his nocturnal bark". Aker protects the sun god during his nocturnal travel through the underworld caverns. In the famous Book of the Dead, Aker also "gives birth" to the god Khepri, the young, rising sun in the shape of a scarab beetle after Aker has carried Khepri's sarcophagus safely through the underworld caverns. In other underworld scenes, Aker carries the nocturnal bark of Ra. During his journey, in which Aker is asked to hide the body of the dead Osiris beneath his womb, Aker is protected by Geb.

In several inscriptions, wall paintings, and reliefs, Aker was connected to the horizon of the North and the West, forming a mythological bridge between the two horizons with his body.