NEFERTEM

[Egyptian] An ancient Egyptian god identified with the lotus, but he also personified some form of the morning sun. He is a son of Ptah and Sakhmet or Bastet. Nefertem is usually represented as a man with a cluster of lotus flowers upon his head, but sometimes he has the head of a lion. In the little faïence figures of him, which are so common, he stands upon the back of a lion. He represents the sun-god in the legend which made him burst forth from a lotus, for in the pyramid of Unas the king is said: "Rise like Nefer-Temu from the lotus (lily) to the nostrils of Ra" and to "come forth on the horizon every day."