Frogs belong to the class of amphibians. They are cold-blooded animals, and they hibernate during winter. That life cycle of frogs begins with mating, laying eggs, developing into tadpoles in eggs, and appearing as young frogs without tails. The frog was known in ancient Egypt and krr . The frog had a significant role in the mythology of creation. Many gods and goddesses were connected with the frogs, such as heqet, Ptah, hehe, kek, Amun. Frog amulets were worn by the living to provide fertility and were buried with the dead to protect and rejuvenate them. Frogs were often mummified with the dead as magical amulets to ensure rebirth.
As mentioned, frog belongs to the class of amphibia, a division of vertebrate intermediate between reptiles and fishes; the amphibians are vertebrates that lead a double mode of life, Amphi = both kinds, bios = life.
They constitute a group of about 2.500 species of animals that live on the land and in water. Most of them start their life as fish-like individuals, the tadpole, which breaths through gills and swims with the caudal fin. They gradually lose the fills and tails and develop into lungs breathe, four-footed animals which leap from water to land. However, most of them return occasionally to water. Hence, their body organs are adapted to both aquatic and terrestrial modes of life. The family of common frogs is distributed worldwide and divided into approximately ten subfamilies. Seven of these occur in Africa: it is said that the common frogs originated on this continent.
Drugs are cold-blooded animals whose body temperature varies according to the surrounding medium. They hibernate during winter. They stop most of their activities and remain stationary among stones in pools and river banks until the following spring. During hibernation, pulmonary respiration stops, and breathing takes place by the skin. The hibernating animals take no food, and they depend mainly on food materials stored in their bodies. The body temperature decreases, almost reaching that of the surrounding medium, but they do not frost; otherwise, they die.
The life cycle of frogs :
Frogs lived in the marshes of the Nile in huge numbers. The life cycle of frogs begins with mating. Here, a pair of adult frogs engage in plexus while the female lays her eggs. Then the tadpoles develop in eggs, and then the tadpoles begin to metamorphose into juvenile frogs, developing hind legs and forelimbs, not entirely transformed into the frog. A tadpole still has its tail, but then the completely metamorphosed young frog loses its seat.
The frog in ancient Egyptian mythology :
As we see in its life cycle, the frog is a type of transformation, from egg to tadpole to a frog.
Hence it was connected with mythologies of creation in ancient Egypt and transformation from the world of disorder to order.
God Ptah, “ the creator, “in one of his forms, was portrayed as the frog-headed god. The frog-headed Ptah made his transformation rise again as the opener of the nether world . his dress, a tight-fitting garment reminiscent of the mummy’s wrappings, emphasized his role on behalf of the souls of the world as a whole.
The connection between the god of creation, Ptah, and the frogs is because god Ptah was the only god who created the world in ancient Egypt through his heart and his tongue . he created the world through his heart and tongue. Thus he fashioned the world by the power of his word.
Every work of the god came about through what his heart divided and his tongue commanded. And the frog is an animal whose tongue is fixed at the beginning of its mouth. It is not fixed in its throat like all animals, so the tongue is distinguished for Ptah and the frog.
Ancient Egyptians believed that the frog was an example of spontaneous generation, self-created from the mud from which it emerged. This idea arose because of the number of baby frogs, which must have appeared in the ground each year when the inundation water receded. Hence, frogs were associated with the mythology of creation.
The frog was the symbol of the embryo in ancient Egypt, and it was seen in some sculptures, where it was represented bearing upon its back a palm branch. The palm branch is a symbol of the year. The association of the frog with the palm branch was used as a symbol of the beginning of human life.
During the twentieth dynasty, the sign of the frog was used as a determinative for the writing of living again. It was noticed the sign of the frog was used as a symbol of rebirth. It shows its role in the resurrection.
The association of frogs with the resurrection appeared a result of noticing that: during the time of hibernation in winter, frogs stopped most of their activities, hid and remained stationary among stones, in pools, or on river banks toll the beginning of the following spring . during hibernation, no food is taken by the hibernating animals, as they were dead, then, they became active again at the beginning of the following spring when they go out from the mud and slime . so the ancient Egyptians looked at the frogs as a symbol of resurrection and rebirth.
With the official prevalence of Christianity in Egypt during the fourth century, the frog was considered a Coptic symbol of rebirth. Lamps have been found in Egypt with frogs upon the upper part. One of these lamps has been known, which has the legendary text “ I am the resurrection” Massey explains this scene by saying that the lamp is an equivalent for the rising sun in this figure. The frog upon it is the type of Ptah in his solar character: the resurrection and the life in mythology. But in Christianity, the frog was used as a Coptic symbol of rebirth.
The relation between gods and frogs :
Goddess heqet was worshiped in the form of a frog, a typical primordial creature that was observed to emerge from the Nil at certain times of the year. Shee was also represented in the form of a human body with a frog head.