Bata

Bata appears in Egyptian sources both as a local cult figure of a specific Upper Egyptian nome and as the hero of the Tale of Two Brothers (Papyrus D’Orbiney). Scholarly discussion also proposes that Bata is probably identical with an Old Kingdom death deity known from Saqqara as Bt; this identification is described as probable in the sources but is not presented as proven. The literary tale presents Bata as brother to Anubis (Anpu) and as a figure whose life undergoes betrayal, death or destruction of a 'soul-tree', and a form of continued agency or return signified for his brother.

Iconographic attestations show a shift over time: Bata is attested as represented as a ram in earlier New Kingdom contexts (until the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty) and later as a bull. In the Tale of Two Brothers he is presented as a human protagonist—brother of Anubis—who is closely associated with oxen and pastoral settings and is described in the tale as understanding the language of oxen.

As a nome deity Bata functions in the role expected of local patron gods—protective and representative of a territorial community—and, through the probable identification with Bt, is linked in scholarship to funerary or necropolis contexts (described as probable rather than certain). In the Tale of Two Brothers Bata displays narrative abilities: foreknowledge or preparation for future events (he prepares his brother to watch for a sign), special rapport with cattle (understands oxen), and motifs of death/transformation and postmortem continuity (the 'soul-tree' motif and the tale's implication that his story continues after apparent death).