The god of the lotus flower, according to one text born as a plant to the field goddess in the eastern land. The lotus, whose flower shuts at night and opens again in the morning, the flowers of some types even disappearing under water at night, was a symbol of regeneration and the rising sun for the Egyptians. The god was even called 'the great lotus flower who emerges from Nun', thus drawing a parallel with the creator and sun god who also rose out of the primeval waters. According to a different myth, the primeval god emerged from a lotus flower. Thus Nefertem was linked with the sun god. The Pyramid Texts relate that Nefertem once ruled alongside Re, the former over humans and the latter over the gods. In later periods Nefertem still bore the title 'he who protects the Two Lands'. His militant characteristics as the god of light who drives away darkness and the enemies possibly contributed to his association with a lion. In the Memphite triad, Nefertem appears as the son of the lion goddess Sakhmet and Ptah. In other areas he is considered to be the son of Wadjet or of Bastet, probably because these goddesses too, just like Sakhmet, were regarded as lionesses. Nefertem is depicted as a man with a lotus flower on his head, on top of which two feathers can often be seen, and sometimes with a lotus as a sceptre in his hand. There are also depictions of him as the solar child, squatting in the sun's disk. As a result of his association with Sakhmet, he is also sometimes depicted with the head of a lion.