Depicted as a ram-headed man, Khnum was a form of the "Self-Created One" which was most venerated in Upper Egypt (as opposed to the Ra or Tem family of Lower Egypt).

Khnum was a potter who molds the bodies and souls of all living things from the clay of the Nile River and gives them the breath of life.

He was the gfod of the First Cataract of the Nile and Egyptians believed Khnum controlled fertility by determining how much of the waters of the river went to the south and how much to the north.

His island at Elephantine, near Aswan, was said to be "the Seat of the First Time" - the place of creation. The Egyptians believed that two whirlpools in caves on Elephantine Island were the source of the river, and this lent to Khnum's ability to predict or secure a viable inundation, as witnessed by ancient texts which tell of invocations to Khnum to "make Hapi (the Nile) smile on the land".

The pharaohs would make a yearly pilgrimage to Khnum's temple to secure the inundation and, with it, the harvest for another year. In later dynasties he was considered to be the husband of Neith.