Hapi is the body of the River Nile itself, the world's longest waterway, without which Egypt would cease to exist. Many worshipped him even above Ra.

Hapi is venerated both as the physical sacred waters of the river and symbologically as the concept of life and fertility, reenacted every day on the land along the river's body.

Egyptians saw in their precarious existence between mountains and deserts a miracle of life, bestowed upon them by the blessings of Hapi, who inundated them every year and provided the Black Land of Osiris with the harvest. Hapi could be capricious, however; no flood or too much flood meant disaster, either from famine or from inability to run from his rushing force.

It was believed that Hapi's source was two whirlpools in the caves on Elephantine Island. On his journey he was thought to flow through the Underworld, through the heavens, and then through Egypt. In his crown are both the lotus of Upper Egypt and the papyrus of Lower Egypt.

Since the erection of the High Dam at Aswan in the late 20th century, Hapi's influence is not felt in Egypt as strongly as it was in antiquity - but the Nile still remains the central feature of Egyptian culture and spirituality. Copts, Nubians and Muslims still celebrate holy days with river cruises, boat processions and water blessings.