Which god was the god of the Western Desert and the oasis dwellers? Ha was the Egyptian deity associated with the Western Desert and its oases.
Ha represented the arid lands west of the Nile and was linked with the people who lived in or travelled through those fertile desert settlements. Egyptian tradition also connected him with the Duat, the realm of the dead, and with protection from dangers approaching Egypt from the west, including Libyan groups.
He was usually shown as a man wearing the hieroglyph for desert hills on his head. His imagery made the desert itself part of his identity, rather than presenting him as a purely human-shaped god. Ha was also associated with Set because both had strong connections to the western region and the desert.
Ha’s importance changed over time. Earlier traditions describe him as a fertility deity and son of the obscure god Iaaw; later, he took the place of the western-desert god Ash and became a guardian of the west. Pyramid Texts from the reign of Unas invoke him as a protector of the dead king. He is sometimes confused with Igai, another Egyptian deity specifically titled “Lord of the Oasis,” but Ha’s broader domain was the Western Desert itself.