| Type: | Egyptian |
| Nefertem | |
| Hiero: | |
| Cult Center: | Memphis |
| Symbol: | the water-lily, lion (occasionally) |
| Parents: | Ptah and Sekhmet or Bast |
| Siblings: | Maahes (either full or half depending on the mother) |
Nefertem (; possibly "beautiful one who closes" or "one who does not close"; also spelled Nefertum or Nefer-temu) was, in Egyptian mythology, originally a lotus flower at the creation of the world, who had arisen from the primal waters.[2] Nefertem represented both the first sunlight and the delightful smell of the Egyptian blue lotus flower, having arisen from the primal waters within an Egyptian blue water-lily, Nymphaea caerulea. Some of the titles of Nefertem were "He Who is Beautiful" and "Water-Lily of the Sun", and a version of the Book of the Dead says:Nefertem was eventually seen as the son of the creator god Ptah, and the goddesses Sekhmet and Bast were sometimes called his mother. In art, Nefertem is usually depicted as a beautiful young man having blue water-lily flowers around his head. As the son of Bastet, he also sometimes has the head of a lion or is a lion or cat reclining. The ancient Egyptians often carried small statuettes of him as good-luck charms.
One of the most notable depictions of Nefertem is the Head of Nefertem, a wooden bust depicting a young king Tutankhamun as Nefertem with his head emerging from a lotus flower.