sign in sign up
<<
Home , Aker (deity), Amduat, Apedemak, Apt (Egyptian), Arensnuphis, Ash (deity)

The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian and

The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses provides one of the most comprehensive listings and descriptions of Egyptian . Now in its second edition, it contains:

● A new introduction ● Updated entries and four new entries on deities ● Names of the deities as hieroglyphs ● A survey of gods and goddesses as they appear in Classical literature ● An expanded chronology and updated bibliography ● Illustrations of the gods and emblems of each district ● A map of ancient and a Time Chart.

Presenting a vivid picture of the complexity and richness of imagery of , students studying , travellers, visitors to museums and all those interested in mythology will find this an invaluable resource.

George Hart was staff lecturer and educator on the Ancient Egyptian collections in the Education Department of the . He is now a freelance lecturer and writer. You may also be interested in the following Routledge Student Reference titles:

Archaeology: The Key Concepts Edited by Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn

Ancient History: Key Themes and Approaches Neville Morley

Fifty Key Classical Authors Alison Sharrock and Rhiannon

Who’s Who in Classical Mythology Michael Grant and John Hazel

Who’s Who in Non-Classical Mythology Egerton Sykes, revised by Allen Kendall

Who’s Who in the Greek World John Hazel

Who’s Who in the Roman World John Hazel The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

George Hart Second edition First published 2005 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”

© 1986, 2005 George Hart © 1986, 2005 Illustrations Garth Dennings © 2005 Hieroglyphs Nigel Strudwick All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Hart, George, 1945– The Routledge dictionary of Egyptian gods and goddesses / George Hart. – 2nd ed. p. cm. Rev. ed. of: Dictionary of Egyptian gods and goddesses. 1986. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Gods, Egyptian – Dictionaries. 2. Mythology, Egyptian – Dictionaries. I. Title. BL2450.G6H37 2005 299Ј.31211–dc22 2004030797

ISBN 0-203-02362-5 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0–415–36116–8 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–34495–6 (pbk) To my mother and in memory of my father

Contents

Preface ix Outline time chart xi

Introduction 1 Dictionary 11

Select further reading 166 Concordance of divine names 169

Preface

This revision of the original Dictionary published in 1986 includes a completely new Introduction in which I have tried to provide some crucial historical data and a chronological framework of the visual and textual sources for the individual entries. Also I have taken the opportunity to add four new deities and expand the information on a number of others. There is now a more comprehensive time chart and the Select further reading has been updated to reflect the significant number of salient books now available on Egyptian religion. I would initially like to thank Vivian Davies, Keeper of the British Museum Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, for having given me the opportunity to write the first edition of this Dictionary. This new edition is enhanced by the addition of hieroglyphs for most of the gods’ names and my thanks go to Dr Nigel Strudwick, British Museum Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan for producing these. Also I am grateful to Garth Denning who has used his skills as an archaeological illustrator to add a new map and some additional drawings. Obviously I would like to express my gratitude to the editorial staff at Routledge for enabling this new edition to be produced. Those entries in small capitals refer to gods/goddesses who have a separate entry in the text; a list of concordance of the names of Egyptian gods and goddesses will be found on page 169.

Outline time chart

Modern Names Dynasties/Rulers Dates

Predynastic period Nagada II 3500–3200 BC Nagada III King Scorpion 3200–3000 BC Early Dynastic Period I–II 3000–2686 BC I Aha II 2890 BC Raneb Seth Peribsen Old Kingdom/ Age III–VI 2686–2181 BC III Netjerikhet IV 2613 BC Khafra Menkaura V 2494 BC Sahura Neferirkara Nyuserra Djedkara Izezi VI 2345 BC

(continued) xii Outline time chart

Continued

Modern Names Dynasties/Rulers Dates

First Intermediate Period IX–X 2181–2055 BC Middle Kingdom XI–XII 2055–1773 BC XI II Mentuhotep IV XII 1985 BC Senwosret I Amenemhat II Senwosret III Amenemhat III Second Intermediate Period XIII–XVII 1773–1550 BC KINGS XV 1650 BC THEBAN KINGS XVII 1580 BC Seqenenra Taa New Kingdom XVIII–XX 1550–1069 BC XVIII Iahmose 1545–1504 BC Queen III 1479–1425 BC Amenhotep II Thutmose IV Amenhotep III (and ) 1390–1352 BC (and ) 1352–1336 BC 1336–1327 BC XIX 1295 BC Sety I Ramesses II 1279–1213 BC Merenptah XX 1186 BC Sethnakht Ramesses III 1184–1153 BC Ramesses VI 1143–1136 BC Ramesses XI Outline time chart xiii

Continued

Modern Names Dynasties/Rulers Dates

Third Intermediate Period XXI–XXV 1069–664 BC XXII 945 BC Sheshonq I Osorkon II SUDANESE KINGS XXV 747 BC Shabaqo 716–702 BC Taharqo Late Period XXVI–XXXI 664–332 BC Psamtek I XXVII 525 BC Cambyses of Persia Darius I of Persia XXX 380 BC Nectanebo II XXXI 343 BC Artaxerxes III of Persia Macedonian Kings 332–305 BC 332–323 BC Philip Arrhidaeus Ptolemaic period 305–30 BC Ptolemy IV Philopater 221–205 BC Ptolemy XII Auletes VII 51–30 BC Ptolemy XV Roman period 30 BC–AD 395 30 BC–AD 14 Tiberius Hadrian AD 117–138 Diocletian AD 284–305 Constantine I AD 324–337 Theodosius Byzantine period AD 395–642 Justinian AD 527–565 Arab Conquest of Egypt AH 21/AD 642

Map of Egypt.

Introduction

Ancient Egyptian sources Dynasty I begins with a ruler called , who is usually taken to equate 1 Early Egypt with the archaeologically attested King The chronology of Egyptian civilisation Narmer, and his Dynasty XXXI ends with in the period before the first rulers the reign of the Persian King Darius III in governed a united country is complex and 332 BC. In modern scholarship these liable to re-interpretations based on the dynasties are frequently arranged into results of contemporary rigorous archaeo- larger entities to form ‘Kingdoms’ and logical excavations and surveys through- ‘Intermediate Periods’. out the northern Valley. Before confining this synopsis to evidence con- THE INTERPRETATION OF IMAGES FROM cerning Egyptian deities, it might be help- PREDYNASTIC EGYPT ful to mention the general parameters of From the Naqada period there are a number this formative era. Currently there is a of artefacts that concern Egyptian gods and strong indication that Southern or Upper goddesses. The most informative category Egypt had gained a cultural ascendancy are the siltstone ceremonial palettes, the over Northern or by c.3500 surfaces of which are carved with diverse BC. In archaeological terms this southern images. Originally palettes were totally util- culture is described as Naqada II – the itarian in purpose, being used to grind up name deriving from a site, just north of pigments for eye cosmetics, but they deve- modern , where the early cemeter- loped into early examples of relief carving ies provided pottery and artefacts which of which about twenty survive in either together with comparative material from complete or fragmentary condition. Some other locations enabled experts to devise of them are the borderline between the a relative chronology for Egypt during the end of the Naqada III period and the begin- fourth millenium BC. Among the most ning of Dynasty I. On a number of them significant sites that are likely to reveal the scenes include the GODS (repre- radical new evidence for this period are senting the different administrative districts Abydos and Hierakonpolis in Upper of Egypt) or gods on royal standards such Egypt and Buto in the northern Nile as the emblem of the or the ibis of Delta. The political domination by the the god . On the fragment of the south over the north, involving military ‘Towns’ Palette in Cairo Museum the campaigns and a final conquest, was hawks, scorpion and hacking at battle- achieved during the Naqada III period, by ments could portray symbols of divine c.3000 BC. From this time on Egyptologists kingship. Some interpretations are more work within a chronological framework speculative. For example, on the ‘Lion Hunt’ based on the grouping of rulers into Palette (fragments in The British Museum ‘dynasties’ – a system of reference first and the Museum) there is an image employed by an Egyptian called of the joined foreparts of two bulls, pos- who wrote a in sibly writing the name of a god, next to Greek in the third century BC. Manetho’s a structure that could be his sanctuary. 2 Introduction

The pale beige marl clay vases of The , found at Naqada II are painted with red-ochre Hierakonpolis and now in Cairo Museum, scenes that tantalise us in trying to deci- is carved on both sides with scenes that pher images perhaps relating to religious conventionally are interpreted as the con- rituals. Are the many-oared boats convey- quest of Lower Egypt. A more recent, ing shrines in festival along the Nile? Are though not necessarily more convincing, the prominent female figures with their interpretation, would see the violent arms raised like curving horns above their imagery, such as King Narmer about to heads performing a dance in honour of a slay the principal enemy leader with a cow- such as or ? blow of his mace and the inspection by With the advent of hieroglyphs in the late the monarch of the decapitated bodies of Predynastic period – ivory labels discov- ten other opponents, as commemorating ered in the tomb of a ruler buried at an already existing political situation Abydos date from c.3400 BC – many through an image of triumph. On this problems of identification are solved. important monument there are also some notable religious images. The designs on EVIDENCE FROM EARLY both sides are surmounted by a frontal DYNASTIC EGYPT face with bovine ears and horns – surely During the first two dynasties the infor- the image of the cow-goddess BAT (or mation on gods and goddesses increases HATHOR) in whose sanctuary the palette through a number of artefacts. Royal was originally dedicated. On the obverse cylinder seals carved from stones like a hawk with a human arm coming from steatite can be incised with the names of its breast holding a rope that goes through rulers which might be formed with the the nostrils of an enemy’s head is part of a name of a such as or . rebus that can be straightforwardly inter- One seal impression – the cylinder seals preted as the god Horus, with whom were rolled across clay stoppers of jars – Narmer is identified, capturing the Delta. from Abydos is actually a Kinglist of On the reverse Horus sails in a ceremo- Dynasty I and includes the writing nial boat while below is another powerful of KHENTAMENTIU – the ancient jackal image of divine kingship where the king god of Abydos – whose name, meaning takes the form of a raging destroying ‘Foremost of the Westerners’, the more a town’s walls with his horns. Similarly, powerful god came to share. on the ‘Battlefield’ Palette in the British The ivory or ebony labels attached to Museum the ruler is portrayed as a magnifi- equipment buried in the royal necropolis cently maned lion biting at the mangled at Abydos also illuminate relevant features body of an enemy, perhaps a prototype for of early Egyptian beliefs. Two such labels in the concept of the king in the form of the British Museum date to the reign of the -god’s sacred animal eventually King Den of Dynasty I – one showing the evolving into the iconography of the . monarch clubbing an enemy to death pre- ceded by the standard of the god WEPWAWET 2 Old Kingdom Egypt and the other depicting the king in the cere- Following the construction (c.2650 BC) mony of rejuvenation in the jubilee festival of the of King Djoser (‘Heb Sed’). The ceremony of the ‘Running Netjerikhet of Dynasty III at , the of the Bull’ is also recorded on sealings first large-scale stone edifice in the world, and labels from the first two dynasties. the documentation on gods and goddesses Introduction 3 proliferates at an incredible pace in the chambers of the . The earliest tombs of royalty and the upper echelons inscriptions, many still showing the lapis of ancient Egyptian society. The Old lazuli colour of the original paint, are Kingdom comprises Dynasties III–VI, a found in the Pyramid of King Wenis of time-span of over 500 years in which we Dynasty V at Saqqara which can be dated witness the zenith of Pyramid Age archi- to c.2350 BC. Known as ‘’ tecture and its decline and during which they really form the world’s first elaborate we marvel at some of the finest examples compendium of religious literature. Some of sculpture and reliefs. texts reflect offering rituals that occurred In the and rock-cut sepulchres at the time of the king’s burial, covering of the officials, who lived at Memphis a wide variety of commodities such as and who were buried predominantly at loaves, cakes, onions, beer, wine, weapons, Saqqara and , there are funerary for- sceptres, incense and linen clothing. The mulae which indicate the importance of remainder of the texts (divided in modern gods like and OSIRIS in sanctioning editions into over 700 ‘Utterances’) con- and guarding the tombs and providing all front us with a complex and a basic and luxury requisites for . legion of divine names. So there are texts Full epithets for these deities now appear mentioning a sun-god creator with different in the hieroglyphic inscriptions which manifestations as the anthropomorphic give a deeper insight into their roles vis-à- -, the hawk RA-HARAKHTI and the vis the human race and also references to beetle . The ascension of the their major cult centres. From the myriad king to the sun-god’s realm of eternity of titles boasted by the highest courtiers in the is paramount in the theology of we can isolate many which emphasize, for the Pyramid Texts. There are allusions to example, the flourishing cults and festi- the ancient astral cult in which the king vals of RA, the sun-god, THOTH, god of becomes one of the STAR-GODS and many , , creator-god of Memphis references to the crucial role of the sky- and MIN, god of procreativity. In inscrip- goddess in protecting the monarch. tions specifically for the wives of officials A skeletal form of the of the struggle there are clear indications of the devotion between OSIRIS and SETH emphasises of women to the cults of the goddesses the victory of the king as HORUS. One of HATHOR, goddess of sexual allure and the the most intriguing of the Pyramid Texts creator-goddess NEITH. depicts the king, with the help of blood- thirsty gods like SHEZMU, hunting, slaugh- THE ROYAL HEREAFTER IN THE tering, cooking and eating gods in order PYRAMID TEXTS to absorb their supernatural powers. It is probable that in the imposing Obscure and contradictory as many of the dimensions and angles of the pyramids Utterances can be, the Pyramid Texts are there is inherently the symbol of primeval the starting point in understanding the mound which arose from the waters of development of the solar cult, the concept NUN at the beginning of time and on of divine kingship and ancient speculations which the sun-god creator stood to bring on the . the universe into being. More excitingly Crucial information, particularly for for comprehending the richness of rituals and festivals, can be extracted from Egyptian religion are the hieroglyphic the royal annals carved on basalt, the frag- inscriptions carved in and around the burial ments of which are now in museums in 4 Introduction

Palermo, Cairo and London. Although and that of now in Cairo much of the inscription is lost or worn, Museum – originally up at tombs or these annals provide details on the major cenotaphs at Abydos, give valuable events of the reigns of rulers from the insights into the rituals of the festival of first five dynasties. Monarchs dedicate OSIRIS. statues of the deities on specific dates, such as King , last ruler of THE AFTERLIFE FOR OFFICIALS Dynasty IV, consecrating an effigy of FROM THE WEPWAWET in the first year of his reign. Middle Kingdom wooden rectangular The annals list offerings of food, drink coffins found in the tombs of governors and land to major gods and goddesses in of districts in are universally specified sanctuaries while the reigns of agreed to provide the finest examples the kings of Dynasty V, staunch promoters of draughtsmanship in the exquisitely of the cult of RA, are marked by the detailed painted hieroglyphs. An out- emphasis on rituals in sun temples. standing example is the Coffin of Djeheuty-nakht from his tomb at -Bersha 3 Middle Kingdom Egypt dating to Dynasty XII, now in the Boston After the end of the Pyramid era, there Museum. Below the hieroglyphic funer- was about a century of rivalry for the ary formulae, he is seated in front of throne of Egypt, until King Mentuhotep II a panoply of food and drink – geese with brought the whole country under his con- entwined necks, a dove flapping its trol in 2055 BC. The first two dynasties of wings, heads of bull and oryx, onions and the Middle Kingdom indicate a vigorous figs and jars of wine. In addition, a frieze government and fortification of Egypt’s of objects of daily life have been depicted eastern and southern borders. But surviv- to ensure his well-being forever, including ing monuments concerning Egyptian a bed, headrests, jewellery and weapons. deities are not as extensive as those of the This display of artistry and colour can Old Kingdom. In terms of state cults one distract attention from vertical rows of reason for the lack of temples is that the less detailed hieroglyphs in black around building projects of New Kingdom the lower walls of the coffin. These are often required the dismantling spells, taken from a corpus of over 1,000, of earlier edifices. However, enough evi- known as the Coffin Texts, concerning the dence survives to evaluate the importance Afterlife, which supply a mine of infor- of the god in the Theban temples mation about Egyptian deities. While and to trace the rise to prominence of the there are some similarities with the god at the temple of . Pyramid Texts, the general thrust is The rock-cut tombs of regional gover- towards the survival, through the magical nors in Middle Egypt at and power of the words, of the individual El-Bersha and at Qubbet el-Hawa at against the hazards imagined to exist in are lively and of great interest but the realm of the dead. Spells were do not leave visual representations of included to enable the transformation of deities except in the hieroglyphs of their the deceased into a god. There is also a names in inscriptions, e.g. and prominent role given to the god , asso- , pre-eminent at the Nile Cataracts. ciated with and sunlight which of However, stelae of officials – particularly course would hope to continue that of Ikhernofret now in Berlin Museum to enjoy in the next world. One important Introduction 5 aid to survival in the Afterlife was painted Thebes, RA of Heliopolis and PTAH of on the floor of Middle Kingdom coffins Memphis. and is known as the ‘Book of the Two The pharaoh Akhenaten ascended Ways’ – basically a map giving the safe the throne of Egypt in 1352 BC and for land and river routes to follow avoiding 16 years Egypt witnessed traumatic perils like walls of fire. religious and political decisions. The supremacy of Thebes gave way to the 4 New Kingdom Egypt new capital Akhetaten – Horizon of Following the expulsion, in 1550 BC, of the Sun-Disk – (known usually under the the Hyksos, foreign rulers from the modern name of ) built on the edge Levant, who had occupied the Delta at the of the eastern desert in Middle Egypt. Here end of the Middle Kingdom, and con- Akhenaten promulgated the worship of trolled strategic regions of the Nile the sun-god under the austere iconography Valley for about 100 years, pharaohs of of which was simply the disk of the Dynasties XVIII–XX, expanded Egypt’s sun adorned with the ROYAL with frontiers into and the Sudan, and rays emanating from it, their tips shaped enhanced the landscape with vast temples like hands reaching from the sky to the and prosperous cities. From the five cen- royal family. Because of the destruction turies of the New Kingdom there is an wreaked on the temples, tombs and palaces abundant legacy of architecture, reliefs of this city after Akhenaten’s death, the and papyri to inform us about traditional visual imagery and inscriptions concern- deities, new arrivals imported from the ing the cult, the prominent feature in the Near East such as or , and decoration of the tombs of the courtiers cut the myriad of gods and goddesses in the in the eastern cliffs, are often exceedingly . fragmentary or entirely lost. The reliefs In this period Hymns to AMUN-RA from the temples at Amarna which impress us with their eloquence and ele- depicted the royal family officiating in vated thought. They convince us that the the cult of the Aten, were taken off to the ancient Egyptians, fully at ease with their western bank of the Nile to be used as , were viewing the cosmos as a filling material in the Temple of THOTH continual proof that a transcendental sun- at Hermopolis, a similar fate befell god was behind the manifestation of Akhenaten’s temple at east Karnak, every other deity. The British Museum although in this case many reliefs have stela of the brothers Suty and , direc- been recovered by archaeologists from the tors of building projects in the reign of structures in which they were hidden, so King Amenhotep III of Dynasty XVIII, that some of the original scenes are now extols the splendour of the sun-god that extensively reconstructed. Fortunately, dazzles all creation and describes the the Great Hymn to the Aten, in which god’s supremacy by using different Akhenaten’s own beliefs are synthesised images of the forms he can take. From the into a rapturous celebration of the sun-god, reign of Ramesses II of Dynasty XIX, a survives in the tomb of the courtier Ay. in Leiden Museum is considered Osiris is prominent in tombs and on to be the most lyrical and inspired analy- stelae in his role as the god who will uni- sis of the nature of the creator god – versally guarantee eternal happiness to omnipresent yet hidden, the One God the deserving in the Afterlife. In contrast, revealed through the trinity of AMUN of the Great Hymn carved on the stela of 6 Introduction

Amenmose in the Louvre Museum (c.1140 BC) there are two ‘Books’consisting describes in veiled references the murder of dramatic depictions of the sky-goddess of OSIRIS and, via the powers of his con- NUT through whose body the sun-god sort and the approval of the tribunal of travels during the night and, following his gods, the transmission of the kingship of birth at dawn, along whose body he sails Egypt to his son HORUS. Adding a spicy in daytime. Nowhere more than in these touch to our sources on mythology the royal tombs can we understand the Papyrus Chester Beatty I, written in ancient Egyptian complexity of thought, Dynasty XX, is a tale full of sexual and richness of imagination and anxieties violent episodes in the struggle between about eternity. Horus and SETH for the throne of Egypt. BOOKS OF THE DEAD THE ROYAL HEREAFTER FROM THE The tombs of the elite hierarchy below the pharaoh contain religious scenes of wor- The pharaohs of the New Kingdom shipping OSIRIS, RA and other deities but intended – with the exception of most emphasis is placed on representa- Akhenaten – to be buried at Thebes tions of the career and pleasures of the beyond the western cliffs in the remote deceased and images of daily life along and secluded Valley of the Kings. Their the Nile about 3,500 years ago. The most tombs varied in dimensions and in the valuable source on deities of concern to style of decoration but the inclusion of this echelon of society are papyrus scenes and texts from various Books of scrolls, commonly called by the modern the Netherworld were crucial to the sur- designation ‘Books of the Dead’. The vival of the pharaoh beyond death. The scroll was placed in the burial chamber earliest source for names and functions of either in the coffin with the mummified UNDERWORLD DEITIES is the ‘Book of the body or in cases shaped in the image of Hidden Chamber’ (frequently referred to the composite god PTAH-SOKAR-OSIRIS. as the ‘’), first found on the walls This papyrus was vital to existence of the tomb of the pharaoh Thutmose III beyond the tomb in or the (c.1425 BC). The essential leitmotif is the Underworld in the realm of Osiris but still journey of the sun-god through the enjoying the light of the sun – hence the 12 hours of the night, defeating APOPHIS ancient Egyptian title for it was the the -god of and emerging ‘Spells for Coming Out by Day’. The col- unscathed on the eastern horizon at dawn. lection of spells, added to and modified, Other major compositions similar in pur- down to , originated shortly pose to the Amduat, which are particularly before the New Kingdom and had lavishly painted in the tombs of the become an essential item of funerary Ramesside kings (Dynasties XIX–XX) equipment by 1480 BC. It formed a man- are the ‘’ (GATE DEITIES) and ual of pragmatic instructions mixed with the ‘Book of Caverns’ (CAVERN DEITIES). magical incantations aiming to get an In addition, a further eight ‘Books’ have individual into an idyllic world mirrored been identified in the Valley of the Kings. on Egypt. From our point of view the In the ‘Litany of RA’ the seventy-five vignettes illustrating various spells are a manifestations of the sun-god are shown mine of information on the iconography while on the ceiling of the sarcophagus of Underworld deities. To understand the chamber in the tomb of Ramesses VI precious legacy of these scrolls, one only Introduction 7 has to glance at one of the most famous reliefs from the Temple of King scrolls, the of the Royal Mentuhotep II at Deir el-Bahari on which Ani which is now in the British it is possible to identity Hathor and Museum. For example, there is the MONTU and the reconstructed peripteral vignette of the Weighing of the Heart temple of Senwosret I at Karnak with fine (ASSESSOR GODS) with a rare representa- reliefs of the monarch in rituals before tion of the childbirth goddess AMUN. as well as a splendid depiction of AMMUT, In the New Kingdom there is a quan- her head amalgamated onto a tum leap in the architectural and icono- leopard torso and hippopotamus hind graphic evidence about deities, and legs. Also the draughtsman has rendered a sanctuaries. The following temples, listed variety of animal heads of the dangerous here in a north–south order, are especially guardians of the Seven Gateways (GATE important: DEITIES) in Duat which Ani and his wife are shown approaching. The temple of Sety I at Abydos Dedicated Like the Books of the Netherworld in to seven deities, its major purpose is to the Royal Tombs these papyri scrolls give magnify the cult of OSIRIS. Through out- us an insight into the aspirations and fears standing low-reliefs, often still with in the minds of ancient Egyptians as they bright paint surviving on them, all the attempted to draw up a kind of ‘insurance- crucial temple rituals, shown as being policy’ for the Afterlife. performed by the pharaoh himself, are revealed to us. Furthermore, in the Room 5 Evidence from the major temples of SOKAR we can witness the mystery of Sanctuaries of Egyptian deities can be the conception of HORUS through the shown to have existed in the Predynastic magical power of ISIS. times with conclusive archaeological evi- The temple of AMUN at Karnak This dence from Hierakonpolis proving that temple is in magnitude the most impres- there was a temple there as early as the sive in Egypt. Out of the plethora of New Naqada II period c.3500 BC. In terms of Kingdom reliefs we can isolate as of spe- decorated superstructures of the Old cial interest the scenes on the interior of Kingdom giving inscriptions and images the walls of the Northern Hypostyle Hall of deities, we have a few hints on how dating to the reign of King Sety I where much information has been lost from the there are outstanding depictions not only few surviving reliefs and statues. of Amun but also of MONTU, THOTH and Examples, now in the Cairo and Berlin WERET-HEKAU as well as the pharaoh him- Museums, include the relief of the self reading his name written on the leaves lioness-goddess SAKHMET discovered in of the sacred ‘ished’ tree of Heliopolis. Valley Temple of King Sneferu at The temple of Luxor In the First Court , the goddess HATHOR and NOME and Colonnade are reliefs showing the land GODS flanking King on triad and river processions of the New Year statues from Giza, and the gods Seth, Festival of Opet. In the southern section of SOPEDU and WADJ WER on the superb the temple, predominantly decorated in the reliefs from the Pyramid Temple of King reign of King Amenhotep III, scenes show Sahura at Abusir. For the Middle AMUN in the ‘Theban Theogamy’ impreg- Kingdom there is also limited documen- nating the pharaoh’s mother and also the tation available such as the fragmentary ithyphallic AMUN KAMUTEF. 8 Introduction

The mortuary temples of western to which the statue of the goddess would Thebes On the desert edge the mon- be taken daily to receive the rays of the archs erected temples to perpetuate their sun-god. The exterior rear wall of the name and stress their closeness to the temple shows Cleopatra VII in the role of major deities. Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple the goddess Hathor. On the walls of the at Deir el-Bahari incorporates a chapel ‘’ or ‘birth-house’ where the cult HATHOR and one to ANUBIS as well as of , child of Hathor and HORUS was reliefs showing her divine birth as the celebrated the officiating pharaoh is the child of AMUN. In Ramesses II’s temple Roman Emperor . known as the Ramesseum the king kneels The temple of KHNUM at before Amun, and to receive Although only the Hypostyle Hall dating the scimitar of war while the ceiling of the to the Roman era survives, there are Hyptostyle Hall depicts the STAR-GODS. good reliefs of the ram-god fashioning The fullest panorama of deities as well as mankind on the potters wheel, and some a detailed rendering of the Festival of MIN is of the extremely difficult hieroglyphic found in the Temple of King Ramesses III texts give vital information about the (Dynasty XX) at Medinet Habu. creator-goddess NEITH. Of the rescued temples of , The temple of HORUS at This south of the First Cataract of the Nile on temple, constructed under the Ptolemies, the edges of Lake Nasser, the salient reli- is architecturally the best preserved in gious scenes are found in the Temple of Egypt. Consequently, we get a good idea Amada begun under King Thutmose III of the limited light in which Egyptian and Ramesses II’s temples at Derr and performed the daily rituals. In the (particularly in the temple First Court scenes show the flotilla of dedicated to his queen ). bringing the statue of HATHOR from In Graeco-Roman Egypt there was a while reliefs on the western sustained momentum of building temples ambulatory wall vividly illustrate the particularly in and Nubia enacted on the now-vanished even though the Greek Ptolemies and the Sacred Lake where Horus spears to death Roman emperors did not for the most part his enemy SETH depicted in the form of a subscribe to Egyptian religious beliefs – hippopotamus. except perhaps by supporting the The temple of and HAROERIS Hellenistic cults of ISIS and SARAPIS in the This is an intriguing dual temple in whose Mediterranean world and beyond. It was a ruined sanctuaries it is still possible to see perceptive policy for these rulers to let the subterranean hiding places used by themselves be portrayed on temple walls the priests to deliver oracles. The temple as pharaohs thereby maintaining the illu- calendar survives in hieroglyphs on the sion of a traditional god-king on the extant wall of a small chapel, whereas throne. The temples were often outer northern wall, where the surgical excessively decorated, almost as if the instruments are depicted, shows ‘ears’ and priests were reluctant to leave any surface ‘sacred eyes’ connected to the function of uncarved. the temple as a place of healing. The temple of HATHOR at Dendera In The temple of ISIS at In the last the crypts of the temple are depictions of temple to hold out against the advent of the most precious cultic objects originally Christianity, the main scenes concern the stored there while on the roof is the kiosk myth of OSIRIS, Isis and HORUS – including Introduction 9 the representation of marshes in the mam- and also discusses sacred animals such as misi alluding to the Delta where Isis hid the APIS and bulls. her son for protection against SETH. In the Gateway of Hadrian a crocodile carries 3 on ISIS and OSIRIS Osiris to his sanctuary on the neighbour- This book is the most valuable classical ing island of Biga and there is a depiction source on Egyptian mythology. Plutarch of HAPY, god of the Nile flood, in his completed it c. AD 120. His book is rich cavern below the cataract. in detail about Isis, Osiris and the role played by , as the god Seth is Classical sources called. Understandably Plutarch’s account is occasionally coloured by Hellenistic Until the decipherment of Egyptian scholarship. Hieroglyphs in 1822, the only extensive accounts of pharaonic religion that could 4 The Golden Ass of Apuleius be understood existed in Greek or Roman This racy novel written in Latin in the Literature. Each author has to be evaluated second century AD gives the best descrip- carefully today in the light of knowledge tion of the ceremonies which a person had from the primary Egyptian sources but to undergo to become an initiate of the there is every reason not to neglect this and OSIRIS. body of evidence.

1 The histories of Herodotos From antiquity to today Herodotos wrote his ‘Investigations’ into From the reign of the emperor Constantine the wars of the Greeks and Persians by onwards, Christianity spread through Egypt c.425 BC. Despite his modem detractors, and Nubia. Temples became Christian basil- there is every reason to believe that he trav- icas, the last sanctuary to fall to the new elled to those countries where he gives religion being the Temple of ISIS on the ‘eye-witness’ descriptions, even if his inter- island of Philae in the reign of Justinian in pretation of phenomena or events is incor- the sixth century AD. By AD 642 the Arab rect. Book Two is a thorough exposition of army of Amr ibn al-Asi had defeated geographical, historical, architectural, Byzantine forces and Islam began to trans- social and religious topics which he noted form the religious landscape of Egypt into down during his journey in Egypt – which the predominantly Muslim country of today. incidentally he visited when it was under In some ways the concepts and names Persian occupation (Dynasty XXVII). of Egyptian deities survived official sup- From the point of view of religion, pression of their cults. The in Herodotos’ observations cover priests, the codices discovered in a cave at Nag festivals, sacred animals, Egyptian deities – Hammadi in Upper Egypt and the collec- under Greek names – and mummification. tions of Coptic spells of ritual power clearly derive some of their explanations 2 The library of history of and terminology from ancient Egyptian Diodorus Siculus religion. From the Corpus Hermeticum, In Book One of this vast work Diodorus texts written in in the early gives an account of Egypt which he vis- centuries AD, there is a coalescence of ited sometime in the first century BC. He Greek and Egyptian thought so that writes extensively about OSIRIS and ISIS THOTH becomes Hermes Trismegistos, 10 Introduction even being represented in churches such disregarded. There have also been fashions as in the fifteenth century pavement of for interpreting Egyptian architecture in Siena Cathedral. The Rosicrucian move- esoteric terms completely out of keeping ment (dating from the early seventeenth with the intentions of the ancient archi- century), has a tradition rooted in alchemy tects. The most quoted example of such an and . In Freemasonry, whose esoteric approach is the attempt by Piazzi official origins begin in the early eigh- Smythe in the 1860s to prove that the mea- teenth century, strong links were soon surements of the Great Pyramid at Giza forged with the Egyptian initiation rituals contained hidden astronomical and histor- preserved in Apuleius – famously Mozart’s ical information. Equally misguided is ‘The Flute’ is resonant with the the interpretation of the Temple of Luxor mysteries of ISIS and OSIRIS. Ancient in terms of human anatomy in Schwaller Egyptian religion, mostly in a highly de Lubicz’ book ‘The Temple in Man’ idiosyncratic form, figures significantly published in 1957. Ancient Egypt has no in the development of the ‘Theosophical need of a modern veneer of mysticism or Society’ from the end of the nineteenth esotericism to keep, like Shakespeare’s century onwards, especially through Cleopatra, its ‘infinite variety’ – and cer- Helena Blavatsky’s book ‘Isis Unveiled’ tainly we can enjoy an exciting dialogue and Rudolph Steiner’s lectures in Leipzig with its gods and goddesses through the in 1908 on Egyptian myths and mysteries. wealth of surviving hieroglyphs and Notions on Egyptian deities in anything images to be found on the banks of the written by can be totally Nile and in museums across the world. A

Aken The custodian of the ferryboat in above a body symbolising both OSIRIS and the Underworld. Rather amusingly he has RA in one form and the decapitation and to be woken from slumber by the ferry- burning of their Underworld enemies. man MAHAF to provide the boat for travel A more threatening side to can on celestial waters. be detected when he pluralises into the Akeru or earth-gods. In apotropaic pas- sages in the Pyramid Texts the Akeru are Aker said not to seize the monarch; later there is a general hope for everyone to escape An earth-god also presiding the grasp of the earth-gods. The Akeru over the juncture of the western and east- appear to be primeval deities more ern horizons in the Underworld. ancient than , earth-god of the The motif of Aker consists of the cosmogony of Heliopolis. foreparts of two , or two human heads, juxtaposed so that they face away Amaunet from each other. Aker opens the earth’s gate for the king to pass into the Underworld. He absorbs the A goddess whose name poison from the body of anyone bitten by means ‘hidden one’ and whose shadow, a snake and neutralises the venom in the among the primeval gods, is a symbol of belly of a person who has swallowed an protection. A deity at Karnak temple obnoxious fly. More importantly he impris- at least since the reign of Senwosret I ons the coils of the snake APOPHIS after (Dynasty XII), she is predominantly the being hacked to pieces by ISIS. This idea of consort of AMUN playing, however, a less enclosure accounts for the socket holding prolific role than his other wife MUT. the mast of the Underworld ferryboat being A statue datable to Tutankhamun’s reign identified with Aker. which was set up in the Record Hall of In the Egyptian notion of the Thutmose III (Dynasty XVIII) at Karnak Underworld Aker could provide along his shows the goddess in human form wearing back a secure passage for the sun-god’s the Red Crown of the Delta. boat travelling from west to east during Reliefs at Karnak clearly mark her as the hours of night. From the tomb of prominent in rituals closely associated Ramesses VI (Dynasty XX) in the Valley with the monarch’s accession and jubilee of the Kings, the massive tomb of festival. For instance, in the monument of Pedamenopet (Dynasty XXVI) in el- Thutmose III, known as the Akh-menu, Asasif necropolis at Thebes, and mytho- Amaunet and MIN lead a row of deities logical papyri of the priesthood of AMUN to watch the king and in the in Dynasty XXI, it is possible to recon- jubilee celebration. Much later in the struct a ‘Book of Aker’, concerned with Greek domination of Egypt she is carved the solar journey from sunset to sunrise. on the exterior wall of the sanctuary Scenes include the Double Sphinx of Aker suckling the pharaoh Philip Arrhidaeus 12 Amenhotep-Son-of-Hapu

(Macedonian Kings) who is playing worshipped as a benefactor and healing the role of the divine child immediately genius. At Deir el-Medina, Deir el-Bahari following the scene depicting his and in the temple of PTAH at Karnak he enthronement. shares his cult centres with of A late equation at Karnak identifies her whom he is claimed to be the inseparable with NEITH of the Delta – comparable to brother. the analogy made between Mut and The scribal statues of him dedicated in SAKHMET – but she retains her own identity his lifetime in the main temple at Karnak well into the Ptolemaic period. Amaunet is became cult intermediaries, in the also one of the eight creator deities or Ptolemaic period, for supplicants anxious OGDOAD worshipped at Hermopolis. to gain the ear of the greater deity, AMUN.

Amenhotep-Son-of-Hapu Courtier Am- who was royal scribe and ‘overseer of all the work of the king’ in the reign of A threatening Amenhotep III (Dynasty XVIII), deified Underworld god whose name means in the Ptolemaic period from his reputa- ‘Devourer of Millions’. He dwells in a tion as a man of wisdom. Lake of Fire. His ferocity is heightened by Amenhotep came from in the having the face of a hunting dog and an Delta and rose to prominence in the appetite for sacrifices. Only ATUM can Theban court. He was responsible for fend off Am-Heh. recruiting military personnel and labourers for state building projects. As chief archi- Ammut tect of the pharaoh he must have been involved in the lavish programme of - ple construction – not only at Thebes but Underworld god- also in Nubia at the temple of Soleb. He dess whose name, ‘Devouress of the was Amenhotep III’s most trusted and priv- ileged official, being given management of the vast estates of , the eldest royal daughter, and, exclusively for a commoner, awarded a in western Thebes. Granite statues show him in the position of a corpulent seated scribe, and he is also represented in a beautifully carved relief on a wall of the tomb of his relative the Ramose. A statue of him as an elderly official states that he lived to be 80 years old; his tomb is in the Qurnet Murai sector of the Theban necropolis. His revered status of royal scribe, of which among all his titles he seems the most proud, seems to be the reason for his deification in Ptolemaic times. His cult, however, seems to be confined to Papyrus of Hunefer, Dyn. XIX, British Thebes (contrast IMHOTEP) where he is Museum. Amun 13

Dead’, aptly conveys her grim role as annihilator of those who have led wicked lives on earth. In funerary papyri she is fre- quently depicted in the vignette showing the weighing of the dead person’s heart in the Hall of the Two Truths. The icono- graphy of this goddess incorporates dangerous creatures of river and land, emphasising no escape for anyone found guilty of heinous crimes in the tribunal. Her head is mainly a crocodile, her front legs and middle represent a lion or leopard and her back legs become the ample rear of a hippopotamus. Called the ‘Great of Death’ in some papyri, her task is to swallow the heart of anyone judged unfit to survive in the realm of OSIRIS.

Amun

Primeval deity and supreme god of the Egyptian . Amun is depicted anthropomorphi- cally, often enthroned like a pharaoh. His flesh is coloured blue suggesting lapis lazuli, an imported, highly prized stone The god Amun.The Great Harris Papyrus, considered worthy of a god. His crown Dyn. XX, British Museum. symbolises a sky-god, consisting of a modius surmounted by two high plumes. Each feather is divided vertically into two platyra aegyptiaca). This image of the god sections – the ‘dualism’ in the icono- was probably suggested by the ram’s graphy reflects the Egyptian world-view procreative energy. ‘Woserhat’, the splen- of balanced opposites, e.g. the Two Lands did, gilded, wooden festival boat of Amun (North and South Egypt). In each plume ‘lord of the two horns’, had a ram’s head at the horizontal segments add up to seven, its prow and stern, and the processional a highly charged number in Egyptian reli- roads to his temple were flanked with gion. In addition to the linen-kilted form crio- (ram-headed lions) each one of the god, many representations exist of guarding between its front legs a statue of Amun boasting a hugely erected phallus. the pharaoh. The Greek historian Herodotus quotes an unlikely tale for the origin of 1 His sacred animals the ram of Amun: the hero Herakles, eager The Nile Goose is sacred to Amun probably to see the true form of (ϭ Amun), on account of its association with the act was finally given the opportunity; Zeus, of creation (see GENGEN WER). however, deceived Herakles by disguising The pre-eminent sacred creature of himself with a ram’s fleece – hence the Amun is the ram with curved horns (ovis iconography of a ram-headed deity. 14 Amun

Since they were unable to pin the god down to one explanatory ‘nomen’, the Egyptians stressed his complexity by calling him ‘asha renu’ or ‘rich in names’. Similarly the human iconography of the god is really an admission by the Egyptians that his true shape eludes visual representation – ‘hidden of aspect, mysterious of form’is one description of the god. According to hymns even other deities are unaware of his true appearance, none of them being in existence before him. It is also stated that his image is absent from the hieroglyphs which only give the phonetic signs comprising his name; other gods often have their names involving a major manifestation, e.g. an ibis or crocodile, but the stark consonantal structure of Amun’s name offers no such visual clue. The con- cept of the god’s invisibility admirably suits his association with the ‘breeze’ or the notion of Amun as an unseen demiurge.

The Ram of Amun.Temple of Sety I, Abydos, 3 The earliest occurrence of Amun Dyn. XIX. The god is first mentioned in the Pyramid Texts (from the end of Dynasty V). 2 His name and true form Ascending to the sky, the king as the Amun’s name seems to be connected with son of GEB will sit ‘upon the throne of the word meaning ‘to conceal’ and it is Amun’. The god has status among the indicative of the Egyptians’ own ideas on primeval deities and protects the gods the god’s nature to interpret it as the ‘hid- with his shadow. Perhaps these thoughts den one’. Thus the Greek writer Plutarch are the embryo of Amun’s universal appears on target when he quotes from kingship. the Egyptian priest–chronicler Manetho the name Amun as meaning ‘what is 4 Amun-Ra, concealed’ or ‘invisible’. Another possi- In the New Kingdom the divinity of Amun bility is that the god’s name comes from was enhanced by interpreting him as a the ancient Libyan word ‘aman’ meaning mysterious manifestation of the ancient ‘water’. But except for vague references to sun-god of Heliopolis. The name of the the Nile or Mediterranean Sea this is not a god is given the additional symbol of the prominent facet of the god’s nature. For solar disk. The solar connection is found the Egyptians Amun could only be under- in imagery of Amun and the lion, the sun- stood as permeating the cosmos, occa- god’s creature: Amun is called ‘a fierce sionally illuminated by an epithet that red-eyed lion’. Amun as sun-god is the attempts to conceptualise his universality. meaning of a description applied to him in Amun 15

prestigious and it led to Amun being regarded as the pre-eminent deity of the pantheon. His title ‘king of the gods’ (first occurrence in the White Chapel of Senwosret I of Dynasty XII) illustrates his supreme status. The Egyptian title for ‘Amun-Ra king of the gods’ was ‘Amon- Ra nesu netjeru’ which lies behind the Greek version of ‘Amonrasonther’. This sovereignty is also conveyed by an epithet first found in the Middle Kingdom, ‘Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands’ (i.e. are under his sway). Later it was natural for the Greek writers like Herodotus and Plutarch to ‘rationalise’ Amun by observing that he was Olympian Zeus among the Egyptians. This identification with the Greek god is maintained into the Roman period. Excavations at Tell el-Farama south-east of Port Said revealed evidence of a temple to the chief deity Zeus Casius. The site is ‘Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands’. Hathor to be equated with ancient Pelusium, shrine of Thutmose III, Dyn. XVIII, Cairo Museum. a name deriving from the Egyptian description meaning ‘house (i.e. temple) the Book of the Dead as ‘eldest of the of Amun’. gods of the eastern sky’. During the reign of Amenhotep III in Dynasty XVIII two brothers, Suti and Hor, were architects 5 Amun and the pharaoh involved in the monument of Amun now Since the Middle Kingdom certain called Luxor temple. On a granite stela in Egyptian rulers had been given names the British Museum they illustrate the incorporating that of the god.

Royal Name Meaning Greek Version Dynasty Amenemhat Amun is pre-eminent Ammenemes XII Amenhotep Amun is content Amenophis XVIII Hatshepsut United with Amun XVIII Khenemet-Amun equation between Amun and the sun-god Pharaohs repeatedly called themselves by beginning the hymn ‘Amun when he ‘Mery-Amun’ or ‘beloved of Amun’. Also, rises as HARAKHTI’ (see HORUS, section since the assertion that the ruler was ‘son of titled ‘Harakhti’). It was a conscious RA’ had been upheld from the Pyramid Age development to make the god even more in the royal titulary, it followed that Amun 16 Amun was father of the monarch. There is one ‘divine marriage’ between their mothers occasion when the god has to be reminded and the god Amun. of this paternal protection for the pharaoh. Queen Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir On the battlefield at Kadesh by the river el-Bahari shows a relief of her mother Orontes Ramesses II (Dynasty XIX) finds visibly pregnant by the god. On a wall himself alone surrounded by 2,500 enemy south of the sanctuary in the temple of chariots. He proceeds to chide Amun for Luxor, Amenhotep III is the offspring of abandoning ‘his son’ in this apparently the union between Queen Mutemwiya and hopeless situation. Does Amun favour the Amun. There is a discreet symbolism por- Middle Easterners? What about the monu- traying the act of intercourse between the ments, war-spoils and endowments of lands couple seated closely opposite one another and cattle that Ramesses II has already given on a couch supported by two goddesses. Of to Amun from previous campaigns? Are course the earthly husbands of these these to count for nothing? The god answers queens had been buried in the Valley of the these rebukes by giving the pharaoh’s hand Kings well before the liaisons with Amun strength equivalent to that of 100,000 were promulgated on the temples. soldiers and Ramesses II cuts his way out of the hostile chariotry. The surprise arrival of Egyptian reinforcements will have been the CAMPAIGNS AND VICTORIES more likely reason for Ramesses’s narrow Scenes of Amun holding out the scimitar escape from death but the pharaoh prefers to of war to a conquering pharaoh are visual stress the father–son bond. statements that the Egyptian imperium in the Middle East and Nubia derives from THE THEBAN THEOGAMY the god’s strength and inclination. A syn- Two rulers of Dynasty XVIII have left opsis of a campaign beyond the Egyptian inscriptional and pictorial evidence of the frontier illustrating the military role of Amun is given in the table. To let Amun savour his son’s victory, Thutmose III had the names of the van- quished enemy commanders written on leather (for durability) and deposited in the god’s temple at Karnak. A eulogy on the king’s triumphs during his reign survives on the ‘poetical stela’ in Cairo Museum. Amun addresses the king in high prose and rhythmic stanzas emphasising how he has brought states as far away as Naharin on the river Euphrates under Egyptian control. The god causes the enemies of Thutmose III to become terror-stricken at seeing the manifestation of the pharaoh not only as a fully armed warrior but also as a ‘shooting-star’, ‘invincible bull’ or a ‘crocodile’. The gift of Amun to the Amun impregnates Queen Mutemwiya. king has been nothing less than world Temple of Amenhotep III, Luxor, Dyn. XVIII. dominion. Amun 17

Dynasty XVIII c.1456 BC The god instigates war Amun commands Thutmose III to extend the borders of Egypt by conquest of the Middle East. The god advises on policy Generals at the pharaoh’s war council abandon their cautious route-suggestions to the enemy camp in favour of Thutmose’s plan of a bold frontal assault – attributing the strategy to Amun. The god fights for Egypt In the battle of Megiddo in Palestine, Thutmose wins the field, invulnerable through Amun’s protection. The god is thanked The rich booty (including horses and gilded chariots), left on the field by the enemy in their flight to reach the walled city of Megiddo, becomes the property of the pharaoh’s army. They praise Amun for the victory. The god’s new After the successful siege of the town, the defeated foreign domains army do obeisance to the king and acknowledge the sovereignty of Amun.

6 Amun at Thebes calling it ‘’ or the ‘horizon’, the On the eastern bank of the Nile at modern region where light emerges at dawn. Luxor stand two temples dedicated to A good example of how the temple was Amun: seen as an architectural expression of the relationship between the monarch and the IPET-SUT ϭ ‘THE ONE WHICH COUNTS OFF god can be seen from three elements PLACES’, i.e. AS THEY BRING IN TRIBUTE given here chronologically. Modern Karnak whose ancient name The of queen Hatshepsut (Dynasty indicates the temple’s superiority over all XVIII) This , made of red other sites in Egypt is a vast enclosure Aswan granite, 27.5 m high and weighing containing the Great Temple of Amun 320 tons, was one of two set up by aligned along an east–west axis. To the the queen in front of the (IV), called north is an area sacred to the god MONTU, ‘Amun great in majesty’, which marked ‘lord of Thebes’, indicating peaceful the entrance to the temple in the early eigh- coexistence with Amun who surpassed teenth dynasty. Both the hieroglyphs on the him in importance at Thebes from the end shaft of the obelisk and those on its sup- of Dynasty XI onwards. Archaeology has porting base emphasise that Hatshepsut revealed that structures existed on the site erected the obelisks for her ‘father’ Amun of the temple in its present form from at and that he personally directed the scheme. least the reign of Senwosret I of Dynasty They were originally tipped with electrum XII. The monument, however, is really to glitter in the sun. She claims the office best regarded as a witness to pharaonic of monarch which she holds was given to piety towards Amun from the beginning her by the king of the gods, all part of the of the New Kingdom to the Ptolemaic propaganda to justify her usurpation of the period. Its perfection as the god’s resi- throne. For the same reason, on part of dence was conveyed in Egyptian terms by the upper shaft of her fallen obelisk now 18 Amun near the sacred lake at Karnak, Hatshepsut overwhelming preference for projects in is shown kneeling before Amun whose honour of Amun at Thebes can be found in hands extend to her blue crown acknowl- a lengthy document of Dynasty XX (in the edging her as rightful ruler. British Museum and known as the Great Akh-menu of Thutmose III (Dynasty Harris Papyrus), which in one section lists XVIII) This is the hall of columns in the the prisoners-of-war assigned as labour to style of tentpoles, and its environs to the the Egyptian temples by Ramesses III. It east of the sanctuary of the temple, cele- is the relative proportions given in the brating the jubilee festival of the king. figures rather than their historical accuracy The name means ‘glorious are the monu- which is significant: ments’. In this festival hall a ruined chapel of the king commemorates Amun Temples at Prisoners ‘lord of the sky residing in Akh-menu’ by Thebes (Amun) 86,486 a series of reliefs whose source must have Heliopolis (RA) 12,364 been the notes and sketches made by Memphis (PTAH) 3,079 on his campaigns abroad. The scenes consist of birds, plants and ani- From the same source it is known that mals unfamiliar to the Egyptians in their Amun (i.e. the priesthood on behalf of the own environment. It is Amun as a univer- god) had the personal possession of 160 sal god who is being highlighted by the towns in Egypt and nine in the Middle depiction of Middle Eastern flora and East. fauna. From the Akh-menu also comes In the southern vicinity of Karnak the king list carved during the reign of temple were separate monuments to the Thutmose III (now in the Louvre Museum) goddess MUT, major consort of Amun, and which suggests that there were possibly their child KHONSU. Also Amun’s feminine monuments at Karnak before those counterpart AMAUNET occurs in statuary archaeologically attested of Middle and reliefs in the god’s main temple. Kingdom date – the list of royal ancestors AMUN EM IPET RESYT ϭ ‘AMUN WHO IS as it survives begins with the name of IN HIS SOUTHERN SANCTUARY’ King Sneferu of Dynasty IV. The Great Hypostyle Hall The The ‘sanctuary’ is today known as Luxor 6,000 m2 with 134 columns and a myriad of temple, 3 km south of Karnak, representing ritual scenes and inscriptions is perhaps the the cult apartments of the ithyphallic form most grandiose statement of royal piety to of Amun. The extant temple is mainly from the god. For the most part the hall was the the reigns of Amenhotep III (Dynasty work of Sety I and his son Ramesses II of XVIII) and Ramesses II (Dynasty XIX). A Dynasty XIX. Religious processions in stela discovered in the mortuary temple of honour of Amun, carried in state in a shrine Amenhotep III on the western bank on his sacred boat, or personal confronta- describes Ipet as consisting of broad halls tions between the pharaoh and the god meet of fine sandstone with gold embellishing the eye on every column and inch of wall- its gates, and massive pylons with space. The size of the Great Hypostyle Hall flagstaves stretching into the sky. The major alone is evidence of the readiness of the festival of Amun at Thebes involved his cult pharaoh to apportion vast resources of men image being transported from Karnak to and materials to a strategically unimportant Ipet with scenes of jubilation, evocatively site in Upper Egypt. Some idea of this rendered on the walls of Amenhotep III’s Amun 19 colonnade in Luxor temple. Shrines of Karnak temple. Second, the series of Amun, MUT and KHONSU are carried on reliefs in the southern colonnade at sacred boats on the priests’ shoulders to Deir el-Bahari, commemorating the the splendid temple barges which are then expedition of five ships sent by the towed to the quay at Ipet Resyt. The queen down the Red Sea to the land of land procession includes soldiers, chariots, Punt (ϭ probably modern Eritrea and musicians and acrobatic dancers. The Ethiopia) has as its goal the trade of celebrations for this New Year festival Egyptian goods for frankincense. This included the feasts of ‘night of Ipet’ and fragrant gum resin was of great impor- of ‘abiding in Thebes’. The complicated tance in the temple rituals celebrating sanctuary at Ipet possesses one of the Amun, the ‘tear drops’ of incense few edifices surviving in Egypt carrying being regarded as the sweat of the god. of Alexander the Great (ii) Amun of djeme This is in the (Macedonian Kings) – depicted here as an southern district of western Thebes Egyptian pharaoh offering to ithyphallic embracing Deir el-Medina (a village Amun. of workers on the royal tombs) and Medinet Habu (Thutmosid temple and Amun on the western bank This is really mortuary temple of Ramesses III of the procreative form of Amun worshipped Dynasty XX). It was to Medinet predominantly in the mortuary temples Habu, the eighteenth-dynasty temple, of the pharaohs on the desert edge. The that Amun of Ipet Resyt was ferried underlying idea is that the fertility powers across the Nile every 10 days. A stela of Amun can activate the renewal of life of Amenhotep III (Dynasty XVIII) in the necropolis – death in Egyptian ter- creates for us a picture of the splendid minology is ‘wehem ’ or ‘repeating boat used for transporting the god’s life’. It is possible to see this aspect of statue: the craft was constructed of Amun in two localities in particular in cedar of Lebanon overlaid with silver western Thebes: and gold and supporting a huge golden shrine with flagpoles and (i) Amun of djeser-menu This is part of obelisks. Clearly the wealth and splen- the temple complex known today as dour of the hides behind the Deir el-Bahari, the site of Queen pageantry surrounding Amun. Hatshepsut’s terraced temple (Dynasty XVIII). It has already been shown that 7 Amun beyond the first cataract this monarch claimed a special rela- of the Nile tionship with Amun – the theogamy of In Nubia temples were built in honour her mother and Amun, and of Egypt’s sovereign god as part of a delib- her obelisks to Amun at Karnak. There erate policy of creating an extended are two further assertions of the royal imperium in the south, developed primarily link with the god to be seen at Deir el- to secure routes to the gold deposits. So Bahari. First, the architectural layout is ingrained did the worship of Amun become consciously bringing the queen into in Nubia that even when the pharaohs lost proximity with Amun – the temple control of their southern province, local sanctuary and its processional way dynasts continued to uphold the god’s cult. to the cultivated area and Nile lines Consequently, in the eighth century BC the up directly with the east–west axis of march of conquest northwards from just 20 Amun below the fourth cataract of the Nile into of the north wind upstream derive from Egypt, by the Sudanese King Piye Amun’s nature – as elusive to define as (Dynasty XXV), brought to the throne the air, which, like all the other gods, is pharaohs who were staunch supporters of but a manifestation of the mysterious Amun, ready to enrich his monuments. Amun. Speculation on Amun as a univer- Indeed, from the victory stela of Piye, the sal supreme god brought the Egyptian granaries of the defeated Egyptian princes theologians very close to the concept of were handed over to the priests of Amun at , although they never took the Karnak. A further sign of the adherence of steps that would exclude all other deities these rulers of Kush to the god is not only from the temples. The worship of Amun the epithet ‘beloved of Amun’ added to in this aspect was henotheism in Egyptian their names, but also the substitution of the terms – turning one’s concentration onto royal title ‘son of Amun’ for that of the ‘son the supreme god while not denying that of RA’ to introduce their cartouches. The he has provided a myriad of other divini- following is a list giving some of Amun’s ties to be honoured as evidence of his temples in chronological order. procreative power.

Inaugurating Site Remarks Ruler Thutmose III Amada, mid-first to Reliefs of the temple’s foundation second cataracts ceremonies. Name and form of Amun hacked out under the pharaoh Akhenaten, restored under Sety I Amenhotep III Soleb, towards third Built in the style of Luxor temple cataract Horemheb Gebel Barkal, towards Great temple of Amun ‘who is upon fourth cataract the pure mountain’, counterpart to Karnak Ramesses II Abu Simbel, towards Great temple, with four 20 m high seated second cataract colossi of king carved into façade, shared between Amun, HARAKHTI, PTAH and deified Ramesses II

8 Amun as creator AMUN KEM- The god’s temple Ipet-Sut is called by This is the form of Amun as an ancient Hatshepsut on her obelisk ‘mound of the snake deity whose name translated is ‘he beginning’, indicating that it was the who has completed his moment’. It can be place where Amun brought the cosmos elucidated as the god, having come swiftly into existence. Hymns from the late New to the end of one lifetime (the snake - Kingdom emphasise the role of Amun as ding its skin), renews himself in another a primeval deity, creating sky and earth by cycle of living. In this form Amun is the his thoughts. The phenomenon of the ancestor of the eight primeval deities of annual Nile inundation, and the blowing OGDOAD worshipped in Middle Egypt at Amun 21 el-Ashmunein (ancient Hermopolis). might effect a cure by the power of a god’s Although preexisting the eight, Amun cir- name. Amun seems to be a god to call upon culates as one of them to bring about if anyone has suffered a scorpion bite. He creation. Amun Kem-Atef is the origin of can even be evoked with other gods if a cat , a self-engendered immortal, men- has been bitten and poisoned – Amun’s tioned by Plutarch as the only divinity the responsibility will be to heal the feline inhabitants of the Theban region worship. limbs. Life could frequently be endan- The cult of Amun as a seems to be gered in Ancient Egypt by lions, croco- attested by Herodotus at Thebes, where he diles and . Against the crocodile, states the snake with two horns (horned named as Maga son of SETH, a spell was viper) was sacred, and buried in the temple. devised which, to be effectual, had to be As a possible archaeological proof, it has recited over a picture of Amun standing been pointed out that a mummified snake on a crocodile and being adored by the called the ‘lord of life’ is in the Berlin Ogdoad. The charm by virtue of Amun Museum. ‘bull of his mother’ will conjure up flames to burn up the crocodile. AMUN KAMUTEF This is the ithyphallic form of Amun. 10 Amun as protector of The epithet ‘kamutef’ means ‘bull of his commoners mother’. Probably two major concepts Outside of the state temples Amun is lie behind the phrase. One is that, since envisaged as being an advocate of the the god is ‘self-begotten’ or ‘creator of his humbler echelons in Egyptian society. In own egg’, he cannot have a father and so papyri containing hymns to Amun during must perform the act of impregnating his the Ramesside period, the god ensures fair own mother. The goddess envisaged is the play for the poor in the law courts – he is sky-cow, so the analogy of a bull can be called ‘vizier of the humble’. He is not readily adopted. The second notion is tied open to bribery nor will he try to extort the up with the respect the Egyptians had for poor man’s belongings as, the text says, is the bull’s sexual prowess and strength – it done by court clerks and attendants. had been a royal symbol since the Among the community of workmen on the Predynastic period. The representations royal tombs living at Deir el-Medina in of ithyphallic Amun Kamutef in Luxor western Thebes, the draughtsman temple leave one in no doubt of the god’s had a friend Nakhtamun who fell seriously ability as a sexual ‘athlete’ although it is ill. With a remarkable frankness the cause his fertility, resulting in a never-ending of the illness is attributed to some past mis- cycle of successful pregnancies, that is deed. Nebra prays to Amun to be compas- really prognosticated by the iconography. sionate to his friend. Amun who ‘comes at the voice of the poor’ saves the man from 9 Amun as magician death, manifest in his form of the north In the Book of the Dead Amun provides a wind. On a votive stela, Nebra’s original potent spell for preserving the corpse and anxious request for Nakhtamun’s recovery for preventing any injury to the eyes. He is incorporated into the paeon to praise is also regarded as a curer of eye ailments Amun, the ‘listening god’, for his mercy. in non-funerary texts. In magical medi- A papyrus in Moscow dated to the cine in Ancient Egypt, spells evolved that reign of Ramesses XI, last ruler of 22

Dynasty XX, contains the report of the Her acceptability to the Egyptians is difficulties encountered by an official of reflected by the large precinct dedicated to Karnak temple called Wenamun, sent by her at Tanis as well as in the theophorous the high priest Herihor to obtain cedar- name Anat-em-Heb, i.e. ‘Anat in (her) wood from Lebanon. In one passage, festival’ (on the model of Hor-em-heb or mention is made of a statuette of ‘Amun the more frequent Amen-em-heb). of the road’ which Wenamun carries with Occasionally the goddess is found in a him and guards carefully. It is likely then direct phonetic rendering of a Syrian that Egyptians at all levels of society, name as in the case of Ramesses II’s forced to undertake long journeys from daughter Bint-Anat or ‘daughter of Anat’. home, put a certain amount of trust in the In the Egyptian view she, along with god as a protector of travellers. Astarte, was a daughter of the sun-god RA. The intervention of NEITH of Sais in the struggle for the throne of Egypt Anat resulted in Anat and Astarte becoming wives of the god SETH – a consolation prize for his loss of the kingship to HORUS. Warrior-goddess of From cuneiform texts found in Ugarit on the Syrian coast and attested in on the Syrian coast the picture of Anat is Egypt from the end of the Middle one of a ruthless goddess with a strong Kingdom. sexual element to her. Covetous of a The Hyksos rulers seem to have pro- splendid bow belonging to a youth called moted her cult and in the Ramesside Era Aqhat she sends an eagle to slay him Anat was a prominent goddess in the Delta. when he refuses to part with it. In another Wearing a high crown flanked with plumes, mythological cycle she avenges the mur- her martial nature is emphasised by the der of her brother BAAL by slaying his shield, lance and battle axe. The fact that killer – in fact she cleaves him with her Anat can be shown under the iconography sword, shovels him onto a fire, grinds his of HATHOR is not surprising since Hathor bones and scatters them in the fields for can closely relate to foreign deities (e.g. birds and beasts. Her relationship with BAALAT at Byblos or in the Sinai peninsula) her brother Baal seems to be more analo- as well as possessing a bloodthirsty, albeit gous to the concept of ‘sister’ meaning usually subdued, side to her nature. ‘beloved’. There is evidence of a sexual Anat is called ‘mistress of the sky’ and union between Anat and Baal, the off- ‘mother of all the gods’ but it is her war- spring of which seems to have been in like character that predominates in both the form of a wild bull. This aspect of Egyptian and Near Eastern references to Anat as a fertility goddess can be seen on her. Anat’s introduction into the Egyptian non-royal Egyptian monuments where pantheon was on account of her protecting Anat can figure in the company of the the monarch in combat. For example, ithyphallic MIN. Ramesses III (Dynasty XX) uses Anat and ASTARTE as his shield on the battlefield and in Dynasty XIX, and even Ramesses Andjety II’s dog, shown rushing onto a vanquished Libyan in a carving in Beit el Wali God in anthropomor- temple, has the name ‘Anat in vigour’. phic form originally worshipped in the Anti 23 mid-Delta in Lower Egyptian nome 9 (see two feathers in his headband and is NOME GODS). accompanied by ISIS. Andjety (meaning ‘he of Andjet’, i.e. the town of Busiris) was the precursor of OSIRIS at the cult centre of Busiris. Anti The iconography of this god persuasively argues for his being the forerunner of Hawk-god of particular impor- Osiris. Andjety holds the two sceptres tance in nomes 12 and 18 of Upper Egypt in the shape of a ‘crook’ and a ‘flail’, (see NOME GODS). His cult is attested in insignia which are Osiris’s symbols the Early Dynastic Period. There are of dominion. Also his high conical crown cogent reasons to read his name as decorated with two feathers is clearly meaning ‘Wanderer’ as an alternative to related to the ‘atef’ crown of Osiris. As Anti meaning ‘Claw’. early as the beginning of Dynasty IV Anti is represented standing on a King Sneferu, the builder of the first true crescent-shaped boat and in the Middle pyramid tomb, is carved wearing this Kingdom Coffin Texts is described as crown of Andjety. The close relationship supervising the sailing of the ‘henu’ boat of the god to the monarch is also evi- of another falcon deity SOKAR. dent from the earliest references in the A natural assimilation is made as early Pyramid Texts, where the king’s power as Dynasty VI between Anti and HORUS in as a universal ruler is enhanced by his his form of a falcon of gold. Both are being equated to Andjety ‘presiding called Lords of the East, protecting the over the eastern districts’. Perhaps region where the sun-god rises, and soar- Andjety is an embodiment of sovereignty ing with him at dawn into the firmament. and its attendant regalia. As such he In the Pyramid Texts there are two hawk- would readily be absorbed into the gods who equate with Anti: nature of Osiris and by extension into the pharaoh himself. The most likely (i) Dunawy ‘He who extends the arms explanation of his epithet, ‘bull of vul- (i.e. wings)’. tures’, found in the Middle Kingdom (ii) Dunanwy ‘He who extends the claws’. Coffin Texts, is that it emphasises his role as a procreative consort of major A complicated late Egyptian document goddesses. (known as the Papyrus Jumilhac) relates Andjety figures in a funerary context an interesting myth involving Anti in as well. The notion that he is respon- which provincial theologians localise sible for rebirth in the Afterlife is gods of universal import for the ‘home probably the reason for the substitution market’. The essence of this legend for the two feathers of a bicornate uterus consists of an explanation for three in early of his name in the ritual images: a bovine statue worship- Pyramid Texts. In the Underworld too ped in the northernmost nome (22) of there is an obvious identification between Upper Egypt, whose most prominent Andjety and Osiris, as ruler. Hence in deity was HATHOR, the fetish of an the Temple of Sety I (Dynasty XIX) animal carcass on a pole (the ‘Imyut’ at Abydos, the king is depicted burning symbol), and a statue of Anti made of incense to the god Osiris-Andjety silver belonging to his temple in nome who holds a ‘crook’ sceptre, wears 12 of Upper Egypt. 24 Anti

The following is a synopsis of the the foremost part’, i.e. adfixes the head to cause-and-effect factors in this myth. the body. RA and the learn with

Decapitation of Goddess Punishment of Anti Flayed skin of Anti by Anti

Cow-headed statue in Silver statue of Anti in Imyut symbol Atfih nome 12

The papyrus states two occurrences outrage of Anti’s crime and order the which we can relate to each other: terrifying punishment that the skin should be stripped from him: ‘as to his (i) Anti is wrapped up in linen flesh and his skin, his mother created bandages, his skin having been them; as to his bones, they exist flayed off because of a crime com- through the semen of his father. He will mitted in nome 22 of Upper Egypt be flayed of his flesh and skin.’ Because at Atfih. of this fate, adherents of Anti in nome (ii) THOTH restores the head of a cow- 12 made his of silver since goddess in Atfih after a crime has that metal was symbolic of a god’s been committed. bones and they held in horror gold which constituted divine flesh, and From this it can be assumed that the symbolised to them the flaying of their head of the cow-goddess had been cut off deity. The flayed-skin motif or Imyut is by Anti – an act reminiscent of Horus’s usually associated with ANUBIS, but it decapitation of ISIS because she prevented can be seen how it was adopted into him from slaughtering SETH, mentioned in the Anti myth. At Atfih, where Anti cut Papyrus Chester Beatty I concerned with off Hathor’s head, there was another the struggle for the throne of Egypt. In goddess called HESAT, the White Cow. In Atfih the cow-goddess of most promi- the Pyramid Era she is called the mother nence and victim of Anti was Hathor, who of the flayed-skin fetish and forms part by the time that the Papyrus Jumilhac was of a sacred triad with MNEVIS, as her con- written had become closely assimilated to sort, and Anubis, as her son. Accordingly, Isis. The restoration of the cow-head of by identifying her as the cow-goddess the goddess mirrors once more the Horus- decapitated by Anti, the Anubis emblem Seth papyrus where decapitated Isis is can be brought into the legend. Hesat given a head which bears the crown of sees the skin of Anti and anoints it Hathor, i.e. cow horns enclosing a sun with an unguent containing her milk. The disk. It is possible to see this legend of flesh of Anti is restored to a state of Anti committing the criminal act – healthiness and is tied upon a supporting decapitation of the goddess – alluded to in pole which in terms of Egyptian ritual the description of the priest of the temple imagery is analogous to the Imyut symbol of Hathor at Atfih: ‘he who makes firm of Anubis. Anubis 25

Anubis up to his shoulders with the jackal head then superimposed. Very rarely indeed, as in a chapel in the temple of Ramesses II Canine god of cemeteries (Dynasty XVIII) at Abydos, is Anubis and embalming. His most usual form is totally human in shape. that of a crouching desert dog, ears One Egyptian papyrus derives pricked up and tail hanging, wearing a Anubis’s name from the verb ‘putrefy’ collar of magical force and sporting the linking him with the decomposition of the flagellum of OSIRIS from the centre of corpse. However, whatever the etymology his body. of his name Anubis’s power probably The Anubis dog is probably the jackal originated from the observation of desert and is thus referred to under the name dogs scavenging bodies in the shallow ‘sab’ in early texts. But other dogs, e.g. graves of the late Predynastic period. To the rust-coloured pariah, could have been prevent such dismemberment Anubis in prototypes. Anubis is perhaps a quintes- his canine manifestation was taken as a sence of these desert hounds. Certainly protector. the black coat of Anubis is not true to In the Pyramid Era Anubis is closely nature but symbolic. It represents the dis- allied to the monarch who is described as colouration of the corpse after its treat- having ATUM’s body but the face of ment in natron and the smearing of the Anubis. This connection with royalty per- wrappings with a resinous substance haps led to the attempt to link Anubis’s during mummification. This leads on to name with the similar word for ‘prince’. the idea of rebirth in the Afterlife. Also When the king joins the sun-god in the black suggests fertility to the Egyptian Afterlife he takes Anubis with him on his mind because it is the colour of the Nile neck – presumably the image being simi- silt which produced rich harvests – hence lar to that of HORUS protecting the head of the notion of springing to life after bodily Khafra (Dynasty IV) on the diorite statue death is inherent in the dark fur of Anubis. in Cairo Museum. Further, the king enters Anubis can appear as anthropomorphic his pyramid like Anubis ‘on his belly’ meaning in the crouching posture of Anubis – a vivid word-picture of the agility required by the monarch to negotiate some of the narrower corridors in a pyramid. From the , a fragment of royal annals carved in the Old Kingdom, we learn that statues (called ‘births’) of Anubis were used to designate the year in which they were ceremonially dedicated. The nature of Anubis is best revealed by the epithets used alongside his name.

1 Khenty-Imentiu This describes Anubis as ‘foremost of the , Dyn. XVIII, Cairo westerners’ indicating his leadership over Museum. those buried in the cemeteries of Egypt, 26 Anubis the majority of which were on the west Historically these bows signify enemies bank of the Nile where the sun-god of the pharaoh in the Middle East and sank into the Underworld at night. Anubis Nubia which he has subdued; here they is pictured in one text as burying the seem to indicate Anubis’s triumph over deceased in a sturdy mound of sand in hostile Underworld forces. the west. 5 Imy-Ut 2 Khenty-Seh-Netjer This epithet stresses Anubis’s role in mum- Here Anubis is the one ‘presiding over the mification by calling him ‘he who is in the god’s pavilion’. The wooden effigy of place of embalming’. His association with Anubis found in the tomb of Tutankhamun embalming is recognised in the Pyramid represents the god crouching on a shrine Age where the putrefaction of the king’s or pavilion gilded and decorated with flesh is prevented in the name of Anubis. amuletic signs. Symbolically the pavilion Archaeological evidence shows that evis- can be both the tent where the ritual ceration was part of the royal mummifica- of embalmment is carried out and the tion process from at least the beginning of secure burial chamber which, in the case Dynasty IV – Cairo Museum has the jars of royalty, was the ‘Golden Hall’ where a containing the residue of the internal series of gilded wooden shrines encased organs of Queen Hetepheres, mother of the sarcophagus. The structure for Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid at embalming is also known as the ‘Per Giza. Anubis washes the royal entrails, just Wabet’ or House of Purification. It was a as he guards the chest containing the vis- special one of these which Anubis, with cera of OSIRIS. Crouching Anubis can be seen surmounting the chest dragged on a assistance from THOTH, constructed for sledge to the tomb in many burial scenes. the god OSIRIS. Anubis physically embalms the body of the king, purifying it with unguent from 3 Tepy-Dju-Ef the eight ‘nemset’ jars and the eight ‘aabet’ This means Anubis ‘who is upon his jars. It is Anubis who brings the ‘hekenu’ mountain’. The imagery is that of the god oil to anoint the body of Osiris. He makes watching from the heights of the desert the savour of corpses sweet with incense cliffs overlooking the cemeteries. and wraps them with linen bandages made by the goddess TAYET. In the Book of 4 Neb-Ta-Djeser Caverns found in some tombs in the Valley ‘Lord of the sacred land’ referring to the of the Kings, RA instructs Anubis to bind desert in which the necropoleis were situ- the head of the monarch to prevent its loss ated. Like the previous title this empha- and to mould linen strips to the face thus sises the geographical environment in halting decomposition and preserving the which Anubis moves as god of burials. features. In an address to the Ferryman of There is a title in the Pyramid Texts, the Celestial waters, the bow-warp of the ‘Jackal ruler of the bows’, which ampli- boat is called the ‘tresses of ISIS’, attached fies this aspect of Anubis as a necropolis by Anubis using his skill as an embalmer – guardian since it is the forerunner of the phraseology which anticipates some of motif on the seal used on royal tombs in the techniques used for thickening the hair the Valley of the Kings at Thebes consist- on of royal ladies in the New ing of a recumbent jackal over . Kingdom. Anubis 27

Priest wearing jackal mask in Opening the Mouth ceremony. Book of the Dead of Hunefer, British Museum.

Anubis has a special emblem symbolis- the Afterlife. At the beginning of the ing his role as an embalmer. It is a headless Pyramid Age these invocation formulae animal skin (occasionally clearly feline) are addressed to Anubis alone; later Osiris sometimes dripping blood, tied to a pole. is incorporated and gradually supplants This emblem can also be jackal-headed, Anubis. Here is a typical example: as in the Litany of Ra describing the A gift which Anubis presiding over the sun-god’s journey through the Underworld. sacred land gives, namely a burial in Anubis’s presence in the funerary the western necropolis for the king’s ceremony of Opening the Mouth, perfor- acquaintance and scribe of the med on the and statues of the treasury...Ankh-haf. (A limestone deceased in order to vivify them in the architrave from his tomb at Giza now tomb, is symbolised by a priest wearing a in the British Museum) jackal mask. Anubis originally provided iron from the sky for the magical adze In the Underworld Anubis appears in required in this ritual. Anubis’s protection vignettes of the Book of the Dead, in the extends to the tomb chapel as well as to Hall of the Two Truths, where the weigh- the burial chamber since the spirit of the ing of the heart ceremony takes place. He deceased can ascend to it to partake of stands by the scales, sometimes adjusting food offerings or employ the magical the plumb of the balance, and is described forces in the hieroglyphs or reliefs. as ‘he who counts the hearts’. We find Usually, special formulae are given in the this idea already present in the Pyramid hieroglyphs to protect the burial of the Texts where Anubis, as ‘claimer of deceased and ensure the food supply in hearts’, frees the king from restrictions on 28 Anukis earth in order for him to join the gods in worth bearing in mind that 2,500 years the sky. Anubis guides those who have earlier in the Pyramid Age Anubis accom- passed the rigorous test and whose hearts panies the monarch as a serpent ruling over have been vindicated as honest towards Heliopolis. the throne of Osiris. Anubis is credited with various Anukis parents. According to one tradition he is the son of and Ra. The Greek Goddess of the cataracts of writer Plutarch also makes Nephthys the Lower Nile whose name in Egyptian his mother but attributes this to her is Anket. She is shown as a lady wearing adultery with Osiris the husband of her on her head a modius from which stem sister Isis. A benign Isis then adopts ostrich feathers. Anubis as her own son. Clearly this is Her cult can be traced back to the Old an attempt to incorporate the indepen- Kingdom in Upper Egypt, especially at dent deity Anubis into the Osirion pan- , and Seheil (an island south theon. In an Egyptian papyrus of a later of Aswan). Although strongly associated date we find the same tradition when with Lower Nubia, she is not an imported Anubis is called ‘son of Isis’. In the earlier goddess but has her origins in Egyptian tradition of the Coffin Texts the cow HESAT gives birth to Anubis and from the same source is Anubis’s mother. This lat- ter affiliation is quite likely to derive from the writing of Bastet’s name which uses an unguent jar, whose importance in the mummification process we have already seen. This link is intensified by the pres- ence in the necropolis at Memphis of cult focal points for Bastet and Anubis known as the Bubasteion and Anubeion. In the Pyramid Texts there are references to a daughter of Anubis in the form of a celes- tial serpent called Kebehwet who refreshes and purifies the monarch. Papyri and reliefs of the Graeco-Roman period show a transformation of the pharaonic Anubis into new roles. He becomes a cosmic deity ruling over the sky and the earth. In a rather Promethean aspect he brings light to the human race and fur- thers its prospects by manufacturing effec- tive love philtres. On the walls of the catacombs at Alexandria Anubis is dressed in armour like a warrior as a guard of Osiris. Strangely his lower body is in the shape of a snake. Outwardly this seems Anukis suckling the pharaoh.Temple of divorced from Egyptian tradition, but it is Ramesses II, Beit el-Wali, Dyn. XIX. Apis 29 speculation on the nature of a deity beyond Apis their southern frontier. Her name could mean the ‘embracer’, either benignly as a Bull-god, manifesta- nurse or lethally as a strangler. If this is tion or living image of PTAH of Memphis. so, she would possess a dual temperament Apis can be called the ‘son of Ptah’ or his similar to HATHOR, with whom she is ‘herald’, acting as an intermediary for closely connected in Thebes. mankind to communicate with the cre- She is called the daughter of RA and it ator-god of Memphis through oracles. is not until the New Kingdom that she Dedicatory bronzes and a description takes the role of the divine child of by the Greek writer Herodotus give the KHNUM and SATIS. special qualities marking out this bull Her sacred animal is the gazelle. from the herd as sacred. The bull’s mother, known as ISIS, conceives Apis through a flash of lightning. The opportu- Lion-god of war indigenous nity of witnessing the mystery of the birth to the Sudanese culture of Meroe. The of Apis is a privilege held out to the Meroitic civilisation displays many deceased in the Afterlife. The Apis bull is Egyptian influences and incorporates black except for a small white triangular gods from the pharaonic pantheon but patch on its forehead. Between its horns it Apedemak is likely to be a totally African carries the emblem of the sun disk and deity. He is represented as anthropomor- Uraeus (see ) – sometimes it is the phic to the shoulders with leonine head moon disk in later iconography of the and holding a sceptre surmounted by a bull. On its back are the protective wings seated lion. His association with battles is of a vulture-goddess (the ‘eagle’ in admirably captured in the lion imagery – Herodotus’s account). A minor feature is in pharaonic Egypt too the lion-motif can that the hairs of its tail divide into two represent a killer-deity in a southern environment (see ). Mention of Apedemak is rare in Lower Nubia although in a chapel dedicated to ISIS at Dabod, just above the first cataract of the Nile, Meroitic ruler Adikhalamani (c.200 BC) calls himself ‘beloved of Apedemak’. The main sanctuary of Apedemak was at Musawwarat es-Sufra in the sands of the Butana, north of the sixth Nile cataract. For about 800 years from 300 BC this vast temple complex, which included a major temple to Apedemak (as well as chapels to him and another Meroitic deity SEBIUMEKER), was the destination of sacred pilgrimages. From reliefs in his monuments Apedemak’s cult involves specially bred temple cattle and an important regard for the African . Late Period statuette, British Museum. 30 Apis strands; dualism of this sort pervades Karnak at Thebes where Queen Ancient Egyptian thinking and can often Hatshepsut (Dynasty XVIII), dressed in be interpreted as representing the original the regalia of a pharaoh, renews her vital two kingdoms of north and south. The strength to govern by striding with Apis. scarab beetle, which the priests find In the funerary cult this royal link with under the tongue of Apis according to Apis continues. The king ascending to the Herodotus, is drawn from solar imagery. sun-god in the Afterlife claims he will not At Memphis Apis lived in palatial be harmed enroute by murderous apes quarters near the temple of Ptah where because his power is such that he was Herodotus mentions statues of the bull-god responsible for restoring the head of Apis, (surely anthropomorphic to the shoulders presumably cut off by these assassins. with bovine head superimposed) which However, it is the bull-god that is usually supported the roof and were nearly 7 m the protector. The might of the phallus of high. The Pyramid Texts and Book of the Apis is a means by which the king can Dead suggest that the cult of the living Apis climb into the realm of the sun-god. It is was celebrated to the north of Memphis in the vigour of Apis which gives a person the Delta towns of Sais and Athribis. control over the four winds in the next The Palermo Stone which contains world. Transformation into Apis, ‘high of annals of early Egyptian kings gives horns, beautiful of names, far-seer and evidence of Apis being worshipped wideranger’, will enable a person to avoid shortly after the founding of the Egyptian the abomination of possible reversal of state (c.3000 BC) in the reign of Den. The natural phenomena in the Afterlife and antiquity of the cult is also attested by the the forced consumption of obnoxious surviving fragments of the Egyptian substances. priest Manetho (who wrote a history of An average lifespan for Apis was pharaohs in the Greek languages for the 14 years. During this time festivals would benefit of the Ptolemaic ruler early in the be held at Memphis where Apis could be third century BC): the worship of Apis is seen by the higher echelons of society at stated to have been inaugurated during the window of appearances in the temple, Dynasty II in the reign of King Kaiechos a procedure borrowed directly from royal (Kakau in Egyptian Kinglists or Raneb in ceremonial. On the death of Apis Egypt archaeological sources). mourned as if for the loss of the monarch The pharaoh identifies closely with himself. Apis – bull imagery (with its inherent The bull was mummified on lion- notion of strength and fertility) being an headed alabaster tables some of which sur- ancient characteristic in the propaganda of vive at Memphis. The funeral was an the god–king, as can be seen from carved occasion of display and pomp, with men slate palettes and in one of the names used dragging to the tomb the sledge on which in the royal protocol ‘victorious bull’. the embalmed and bejewelled bull had Celebrating his jubilee festival, a cere- been placed in a couchant position. The mony concerned with the rejuvenation of burial place was in the northern quarter of the monarch’s powers, the pharaoh strides the desert plateau of Saqqara, the necropo- briskly alongside the galloping Apis bull. lis overlooking the capital Memphis where This ritual which took place at Memphis is Apis had lived. Vast underground cata- vividly portrayed in a relief on a block combs, discovered in 1851 by Mariette and from a dismantled chapel in the Temple of popularly known as the Serapeum, were Apophis 31 cut for the successive bull burials. In some that provides the Egyptian element in the vaults were huge sarcophagi of granite nature of the hybrid god created under the weighing up to 70 tons, to protect the bull early Ptolemaic rulers known as SARAPIS. and its burial valuables – all systematically plundered. Some burials date to the New Apophis Kingdom but the majority of tombs were cut from the mid-seventh century BC Underworld snake-god onwards. No archaeological or inscrip- whose lethal powers are directed against tional evidence shows that the Persian ruler the sun-god. Eternal and persistently Cambyses (Dynasty XXVII) sought hostile, Apophis symbolises primeval revenge for calamities incurred on his con- forces of chaos. quest of Egypt by killing Apis during a fes- The gigantic body of Apophis, often a tival to show that the bull was not a god but concertina of coils, represents a kind of flesh and blood. Indeed there appears to be void or ‘black hole’ forcing those he swal- no break of Apis burials under the Persian lows into that non-existence which the domination of Egypt and this story in Egyptians feared so greatly. Herodotus is part of his intent to discredit The name of Apophis was interpreted Cambyses. in the Roman period as ‘he who was spat This later subterranean gallery of out’ and linked to the saliva of the tombs stretches for 198 m. Evocative of goddess NEITH. the demise of the Apis cult is the massive All texts and depictions attempt to granite sarcophagus lying empty in a bring about the defeat and destruction of corridor, abandoned by the workmen of the Apophis but his suppression is only last priestly officiants of the bull’s worship. momentary. Apophis becomes non-existent When Isis, mother of Apis, who had when the sun-god triumphs over him on been brought to Memphis with her illus- trious offspring, died she was given the honour of burial in the Saqqara necropo- lis in the vaults known as the Iseum, as yet not fully explored. But from here an interesting stela commemorates the burial of an Isis cow while the ruler Cleopatra VII (Ptolemaic Period) was out of Egypt, probably meeting Mark Antony in Syria. Occasionally, in funerary texts, Apis is given the task of threshing grain in the Underworld, an obvious reflection of the role of oxen in Egyptian agriculture, as seen, e.g. in paintings like that in the tomb of Menna at Thebes. However, a more elevated existence in the Hereafter is usually attributed to Apis. Following con- cepts about the rank of the dead pharaoh in the Underworld, Apis, upon dying, becomes the god OSIRIS. It is the sacred Apophis speared by Seth. Papyrus of bull of Memphis in his form Osiris-Apis Her-Weben, Dyn. XXI, Cairo Museum. 32 his journey in the solar boat through the the sun-god at the perilous entrance into Underworld. His indestructibility is such the Underworld on the western horizon. that he at once returns as a malevolent The overthrow and binding of Apophis force trying to devour RA and his support- is emphasised in violent statements or vivid ers. It is at the point when the sun-god pictures. There are references to seventy- subdues Apophis temporarily that the seven papyri-rolls which are given to the heads of his previous victims appear from dead person by means of a spell, contain- his body. A scene in the tomb of ing formulae for bringing Apophis to his Ramesses VI (Dynasty XX) in the Valley place of execution where he is cut up, of the Kings shows the snake carried by crushed and consumed by fire. Apophis is gods, and with the twelve heads of those represented with spearheads in his coils it has devoured emerging from its coils. or, as at Gate 10 in the Underworld, Once Ra has passed by the heads are des- chained by his neck. His symbolic annihi- tined to return into the body of Apophis lation is forcefully portrayed by the cat of until freed again briefly on the next night. Ra decapitating Apophis, blood spurting In a papyrus in the British Museum, out as he cuts into the snake’s vertebrae. which dates to c.300 BC but contains lin- The fact that Apophis is a complete guistic styles of 2,000 years earlier, there antithesis to the sun-god, i.e. the darkness is an account of the overthrow of Apophis of a deity opposed to the light of and victory of Ra. Apophis is hacked up Ra, comes across in the imagery sur- and burnt; this destruction is made more rounding Gate 2 in the Underworld. There efficacious by practical instructions ATUM is condemning to destruction ene- for magic including drawing a picture mies of the sun-god and included among of Apophis in green on a new sheet of them is Apophis, the ‘khefty’ (opponent) papyrus, sealing it in a box, setting it on of Ra, with his head to the ground awaiting fire and spitting on it four times. slaughter. Apophis is the serpent described as Apophis is imagined as possessing a lying in wait to swallow Ra on Bakhu, the hideously loud roar which resounds furthest mountain in the west. He is over throughout the Underworld. He is placed 16 m long with his front consisting of flint. outside of the natural world requiring no As the boat of the sun-god sinks into the nourishment except to ‘breathe’ his own western horizon Apophis hypnotises all its shouts. occupants with his stare except for the god SETH. The sun-god is in jeopardy but Seth Arensnuphis Anthropomorphic Nubian charms the snake with a spell and Ra deity wearing a plumed crown who occurs begins his journey through the Underworld. in southern temples during the Graeco- Naturally, human beings require divine Roman period, coeval with the Meroitic help against Apophis or can even trans- civilisation based around the mid-fifth to form themselves into powerful deities to sixth cataract region. counteract his onslaught. In order to board The Egyptian rendering of his name the sun-god’s boat in the sky the Bull of ‘Ari-hes-nefer’ gives little clue to his Millions provides a ladder to escape from nature, other than being a benign deity. A Apophis. As navigator of the solar boat the small kiosk-style temple was built in his dead person claims to know how to repel honour on the island of Philae during the Apophis and save Ra from becoming reign of Ptolemy IV Philopator (c.220 entangled in his coils. The deceased can BC), the blocks from the southern enclo- assume the form of the god SHU to protect sure wall showing that it was a joint Assessor gods 33 enterprise with the Meroitic King was made between Ash and SETH as early Arqamani (Ergamenes II). However, only as Dynasty II. This connexion was intensi- the fact that he is a ‘companion’ of the fied because Ash, it would seem, was the goddess ISIS, pre-eminent deity of Philae, original god of Ombos in Upper Egypt (not can be elucidated from the inscriptions. too far from modern Qena) before the He is also represented on a wall of arrival of Seth as its major deity – hence an Dendur temple (originally sited above the epithet of Ash being ‘nebuty’ or ‘he of first cataract of the Nile, now re-erected Nebut (ϭ Ombos)’. at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) where he accompanies the Assessor gods Forty-two Underworld local deified heroes PETEESE and PIHOR deities who constitute the tribunal of jurors being worshiped by the Roman emperor in the Broad Hall of the Two Truths. Augustus. They assess the earthly life of any new arrival in the Underworld, eagerly watching for evil doers whose blood they can drink. Ash A just person whose heart in the balance against the goddess of Truth () God of the western Desert reflects an upright life will be declared (Sahara) including the fertile oases, and ‘true of voice’ and fit for Paradise. of ‘Tehenu’ or Libya, first attested on Someone whose heart is weighed down sealings from the Early Dynastic Period. with crime will be consigned to the Although his territory is in what the Devourer of the Dead (AMMUT). Ancient Egyptians called the Red Land In the funerary papyri which we popu- () as opposed to the crop-bearing larly term Book of the Dead, Spell 125 lists silt of the Black Land (Kemet) bordering their names and places of origin, which can the Nile itself, Ash is not an outsider or a either be strictly geographical or atmos- god of alien origins. He controls the pro- pheric. In each instance there follows a duce of the oases in favour of the pharaoh – denial made by the deceased of a specific recent archaeology in the western Desert sin that might have been committed – has shown how the Egyptian monarch hence the expression ‘negative confession’ enjoyed the prosperity of its major fertile used modernly to describe this event. It was depressions. Ash also had associations hoped that this protestation of innocence with vineyards in the western . combined with the magic of knowing the His shape is normally anthropomorphic deity’s name would persuade the Assessors as attested, e.g. in a relief from a temple not to press with any accusations that might of King Sahura (Dynasty V). He can also ruin the chance of eternal life in the be shown with the head of a hawk. As Underworld. The following table gives a lord of the desert an obvious identification handful of these deities:

Number Name of Assessor Home Base Crime-Concern 2 Flame-Embracer Kheraha Robbery 3 Beaky Hermopolis Greed 5 Terrifying of Face Rosetau Murder 9 Bone-Breaker Herakleopolis Lying 13 Consumer of Blood Slaughter block Butchery of temple cattle 27 His-Face-Behind-Him Tomb Sexual deviation 34 Astarte

Astarte the bull horns she sometimes wears as a symbol of domination. Similarly, in her Levantine homelands, Astarte is a battle- A warrior- field-goddess; e.g. when the Peleset goddess of and Syria who is a (Philistines) killed and his three sons Western Semitic counterpart of the on Mount Gilboa, they deposited the Akkadian ISHTAR worshipped in enemy armour as spoils in the temple of Mesopotamia. ‘Ashtoreth’ (ϭ Astarte). In the Egyptian pantheon to which she Like ANAT she is the daughter of RA was officially admitted in Dynasty XVIII and the wife of the god SETH but also has her prime association is with horses and a relationship with the god of the sea. chariots. On the stela set up near the sphinx From the woefully fragmentary papyrus by Amenhotep II celebrating his prowess, giving the legend of Astarte and the Astarte is described as delighting in the sea the following information can be impressive equestrian skill of the monarch gleaned: the sea-god YAMM demands trib- when he was still only crown-prince. In her ute from the gods which involves the god- iconography her aggression can be seen in dess of harvest . Her place is then taken by Astarte called here ‘daugh- ter of PTAH’. The story is lost from this point on but one assumes this liaison results in the goddess tempering the arrogance of Yamm.

Aten

Sun-god who in his zenith under the pharaoh Akhenaten (Dynasty XVIII) became the universal and almost exclusive deity. The unmistakable iconography of Aten consists of a disk with the Uraeus (see WADJET) on its lower arc. Rays emanate from it which terminate in hands, holding the hieroglyph of ‘life’ if they shoot towards the nose of the king or queen. Thereby, Aten transmits his ‘beauty’ (neferu) to the monarch who is the inter- cessor between mankind and the god. Aten’s elevation to the unrivalled solar and creator god of Egypt occurred in the fourteenth century BC. Although the supremacy of Aten lasted only for a few decades, it was one of the most traumatic Astarte. Gold pendant, Ugarit, Syria, c.1500 BC, religious experiences through which the Louvre Museum. intellectual scribe, priest or courtier had Aten 35 to live. is also of major impor- idea of divinity. In the of the tance for any world-wide survey of man’s adventures of a harem official, Sinuhe, religious beliefs. The worship of Aten was the pharaoh Amenemhat I (Dynasty XII) not a sudden innovation on the part of one assassinated in 1956 BC is described as king, but the climax of a religious quest soaring into the sky and uniting with Aten among Egyptians for a benign god limitless his creator. in power and manifest in all countries and Thus the connection between Aten as natural phenomena. a manifestation of the sun-god and the ruler of Egypt is formulated in texts by 1 The cult before the reign the Middle Kingdom. Later Iahmose of Akhenaten (Dynasty XVIII), the Theban ruler who The word ‘aten’ itself carries the literal finally drove the last foreign Hyksos meaning of a disk, not always in a solar monarch out of Egypt into Palestine, is context, e.g. the surface of a mirror or the flattered on a stela by being likened to moon. But it is in its sun-imagery that we ‘Aten when he shines’. His successor, can trace its progression to godhead. It is Amenhotep I (Dynasty XVIII), becomes the sun as an astronomical concept that on death ‘united with Aten, coalescing is conveyed by ‘aten’ in the inscription of with the one from whom he had come’. Queen Hatshepsut’s standing obelisk in The earliest iconography of Aten the temple of Karnak – the electrum cov- appears on a monument at Giza dedicated ering the shaft illuminates Egypt like the to Amenhotep II (Dynasty XVIII). It is a sun (‘aten’). The sun disk is a symbol in disk with outstretched arms which major gods can appear, e.g. ‘ATUM grasping the of the pharaoh. By who is in his disk (‘aten’)’. It is only a the reign of Thutmose IV (Dynasty small step from this link with divine XVIII) Aten is by royal assent a prominent power for the ‘aten’ itself to become a deity still rising in the state pantheon. god. It is in an inscription of the pharaoh During his rule a historical text on the (Dynasty XVIII) found at underside of a scarab mentions Aten Tombos in Nubia that the word ‘aten’ in the vanguard of the pharaoh’s army in occurs for the first time with the god battle – a role commonly given to AMUN. symbol following it in the form of a deity The pharaoh Amenhotep III, father of bearing a sun disk on his head. But Akhenaten, furthered the fortunes of Aten. nearly 500 years earlier, even without From his reign comes the earliest evidence this symbol, the word ‘aten’ carried the of a priesthood and temple to Aten at Heliopolis. Several of his courtiers bore titles connecting them with the Aten cult, e.g. Hatiay, ‘scribe of the two granaries of the Temple of Aten in Memphis’, and Ramose (not the vizier but the owner of tomb 46 in the Theban necropolis), ‘stew- ard of the mansion of the Aten’, depicted with his wife going to view the sun disk. The palace of Amenhotep III at on the west bank at Thebes was called The rays of Aten. El-Amarna, Dyn. XVIII, ‘splendour of Aten’. From the latter years Berlin Museum. of this king it was also known as the 36 Aten

‘Per Hay’ or ‘home of rejoicing’ – a Egypt, audaciously building a temple to description we shall meet again applied to Aten outside the eastern perimeter wall of part of the Great Temple of the Aten the rival temple of AMUN at Karnak. This at el-Amarna. Here also, at Malkata, temple was torn down after Akhenaten’s Amenhotep III ordered the construction reign but over 35,000 blocks (or ‘’) within 16 days of a lake over a mile in survive, having been reused during the length for the pleasure of his principal wife reign of Horemheb (Dynasty XVIII) as Queen Tiye – inaugurating it by sailing its filling material for Pylon IX on the south- waters on a boat called ‘Aten glitters’. ern axis of Karnak temple. From these ‘talatat’ it is possible to retrieve an idea of 2 The cult after the accession the scope of the decoration of the walls in of Akhenaten the Aten temple. This supplements infor- Throughout previous reigns in Dynasty mation gleaned from the excavation of XVIII adherents of Aten had gradually the foundations of the dismantled temple. consolidated for him a position of power in The structure was called the ‘house of the state, coexisting nevertheless with Aten’ (‘Per Aten’) and possessed pillared a number of other major deities in courts with striking colossal statues of whom Egyptians could see a manifestation Akhenaten and at least three sanctuaries. of the sun. When Akhenaten became sole The relationship between Aten and the ruler on the throne of Egypt in 1352 BC sun-cult of Heliopolis is emphasised Aten was rarefied into supreme god of by calling one of these sanctuaries the kingdom almost totally absorbing, ‘mansion of the ’ symbolising the supplanting or eliminating rival divinities. primeval mound on which the sun-god At the outset of his reign Akhenaten emerged from NUN to create the universe – kept Thebes as the religious capital of ‘Benben’ is the name used for the sanctuary at Heliopolis and is written at Karnak with an obelisk symbol following it, another borrowing from Heliopolitan imagery, possibly indicating that an actual obelisk was once situated in east Karnak. Parts of Aten’s Theban temple were pre- eminently the domain of Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s principal queen. She obvi- ously aided Akhenaten in the task of promulgating the Aten cult and like the pharaoh had a special relationship with the sun-god. This is evident from the writing of her cartouche where the name of Aten is reversed against the normal orientation of the hieroglyphs to face the symbol of Nefertiti as queen. In the sec- tion of the Karnak Aten temple called ‘meeting the Aten’ (‘Gem-pa-Aten’), Nefertiti and two daughters worship The pharaoh Akhenaten,Temple of Aten below the sun disk to the exclusion of the at Thebes, Dyn. XVIII, Cairo Museum. pharaoh himself. Aten 37

This first blossoming of Aten worship and grandfather. Thus we learn about the on the pro-Amun ground of Thebes can be conflict between royalty and the Theban seen as well from the tomb of Akhenaten’s priesthood that can be traced back at least vizier Ramose on the west bank of the Nile. to the reign of Thutmose IV. More explicit Most of its decoration consists of exquisite is the fact that no member of the priestly low relief carved while Ramose was vizier hierarchy at Thebes had any power to curb during the last years of Amenhotep III and a pharaoh’s inclination – hence no sup- a painted funerary procession in conven- pression of Atenism as soon as it was tional Theban style. But on the rear wall of clearly a political threat. the pillared tomb-chapel is a mixture of tra- By the sixth year of his reign Akhenaten ditional design and startling developments desired a major sanctuary for Aten on land in art made by Akhenaten to achieve the uncontaminated by other deities. Sailing propagation of his cult. Although mutilated north from Thebes into Middle Egypt with by enemies of Akhenaten’s ideas after his its imposing limestone cliffs he discovered death (the rays of Aten being sliced through a natural amphitheatre on the east bank of to prevent his ‘beauty’ reaching the king), the Nile which he called ‘Akhet-Aten’ or the wall reflects unequivocally that the ‘Horizon of Aten’. It is commonly known adherence to Atenism was a prerequisite today by a conflation of Arabic designa- for any courtier holding a high political tions as ‘el-Amarna’. This was to be the appointment. centre of the Egyptian empire for the rest of Naturally the priests of Amun-RA, for Akhenaten’s reign. He marked out the so long the supreme god of the Egyptian taxable area of Aten on both banks with state, were rankled by their loss of influ- fourteen boundary stelae on which he ence. But they could only grumble. emphasised his allegiance to Aten by Akhenaten mentions on two stelae that changing his titulary of the Five Great the priests were saying more evil things Names that he had assumed on his about him than they did about his father coronation – a new era had dawned.

Title Year 5 at Thebes Year 6 at el-Amarna HORUS Strong Bull Lofty of Strong Bull Beloved of Plumes Aten He of Great in Kingship in Great in his Kingship in and WADJET Karnak (Ipet-swt) Akhetaten Horus of Gold Crowned in Heliopolis Raising high the Name of the south (i.e. Thebes) of Aten King of Upper Ruler of the Nine Bows, Living by Truth (MAAT) and Lower Egypt Lord of Crowns, Seizer Lord of the Two Lands of the Crown of Upper Neferkheperura Waenra Egypt, Neferkheperura Waenra Son of Ra His beloved Amenhotep, Living by Truth (Maat) god-ruler of Thebes Lord of Crowns Akhenaten Great in his Lifetime 38 Aten

From the new protocol taken by the to be cut for it in the eastern cliffs at pharaoh it can be seen that the seat of el-Amarna. government has moved from the palace Aten’s temples at Amarna suffered the at Thebes to the royal residence at same fate as his Theban sanctuaries – torn el-Amarna. His original name Amenhotep down with the blocks removed for bolster- (‘Amun is content’) becomes Akhenaten ing up monuments at nearby Hermopolis. or ‘Beneficial to Aten’ indicating his But the temple foundations have been piety. Regarding the theology of Aten it is surveyed and the elevation can be ascer- interesting to note that Akhenaten retains tained from carvings in the tombs of in his new titulary all references to the Akhenaten’s courtiers. The great temple sun-god Ra. In his there is was called the ‘House of Aten in ‘Neferkheperura’ (‘Beautiful are the Akhetaten’ and was well under way by the manifestations of Ra’) and ‘Waenra’ ninth year. It was a vast complex of courts (‘Sole one of Ra’). Aten is really the god and offering tables open to the rays of Aten Ra absorbed under the iconography of – unlike the roofed sanctuaries of Amun at the sun disk. The eminence of Aten is Karnak. There were two introductory sec- a renewal of the kingship of Ra as it had tions in the temple. The forepart known as been during its apogee over a thousand the ‘House of Rejoicing’ (‘Per Hay’) where years earlier under the monarchs of in the inaugural light at dawn the knowl- Dynasty V. edge that Aten will rise becomes beyond This significant correlation between doubt. Then followed the ‘Gem-Aten’ Aten and Ra (or RA-HARAKHTI) can be (‘Meeting Aten’) consisting of courts observed in various ways. In an inscrip- where the full celebration of the rays of the tion from the sandstone quarries of god at sunrise took place. Beyond this to Gebel el-Silsila which provided the the east was the main sanctuary where hardcore for the Karnak temple of Akhenaten and Nefertiti officiated as the Akhenaten, Ra-Harakhti is called the intermediaries between the populace and ‘light which is in Aten at Ipet-swt the god. The ceremony involved consecrat- (Karnak)’. Four of Nefertiti’s daughters ing offerings on the altar by a sweep of the have names compounded with Aten – royal sceptre and by burning incense. In Merytaten, , Ankhesenpaaten, addition to the royal dais it has been calcu- Nefernefruaten-ta-shery – but the last two lated that there were 772 offering tables in children are given the names the temple proper with up to 900 in the Nefernefrura and Setepenra. In a rock-cut areas immediately to the north and south of tomb in the desert cliffs at el-Amarna the the temenos wall. It is impossible that each investiture of its owner as the high priest day every table received a quota of perfume of Aten covers a wall. His name is pomades, fruit, flowers, meat and drink – Meryra. In fact the title of the Aten’s chief even reducing the offerings to just one item officiant is borrowed directly from the such as lettuce is out of the question. But hierarchy of Heliopolis – the high priest doubtless in the daily cult within the temple in both cults is the ‘Great Seer’. The link one offering table on each side of the is intensified in the evidence of the east–west axis received full offerings for boundary stelae where Akhenaten regards the Aten’s rays. The colossal statues of Aten as being manifest in MNEVIS, Akhenaten in the temple probably received the sacred bull of Ra, directing a tomb offerings from priests and courtiers to urge Aten 39 the pharaoh to pass on their prayers to Aten Other temples to the Aten were con- since direct access to the god was prohib- structed beyond the confines of el-Amarna. ited to all except for him and Nefertiti. At Memphis, always the political and Aten’s nature as seen through the eyes administrative nucleus of pharaonic Egypt, of pharaoh is really all that survives in the blocks have survived from Akhenaten’s theology of el-Amarna. We can understand reign giving evidence of the cult being cel- all the essential elements of Atenism from ebrated in some structure. In Nubia beyond a study of the two forms of titulary which the third Nile cataract the cult of Aten was Akhenaten gave the god – these names celebrated in the temple of Sesebi. of Aten are often called ‘Didactic’. Following the death of Akhenaten and Cartouches are used to emphasise the over- the subsequent attempt under the early all kingship of Aten – eliminating the claim Ramesside rulers to consign him to obliv- of Amun-Ra to be king of the gods. Aten is ion as an anathema, Aten dwindled to a also thought to celebrate jubilee festivals minor deity. It would be tempting to see like the pharaoh himself. The earlier proto- Akhenaten’s vision of a sole creator-god col is clearly henotheistic – indeed it would carried after his death beyond the borders be difficult to prove that Akhenaten ever of Egypt by the ancestors of the writers of really formulated a concept of true parts of the Old Testament where similar monotheism – incorporating several differ- attitudes to a unique divinity are found. ent manifestations of the one sun-god: (For example, in Psalm 104 whose resem- blance to the Great Hymn to the Aten has Live the beautiful god who delights in often been remarked upon.) However, Truth (Maat depicted as a goddess much more historical evidence and proof with a feather on her head), Lord of all of transmission are required even to begin which his disk encircles, Lord of the to formulate a theory of interconnection. Sky, Lord of the Earth, Aten, living As yet such suggestions are purely specu- and great, illuminating the Two Lands. lative and nowhere near approaching the May my father live! obvious relationship between the Egyptian ϭ First cartouche Live Ra-Harakhti Instruction of and the Hebrew rejoicing on the Horizon. Book of Proverbs. ϭ Second cartouche In his name It is worth remembering the advanced as SHU who is in Aten. Given life for- religious thinking that took place when ever eternally, Aten, living and great, Aten was paramount. Ideas about an over- who is in jubilee dwelling in the all creator-god were already in existence Temple of Aten in Akhetaten. before Akhenaten’s reign as is evident on The later, more refined, titulary reads: the stelae of the brother architects Suti and Hor in the British Museum where the sun- ϭ First cartouche Ra lives, ruler god is adulated as a supreme deity dwelling of the Horizon rejoicing in the in different gods such as Amun, Ra or Horizon. Horus. But it is under Akhenaten that those ϭ Second cartouche In his name as ideas are most elaborately conceptualised. Ra, the father, who has returned as Aten. Hymns to Aten, which certainly received Here the direct equation of Aten with the royal scrutiny, if not actually composed by more ancient sun-god of Heliopolis is at the pharaoh, survive in the rock tombs to its most cogent. the courtiers at el-Amarna. The following 40 Atum epitome of the Great Hymn to the Aten conjures up the jealousy of a despot from the tomb of the vizier Ay tries to stress towards the god he has installed as head of the ways in which Aten is unique: the state religion – attention is drawn to the fact that Akhenaten alone has knowledge 1 Aten is the sole creator-god whose of Aten. Accordingly the god’s will for all immaculate beauty is transmitted to other Egyptians is made clear via the earth from a great distance in the form orders of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. of rays. Individual contemplation of Aten or 2 Night is the negation of Aten and a personal interpretation of his designs is time to fear – lions and snakes abound absent from the prayers in the tombs of threatening death. The only release is Akhenaten’s courtiers. the dawn of Aten on the horizon. 3 The structured order of daily life Atum prospers under Aten – work is done in the fields and river traffic sails unhindered. Sun-god and creator of the 4 Aten is responsible for the miracle of universe. human life, nurturing the seed in the The name ‘Atum’, carries the idea of womb until birth when his protection ‘totality’ in the sense of an ultimate and extends to the child. No life form is too unalterable state of perfection. Atum is fre- insignificant for his care – Aten looks quently called ‘Lord of Heliopolis’ (‘Iunu’ after even the chick inside the egg. in Egyptian), the major centre of sun wor- 5 Nature thrives below the rays of Aten – ship. The presence of another trees blossom, cattle, birds and are on this site leads to a coalescence of the healthy. (This is, surely, the textual two gods into Ra-Atum. imagery equivalent of the painted wall and pavement scenes of calves, ducks and foliage that enhanced the palaces at Malkata and el-Amarna.) 6 Aten is invisible to man, performing a myriad of benefits in this world of his making. In the limited world-view of the ancient Egyptian Aten extends his ingenuity to providing a Nile in the sky (i.e. rain) for the Syrians who lack the Egyptian Nile from the Underworld with its annual flood. 7 Aten divided mankind into races of different colour and speech – a con- cept of respect for foreigners as crea- tions of Aten more striking when we realise the vilification which Egyptian state propaganda usually meted out to Syrians and Nubians. However, this outward-looking, perceptive hymn ends on a note that Temple of Sety I, Abydos, Dyn. XIX. Atum 41

Illustrations of Atum normally show that form Atum’s ENNEAD (or company of him in anthropomorphic form sometimes nine gods) at Heliopolis. A coeval but wearing the combined crowns of Upper variant explanation of the means by which and Lower Egypt, sometimes the royal Atum created his offspring is based on the headcloth. He can appear upright and similarity of the sound of the names of stately or in the stance of a respected official Shu and Tefnut to the words for to spit leaning on his staff of office. The notion of and expectorate, the two deities being an elderly Atum symbolises the setting sun. envisaged as arising from Atum’s mucus. A number of creatures are sacred to Atum is called the father of the king of Atum including the lion, bull, ichneumon Egypt, intensifying the link between the and lizard. Also Atum as a snake is very sun-god as Ra and the monarchy which is significant because it represents a con- of paramount importance from at least cept not as a rule mentioned by the Dynasty IV. Thus the paternal protection Egyptians – namely a cosmic collapse of Atum is sought for the pyramid in and a ‘Gotterdämmerung’ from which which the king is buried. In the Afterlife only Atum and OSIRIS survive. In a dia- Atum embraces his son, the dead logue between these two deities in the monarch, raising him into the sky as head Book of the Dead Atum states that he will of the star-gods. By using magic formulae eventually destroy the world, submerging the king might even hope to surpass the gods, men and Egypt in the primal waters power of Atum, becoming himself the (NUN) which were all that existed at the supreme deity and rule as Atum over beginning of time. In this holocaust Atum every god. Through this solarisation of and Osiris will live on in the form of ser- the king the royal flesh itself becomes pents. A similar idea occurs in a rock a manifestation of Atum. inscription at Hatnub in Middle Egypt In the political sphere it is essential for where, in mythological time, an earlier Atum to be seen participating in the coro- cycle of catastrophe resulted in the only nation ritual of the pharaoh. For instance, survivor being the ‘kerhet’ snake. The in the temple of Amun at Karnak reliefs imagery is taken from the snake shedding show Atum together with MONTU, two its skin (i.e. destruction) and emerging in great gods of North and South Egypt a new form (i.e. survival). respectively, conducting the king into the As early as the Pyramid Era there are sacred precinct. The underlying message references to the creation of gods of the is that Atum as creator-god is the ultimate elements by Atum. Arising self-engendered source of pharaonic power: it was after all out of the primeval water, Atum took his to HORUS (of whom the king of Egypt is phallus in his hand and brought it to the living manifestation), belonging to the orgasm. This hand performing the vital fifth generation of Atum’s family, that the act of creation can figure in the hiero- throne of Egypt was awarded. glyphs writing the god’s name and is also Atum’s omnipotence quells hostile the original source of the title ‘God’s forces in the Underworld. He overcomes Hand’ adopted for the Theban priestess the dangerous snake NEHEBU-KAU by press- regarded as symbolically married to ing his fingernail on its spine. Before AMUN. The semen of Atum then produces Gate 9 of the Underworld Atum stands the first two divinities in his cosmos, SHU confronting the coiled serpent APOPHIS con- and TEFNUT. These become the parents demning him to be overthrown and annihi- and grandparents of the remaining deities lated. Also in tombs of all periods of the 42 Atum

New Kingdom in the Valley of the Kings paradise, ensuring a safe passage past the at Thebes, e.g. (Amenhotep II) Dynasty Lake of Fire where there lurks a deadly XVIII, Sety I (Dynasty XIX) and Ramesses dog-headed god who lives by swallowing VI (Dynasty XX), the walls depict Atum and snatching hearts. Despite Atum’s resting on his staff supervising the punish- invincibility one would like to know more ment of the enemies of the sun which is about a tantalising reference in the Coffin usually drowning or beheading. It is Atum Texts to Atum losing his beard on the ‘day who offers protection to the deceased on of rebellion’ – an inestimable trophy for the his journey through the Underworld to sun-god’s opponents. B

Baal Baal has a pointed beard, a horned helmet and wields a cedar tree, club or spear. His epithet in the cuneiform texts, Prominent god of the sky ‘he who rides on the clouds’, is admirable and storms whose cult spread from Ugarit for a god of tempests and thunder – relating in Syria into Egypt, where he possessed a thereby to the Mesopotamian thunder- priesthood by Dynasty XVIII. god Adad and in Egypt to the god SETH. Aliyan Baal, son of a less well-attested Ramesses II (Dynasty XIX) in his almost god Dagan, dwelt on Mount Sapan (hence fatal struggle against the Hittite confeder- Baal-Zaphon) in north Syria but also ation at the battle of Kadesh is called became associated as a local deity of ‘Seth great of strength and Baal himself’. other sites such as Baal-Hazor in The war cry of Ramesses III (Dynasty Palestine, and Baal-Sidon and Baal of XX) is like Baal in the sky, i.e. Baal’s Tyre (Melkart) in Lebanon. Although the voice (the thunder) which makes the name Baal can mean ‘lord’ or ‘owner’ it mountains shake. His relationship to the was being used as a proper name for a warrior–pharaoh image may account specific god by the sixteenth century BC. for the popularity of his cult at Memphis, capital of Egypt, and the theophorous name Baal-Khepeshef or ‘Baal-is-upon-his-sword’. In the Middle East Baal’s dominion was greatly enhanced when he became the vanquisher of YAMM god of the sea. But Baal was killed in a struggle with Mot ( possibly a personification of death) and descended into the Underworld. He returns to life by the intervention of his sister–lover ANAT, who also slays his murderer. It is curious that the Egyptians did not, in extant texts at any rate, relate this myth symbolising the continual cycle of vegetation to their own OSIRIS legend.

Baalat

A Canaanite goddess connected probably via her responsibility for products valued by the Baal wielding . Stela from Ugarit, Egyptians with HATHOR. Her name means Syria, c.1700–1500 BC, Louvre Museum. ‘mistress’ and she is clearly the feminine 44 counterpart to BAAL. In her role as Baalat progression to become Babi who in turn Gebal ‘mistress of Byblos’ she protects transforms into the ‘eldest son of OSIRIS’. the cedar-wood trade between Lebanon Banebdjedet and Egypt which goes back to the reign of King Sneferu (Dynasty IV). Her signifi- cance parallels that of Hathor of Dendera Ram-god whose who is described as dwelling at Byblos. In name means ‘ (or ‘’) lord of the Sinai peninsula the turquoise mines at Mendes’, his cult centre in the north-east Serabit el-Khadim were protected by Delta. He was worshipped there together Hathor. In Hathor’s temple there is a small with his consort HATMEHYT (a local fish- sandstone sphinx inscribed by the dedicator goddess whom he had supplanted in both with the name of the Egyptian deity, importance) and his son HARPOKRATES in hieroglyphs, and with the name of (see HORUS section titled ‘Horus The Baalat, in an early alphabetic script. Child’). This site, known today as Tell el- Ruba, has revealed a cemetery with sar- Babi cophagi for the burial of the sacred rams. The strong sexual urges displayed by A fierce, blood- rams are the probable reason for the inter- thirsty baboon-god. esting relationship between Banebdjedet As early as the Old Kingdom Babi and the mother of the pharaoh Ramesses III ‘bull (i.e. dominant male) of the baboons’ (Dynasty XX) who left an account of it on represents supernatural aggression to a stela in his mortuary temple at Medinet which the monarch aspires. He controls Habu in western Thebes. The god TATENEN the darkness and will open up the sky (called here PTAH-Tanen) states to the for the king since his phallus is on king, whom he regards as his son, that the doors of heaven. This virility symbol he transformed himself into Banebdjedet is carried over into a later spell where in in order to copulate with the queen. But order to ensure successful sexual inter- it could also be that the inscription is course in the Afterlife a man identifies his attempting to identify the chthonic deity phallus with Babi. Perhaps it is not Ptah-Tanen with the sun-god, traditional entirely fortuitous that the Underworld father of the Egyptian pharaoh, since the ferryboat uses Babi’s phallus as its ram-god in the known as mast. the Litany of RA is represented as ‘lord of This dangerous god lives on human the sky’ and ‘life of Ra’. entrails and murders on sight. Hence In a papyrus (known as Chester Beatty I) spells are needed to protect oneself dating from the reign of Ramesses V against him, particularly during the (Dynasty XX), Banebdjedet is brought weighing the heart ceremony in the Hall into the litigation involving the struggle of the Two Truths where a person’s fitness over the throne of Egypt between Horus for paradise is determined. Naturally this and SETH. At the point where a stalemate hostile aspect of Babi leads to an identifi- occurs among the god–judges of the case, cation with SETH. Conversely Babi can ATUM sends for Banebdjedet who is use his immense power to ward off dan- described as dwelling in Setit, i.e. the gers like snakes and control turbulent island of Seheil at the first cataract of waters. Understandably in the Book of the the Nile at Aswan. The mention of this Dead the deceased makes the magical location neatly identifies Banebdjedet of Bastet 45

North Egypt with KHNUM, the southern ram-god. Banebdjedet (accompanied, incidentally, by Tatenen) urges the gods not to rush their decision but to consult the goddess NEITH. She counsels the award of the throne to Horus, which was the eventual outcome of the trial. However, in his immediate reaction to the goddess’s advice Banebdjedet, like the sun-god himself, is reluctant to abandon the case of the god Seth, the elder brother, in favour of the younger, Horus. Ba-Pef

The name of this god means ‘That Soul’ with an implication of dread or hostility contained in the demon- strative adjective ‘pef’. In a reference in the Pyramid Texts the monarch passes by the House of Ba-Pef where there is pain or woe. From the -tomb of Meresankh III at Giza there is evidence that in the Old Kingdom at any rate Ba-Pef possessed a priesthood. Bastet Bastet with sacred rattle and kittens. Late Feline goddess, daughter of the Period bronze statuette, British Museum. sun-god. Her earlier iconography employs lion Period of Egyptian civilisation, retains the imagery and it is not until c.1000 BC that the link with the sun-god (cf. the cat of Ra representation of Bastet as the cat becomes decapitating the Underworld snake common. No real idea of her nature is con- APOPHIS) but in some ways softens the tained in the writing of her name which is vicious side of her nature. She becomes a rendered phonetically, employing the hiero- peaceful creature, destroying only ver- glyph of a sealed alabaster perfume jar pos- min, and unlike her leonine form she can sibly chosen to suggest the ritual purity be approached fearlessly and stroked. It involved in her cult. has been suggested that in one myth the As the daughter of RA she is associated Egyptians saw Bastet’s return from with the rage inherent in the sun-god’s Nubia, where she had been sent by Ra as eye, his instrument of vengeance. It was a lioness and had raged in isolation, to probably this ferocity that made the Egypt in the form of the more placid cat analogy so plausible between Bastet and as an explanation of the period of unap- the lioness. Her development into the proachability in the cycle of menstruation. cat-goddess par excellence, of the Late As tangential evidence the advocates of 46 Bastet this theory cite the scenes in New Bastet who is called ruler of ‘Sekhet-neter’ Kingdom tomb paintings at Thebes where or the ‘Divine Field’ – i.e. Egypt. a cat is depicted under the lady’s chair as The goddess’s most important cult a deliberate ploy to indicate that she will centre was in the north-east Delta at always be available for sexual intercourse (a name ultimately deriving with the tomb-owner in the Afterlife. from the Egyptian ‘per-Bastet’ or ‘house In her earliest appearances in the of Bastet’). Today the site is heavily Pyramid Era Bastet is a goddess closely ruined, the temple being so devastated linked to the king. A magnificent example that it does not even offer a skeletal image of precise engineering in the Old Kingdom, of its pristine splendour. Nearby are the namely the valley temple of King Khafra tombs of some of the temple officiants at Giza, carries on its façade the names of including that of Iy, high priest of Bastet. two goddesses only – HATHOR of Southern In the fifth century BC the Greek historian Egypt and Bastet of Northen Egypt. The Herodotus designates the festival of the goddess is invoked as a benign royal goddess at Bubastis as the most elaborate protectress in the Pyramid Texts where, in a spell to enable him to reach the sky, the king proclaims that his mother and nurse is Bastet. Besides the king, Bastet has a son in the form of the lion-headed god MIHOS and is also the mother of a more artificial offspring combining the natures of NEFERTUM and the child HORUS, personi- fying her connection with perfume and royalty. With the dramatic extension of the roles of deities to assist Egyptian courtiers as well as the pharaoh that we find in the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom, Bastet gives immense protection as first-born daughter of ATUM. The aggressive side of Bastet can be seen in historical texts describing the pharaoh in battle. For example, in Dynasty XVIII Amenhotep II’s enemies are slaughtered like the victims of Bastet along the road cut by the god AMUN. From her epithet ‘lady of Asheru’, the precinct of the goddess MUT at Karnak, it is clear that Bastet had a place on Theban soil where she could be equated with the consort of Amun – especially since the lioness and the cat were also claimed as sacred animals by Mut. Reliefs in the temple of Karnak show the pharaoh cele- brating ritual races carrying either four Mummified cat, sacred to Bastet. Roman sceptres and a bird or an oar in front of period, British Museum. Bat 47 in all Egypt. He gives Bastet the name of the Greek goddess (an identifica- tion still in use 500 years later when the Roman poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses states that the daughter of Phoebus (i.e. Artemis) can transform into a cat). Herodotus gives us an extremely vivid word-picture of the crowds congregating at Bubastis to celebrate the goddess’s feast with music, licentious dancing and unrestrained wine-drinking. During the festival, shaking sacred rattles known as ‘sistra’ was a sign of jubilation to the god- dess. The Greek writer Plutarch (c. AD 100) describes the ‘sistrum’ (primarily the cult instrument of Hathor) as having a representation of the cat-goddess on it and this is verified by examples of Ancient Egyptian bronze sistra with a supine cat on top as well as statuettes of Bastet holding the sacred rattle. Cemeteries of cats have been excavated not only at Bubastis but also at other sites in the Nile Valley, e.g. Saqqara, the necropolis of Memphis, the capital city of Egypt, where Bastet played a tutelary role as ‘lady of Ankhtawy’ – the name given to this burial region, meaning ‘life of the Bat emblem on head of goddess.Valley two lands’ – and had a temple complex Temple of Menkaure, Dyn. IV, Cairo Museum. called the Bubasteion near the pyramid of King Teti (Dynasty VI). The stylish, well- more common. Her head is human but wrapped mummies of the cats, often with the ears are bovine and horns grow from the linen bandages forming geometrical her temples. Her body is in the shape of patterns and faces painted to give a a necklace counterpoise. In fact the whole quizzical or humorous expression, reveal iconography suggests the sacred rattle or the universal affection in which the sistrum – fittingly, since her cult centre is goddess’s sacred creature was held by in the district of Upper Egypt known as the Ancient Egyptians. the ‘Mansion of the sistrum’. Without inscriptional evidence there must always be an element of caution but Bat it does seem likely, on stylistic grounds, that the cow-goddess represented at the Cow-goddess of Upper top corners of the Narmer Palette, a slate Egypt. carving in Cairo Museum commemorating Bat is rarely depicted in Egyptian art, the unification of North and South Egypt although as a jewellery- she is into one state (c.3000 BC), is more likely 48 Benu to be Bat than HATHOR. Our earliest written evidence for the goddess, in the Pyramid Texts, would support this view: the king is Bat ‘with her two faces’, i.e. front and back of her sistrum emblem and similarly carved on each side of the palette. Even earlier, she might be the goddess on a palette on which stars are represented at the tips of her horns, indicating that, like most Egyptian cow-deities, she has celestial connections. It is possible that Bat has a presence that maintains the unity of Egypt, both North with South and Nile Valley with deserts. In addition to her pre-eminent positioning on the Narmer Palette, she is represented in the centre of a pectoral of Dynasty XII flanked by the two pro- Tomb of Inherkha, Deir el-Medina, Dyn. XX. tagonists in the struggle for the Egyptian throne, HORUS and SETH, in a state of reconciliation. However, her similarity sun-god, the Benu’s own birth is attributed to Hathor, the cow-goddess worshipped to self-generation. Mythological papyri in the neighbouring southern district, was of Dynasty XXI provide a vignette of a so close that Bat’s personal identity was heart-amulet and scarab beetle near to not strong enough to survive being totally which stands the Benu described as ‘the assimilated into her by the New Kingdom. one who came into being by himself’. The Benu is also found as a symbol of Benu anticipated rebirth in the Underworld, carved on the backs of heart-scarabs Primeval bird sacred buried with the corpse to ensure the heart to the sun-god at Heliopolis. does not fail in the examination of past The name Benu appears to be con- deeds in the Hall of the Two Truths (see nected with the verb ‘weben’ meaning to ASSESSOR GODS). As the living manifesta- ‘rise in brilliance’ or ‘shine’. The bird tion of Ra (called his ‘Ba’ or ‘soul’) itself in the Pyramid Age is the yellow the Benu has a close association with the wagtail, but later becomes represented as sun-god’s temple at Heliopolis. On a heron with two long feathers growing the sarcophagus of the Divine Adoratrice from the back of its head. of AMUN, Ankhnesneferibra, in the British The earliest mention of the Benu is the Museum the Benu is imagined as perched Pyramid Texts where it is described as one on a sacred willow tree in the temple. of the forms of the Heliopolitan sun-god ATUM. This link with the creator sun-god Herodotus and the Phoenix is maintained in the Middle Kingdom The Greek historian who visited Egypt in where the Benu of RA is said to be the the fifth century BC writes that he learned means by which Atum came into being about the sacred bird at Heliopolis from in the primeval water. Like that of the the mouths of priests of the sun-god. He 49 calls it the Phoenix using a name which it bandy-legged dwarf wearing either a has been shown could well derive from the panther skin or a kilt, more Syrian than Egyptian Benu. In Herodotus’s sceptical Egyptian, and a lion’s tail. Imitating for account, every 500 years the Phoenix magical purposes the solar iconography carries its dead predecessor from Arabia of the god HORUS of Behdet, Bes can be to Heliopolis for honours in the sun-god’s shown with his arms stretched out with temple. There is no evidence for the idea of a hawk’s wings suspended from them. The a dying phoenix, the core of the later myth, ‘sa’ sign meaning ‘protection’ is frequently in pharaonic Egypt. However, the classical carried by Bes. phoenix of Greek tradition does have He has his most crucial contribution to similarities with the Benu in the role of a make to Egyptian life in his role as pro- sun-bird and the symbols of resurrection. tector of childbirth in partnership with . A spell survives for reciting Bes four times over a clay dwarf placed on the crown of the head of a woman in labour Dwarf-god, grot- where complications have arisen. In it esque in appearance, benign in nature. Bes is addressed as ‘great dwarf with The Egyptians had a number of a large head and short thighs’ and as monstrously formed dwarf-deities for ‘a monkey in old age’ – the notion of which the name Bes was employed. The ugliness as a deterrent to evil spirits is as god in a plumed crown was normally strong in Ancient Egypt as the swords bearded with his broad face surrounded which Bes often brandishes. Higher up in by a lion’s mane and ears. His tongue the echelons of Egyptian society Bes is often protruded in a playfully aggressive present at the scenes of royal birth fashion. The body of Bes represented a carved on the walls of Theban temples.

Cosmetic container in form of Bes, Late Late Period limestone plaque. Private Period, British Museum. collection. 50 Bes

In Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt when seems had the prophylactic intent of the ‘mammisi’ or birth house became an warding off snakes and scorpions from integral unit in the whole temple struc- the living quarters of a house. His head ture, the image of Bes decorated the abaci also frequently surmounts the figure of above the columns, fittingly indicative of the child Horus carved on the ‘cippi’ or his protective role in the nativity of the shield-shaped amuletic stelae of the Late son of the sanctuary’s principal god and Period. Although overwhelmingly a god goddess. of everyday life in Egypt, his fierceness It was thought that Bes brought good is occasionally used as imagery in the luck and prosperity to married couples Underworld, as, e.g. in the Mythological and their children. Consequently, the god Papyrus of Dirpu where a deity guarding finds a place in the woefully few exam- a doorway has the head of ANUBIS but ples of decoration from secular dwellings: the body of the knife-wielding, snake- at Deir el-Medina on the west bank at strangling Bes. Thebes where the community of artisans His tutelary duties aside, Bes has a working on the royal tombs used to live genial temperament which expresses itself Bes is painted dancing on the outer walls through merrymaking and music. On fur- of the small bedroom. He is also present niture found in the tomb of Queen Tiye’s as part of the frieze on King Amenhotep parents (Dynasty XVIII) Bes strikes a III’s bedroom wall in his palace at tambourine, an instrument which he can Malkata in western Thebes (Dynasty also be seen shaking over 1,000 years later XVIII). Examples survive as well, show- on the walls of the HATHOR temple on the ing Bes as a decorative element on the island of Philae – there he plays the harp foot-board of the bed itself or on the as well. In this latter instance Bes per- head-rests used as pillows. If, as has been forms the task of placating the goddess suggested, mirrors in Ancient Egypt Hathor with music on her initially reluc- possessed sexual symbolism, the pres- tantly undertaken journey from Nubia to ence of Bes on them could be seen as an her sanctuary at Dendera. His popularity encouragement to carnal fulfilment. Bes, spread beyond the borders of Egypt: from furthermore, does have an association Kition in Cyprus comes an ivory plaque of with cosmetic utensils in general, e.g. Bes (c.1200 BC). He was also used as a carved as a support for a tube to contain motif by Phoenician craftsmen in ivory- kohl, or on the handle of spoons that held work which decorated the furniture and other cosmetics. caskets of Nimrud in Assyria. Towards the The aggression of knife-carrying Bes end of Ancient Egyptian civilisation a new is directed at any threat to the family. In iconography reflected the adoption of Bes this form he is incised on curved ivory by the occupying Roman forces – statuettes batons in the Middle Kingdom which it of the god dressed as a legionary. C

Cavern deities In the Underworld the living. They feed on the corpses and there are at least twelve caverns of the souls of those who have led criminal lives. west in which fierce gods and goddesses The caverns are places for the punishment dwell. These deities are enumerated in the and extermination, usually by beheading, funerary papyri and on the walls of tombs of the enemies of the sun-god RA. in the Valley of the Kings. Their power Here is a selection of these deities seems to reach the world above since from the tomb of Ramesses VI (Dynasty offerings are made to propitiate them by XX) and from the Book of the Dead.

Cavern Resident Deities 1 Nine jackal-headed gods feeding on rottenness; snake guardians of the Silent Region 2 Flame-breathing snake called Sesy; primeval gods called Nariu who have the heads of catfish 3 NEHEBU-KAU encircling seven catfish-headed gods led by OSIRIS 4 Great one who is on his belly 5 NUT and ithyphallic Osiris 6 TATENEN 8 Those who raise their superiors to the sky 9 Gods of the Primeval Deep 10 Wailing goddesses brandishing axes dripping with blood 11 AMMUT

Caverns of Fire in the Underworld.Tomb of Sety I, Dyn. XIX. D

Dedwen were built for Dedwen by Thutmose III (Dynasty XVIII) at el-Lessiya (now Anthropomorphic god pre- relocated to Turin Museum) and in the siding over Nubia and its access to fort on the island of Uronarti but there is resources such as incense. In the Pyramid no evidence for a cult centre of this god Texts the king is honoured as Dedwen north of Aswan. lord of Nubia. The royal aroma is that of the incense brought by Dedwen for the Denwen Fiery serpent-god attested in gods. The connection with the monarch is the Pyramid Era who would have caused also seen in the fact that Dedwen burns a conflagration destroying other deities incense at royal births. Temples in Nubia but was thwarted by the king. E

Ennead example of the versatility of an Ennead of gods can be found in an inscription in the temple of Redesiyeh cut in the rocks of the The company of Nine eastern desert during the reign of King Gods originally at Heliopolis consisting Sety I (Dynasty XIX). The pharaoh - of the sun-god creator and his descen- cated the temple to AMUN and his Ennead. dants. The word itself is from the Greek word for ‘nine’ – the Ancient Egyptians Amun OSIRIS HORUS called these collective deities the RA PTAH ISIS ‘Pesdjet’. Since the primeval matter (NUN) is not counted, the Heliopolitan Ennead comprises the following gods. The remaining three members of the Ennead were deified statues of Sety I Atum (‘bull of the Ennead’) himself. In the Pyramid Texts the ‘Two ’ convey the concept of all the Shu Tefnut gods of the Egyptian pantheon. The Ennead are also envisaged as a judgement council both in mythology, where for Geb Nut instance they are in favour of truth over falsehood, and in historical inscriptions Osiris Isis Seth Nephthys such as when they condemn the Libyan prince Merey to defeat at the hands of the Other cult centres could also have an pharaoh (Dynasty XIX). Ennead made up from their own major Enneads can be referred to as ‘great’ or deities, the number of which did not ‘small’ – the Great Ennead being res- always correspond to ‘nine’ and the gods ponsible for ‘nursing’ Queen Hatshepsut of which were not always related in a (Dynasty XVIII) according to her genealogy such as given above. A good obelisk-inscription at Karnak. F

Fetket Butler of the sun-god RA who provides the king with his drink supply. G

Gate deities of the Underworld Superiority, however, could be gained over Royal tombs at Thebes and funerary papyri these gods through the magical power of courtiers present a vivid picture of concomitant with knowing their secret the Egyptian Underworld – known as names. The following is a synopsis of how ‘Duat’. For pharaohs the illustration of the these hazardous gateways and their associ- unhindered and safe passage of the sun-god ated deities were imagined both for the through Duat was paramount since the sun-god and royalty, and for courtiers. monarch himself was envisaged as being among the deities in the solar entourage. In 1 Underworld gates from walls of the case of officials the Underworld’s tombs in the Valley of the Kings perilous regions had to be traversed without Each pylon consists of three elements – injury to reach Paradise. For both sun-god a flame-spitting serpent rising up before and nobleman it was necessary to negotiate the gate, the gateway itself painted purely in pylons or gates along the route. Ferocious architectural terms but labelled as if it were guardian deities threatened to annihilate a goddess, and the resident guardian god. those approaching to enter the portals. The sun-god’s journey through these pylons can be summarised as follows.

Gate 1 The god in the prow of the boat of the sun-god urges the snake called ‘Desert-Protector’ to open the gate. The sun-god under the form ATUM leans on his staff watching the destruction of his enemies. Gate 2 The guardian god is ‘Swallower of Sinners’ and beyond the pylon is a lake of fire. Gate 3 The serpent is called ‘Stinger’ and the gate itself called ‘Mistress of Food’. Beyond it jackals guard the ‘Lake of Life’ forbidden of access to Underworld inhabitants because it is here that the god RA breathes. Gate 4 Here there are gods carry- ing measuring-cords for fields in the Underworld, paralleling scenes found in courtiers’tombs which show the calculation by ropes of the corn crop for taxation. Also the Egyptian notion of the races Gate deity with vulture head.Tomb of Queen of mankind is symbolised by illustrating Tawosret, Dyn. XIX. four groups of figures representing the 56 Gate deities of the Underworld

Gate deities from the Papyrus of Ani, Dyn. XIX, British Museum.

‘cattle of RA’, i.e. mankind proper – the Gate 9 On the back of a hawk-headed Egyptians); the Middle Easterners; Libyans lion stand HORUS and SETH. and Nubians. Gate 10 Beyond this gateway the Gate 5 The gate is called ‘Lady of snake APOPHIS is bound with chains so Duration’ and the serpent is ‘Flame-Eyed’. that RA can pass through without the Beyond is a dangerous stretch inhabited snake attempting to swallow him. by the snake APOPHIS, ‘Evil of Face’ as he Gate 11 The gate is called is described here. Twelve gods contain his ‘Mysterious of Approaches’ and is guarded deadly power by seizing him. The heads by a cat-headed god whose name is of those that Apophis has swallowed ‘Meeyuty’ – clearly a use of onomatopoeia emerge from his coils as the sun-god to suggest a cat’s ‘mew’. passes through this region. Gate 12 Beyond the gate ISIS and Gate 6 RA in his boat approaches NEPHTHYS rear up in the form of serpents. seven jackal-headed poles with two enemies Here the symbolism of the journey through tied to each one ready for beheading. the portals ends on the theme of the emer- Gate 7 The gate is called ‘Shining gence of the sun once more into the sky as One’ and beyond it twelve gods hold a rope a sacred beetle. from which emanate four whips, four hawk heads and four human heads. The hiero- 2 Underworld gates depicted in glyphs relate this image to the mysterious funerary Papyri appearance of RA, but not in sufficient detail for us to elucidate its subtleties. GODS OF THE SEVEN GATES Gate 8 Here exists a fire-breathing The deceased is confronted by gateways snake who burns up the enemies of OSIRIS. in which dwell a god, his door keeper Gate deities of the Underworld 57 and a herald. These guardians are armed personified as a goddess and identifies her with knives but the deceased will pass by guardian god represented seated, armed them unscathed through the recital of with a knife and anthropomorphic to the their names. The following tabulation shoulders but having normally the head of gives the ritual naming taking place at an animal (e.g. bull, hippopotamus) a bird each gate: (e.g. vulture) or a snake. The defied portal

Gate God Doorkeeper Herald 1 Upside down of face Secret Listener Miserable of Voice Manifold of Forms 2 Stretched out of Forehead ‘Seqed’ (?)faced Glowing 3 Eater of the Foulness Watchful of Face Curser from his Hindquarters 4 Hostile of Face Perceptive Great of Face Loquacious Crocodile-Repeller 5 Existing on Maggots ‘Ashbu’ Hippopotamus Face Furious of Onslaught 6 Raging of Voice Face-Eraser Sharp of Face 7 Sharpest of Them Strident of Voice Rebuffing Insurgents

DEITIES OF THE TWENTY-ONE SECRET is given a long string of epithets – in some PORTALS OF THE MANSION OF OSIRIS IN cases numbering seven separate descrip- THE FIELD OF RUSHES tions. Accordingly the following table To gain access through these portals the selects just one or two of these in each deceased recites the name of the gateway instance:

Portal Number Name of Portal as Goddess Guardian God 1 Mistress of Trembling Dreadful 2 Mistress of the Sky Born of the Hindquarters 3 Mistress of the Altar Cleanser 4 Powerful of Knives Long-Horned Bull 5 Fiery One Killer of Opponents 6 Mistress of Darkness Destroyer 7 Veiler of the Weary One ‘Ikenty’ (i.e. Osiris) 8 Lighter of Flames, Protector of his Body Extinguisher of Heat 9 Foremost Fowler 10 Piercing of Voice (variant: Great Embracer High of Double Doors) 11 Ceaseless in Knifing, Cook of his Braziers Scorcher of Rebels

(continued ) 58 Geb

Continued

Portal Number Name of Portal as Goddess Guardian God 12 Invoked by her Two Cat Lands 13 She above whom Osiris Destroyer of the Robber (variants: Isis, ENNEAD) stretches his Arms 14 Mistress of Anger, Screecher Dancing on Blood 15 Great of Valour Vigilant of Face 16 Dread Clever in Bowing 17 Great on the Horizon Spirit 18 Lover of Heat Anointed 19 She who Foretells Mornings Nameless throughout her Lifespan, Possessor of the Writings of THOTH 20 Dweller within the Cavern Nameless of her Lord 21 Sharpener of Flint to Giraffe (in Egyptian ‘Memy’) Speak for her

In the case of Portal 21, the guardian visual images of Geb are found much god ‘Giraffe’ has an interesting descrip- later in New Kingdom religious papyri. In tion following his name which places these vignettes Geb reclines partly on his his birth in remotest time before pine side, usually with one arm bent at the and acacia trees existed and predating elbow. Being a chthonic deity he can be the origin of copper in the desert. coloured green, indicating the vegetation Mostly, however, Underworld deities which sprouts from him. On the Papyrus remain fairly obscure hiding behind of Tentamun (Dynasty XXI) Geb’s body epithets that are variously vivid or bland. is actually decorated with the symbols of the Nile reeds in flower. His phallus, Geb when shown, can either be relaxed or stretching upwards towards the goddess Earth-god and president of Nut. He occasionally appears in the royal the divine tribunal on the kingship. Geb is tombs in the Valley of the Kings wearing well documented in the Pyramid Era where the hieroglyph which writes his name, the he is called the ‘eldest of SHU’. His sister- white-fronted goose, upon his head. For consort is the sky-goddess NUT, their union an obscure reason he is shown with the producing the deities of the OSIRIS legend. head of a hare in the solar boat painted on A description of the iconography of the ceiling of the sarcophagus chamber of Geb occurs in a Pyramid Text where we the tomb of Ramesses VI (Dynasty XX). read that he holds ‘one arm to the sky and As earth-god (more universal than the other to the earth’. However, the best AKER) he has an ominous side in the idea Geb 59

Geb below the air-god and sky-goddess. Greenfield Papyrus, Dyn. XXI, British Museum. that he might imprison the dead within In the myth of the transmission of the him, preventing their free movement in kingship to Horus, the culminating scenes the Afterlife. We meet this concept in the take place in the ‘Broad Hall of Geb’. Geb Pyramid Texts where it is asserted that is the presiding judge in the dispute the king does not enter or ‘sleep’ in between Horus and Seth, a role which (i.e. permanently in the state of death) the from the Pyramid Texts seems to have been mansion of Geb upon earth. Also to be handed over to him by ATUM the superior dreaded is the ‘laughter’ of Geb which fig- sun-god. Naturally Geb is sympathetic to uratively evokes the devastating force of his grandson Horus since originally Geb’s an earthquake. More benignly Geb pro- heir to the kingship of Egypt was Osiris, vides the nourishments and fruits of the the murdered father of Horus. That Osiris earth to everyone – barley being imagined was preferred by Geb, as his eldest son, as growing from the ribs of the god. This over Seth is quite clear: he fishes the body idea of fertility lies behind the Nile-god of the killed god out of the water for HAPY being addressed in a hymn as ‘friend embalming. (For Geb’s initial division of of Geb’. In magical texts for curing Egypt between the protagonists and its headaches great store is set by the reversal, see Horus.) Once Horus has been ‘khenem’ plant of Geb over which HORUS vindicated in his claim, it is Geb’s com- and SETH fought in its form of the ‘unique mand that he be crowned as the lawful heir bush’, probably a manifestation of the Eye to the Egyptian throne. By extension Geb of Horus. This notion of Geb as a god with then becomes the staunch upholder of the an interest in healing is occasionally found ruling monarch. In the Pyramid Texts we in spells concerning scorpion stings; on read that Geb actively supports the king in one occasion the god gives ISIS his magi- the role of Horus victorious over Seth. The cal powers so that she can abate the poison king performs a dance celebrating the in a child stung by scorpions. belief that Geb will never allow harm to 60 Gengen Wer come to the rightful heir of the throne, the Gengen Wer A primeval goose god putting his sandals on the heads of the whose onomatopoeic name means Great sovereign’s enemies. Honker and who is a force of creative Towards the end of pharaonic civilisa- energy. tion in Dynasty XXX there is papyrical The imagery is that of the goose evidence of a reinterpretation of carrying the egg from which life emerges. Geb’s connection with the throne. This In order to be part of this creation, a document from Saft el-Hinneh in the continuing cycle in the Egyptian mind, Delta says that Geb usurped the kingship a person in the Underworld might from Shu and, in addition, violated the be described as closely guarding or actu- body of his mother TEFNUT. Here, surely, ally being the egg within the Great the Egyptian tradition has become conta- Honker. minated with the Greek myth of the This goose, also called the cackler usurpation of Ouranos by his son Kronos (‘Negeg’ in Egyptian), is a form whom the classical writers in fact identify under which AMUN can appear as a with Geb. creator-god. H

Ha The god is shown in human form with aquatic plants on his head. His body has emphasised pendulous breasts and a God of the desert, particularly the prominent paunch, an iconography whose regions of the west including the oases. message is abundance and fertility. The is anthropomorphic and wears the god holds before him an offering tray full symbol for desert hills on his head. As of produce resulting from the Nile silt left lord of the desert he wards off enemies by the receding waters of the river after from the west, probably referring to the inundation. In the Middle Kingdom invading tribes from Libya. the god is ‘master of the river bringing vegetation’. Other epithets for Hapy Hapy include ‘lord of the fishes and birds of the marshes’ which might explain the god being given a double-goose head in the God of the annual Nile temple of Abydos. Crocodile-gods are in inundation. his retinue and he possesses a harem of Hapy lived in the caverns of the frog-goddesses with braided tresses. cataract of the Nile, presided over by Although the flood was the source of KHNUM. He personifies the yearly flood the country’s prosperity, no temples or rather than the Nile itself – hence refer- sanctuaries were built specifically in hon- ences to a ‘large’ or ‘small’ Hapy. our of Hapy. But his statues – including some where the pharaoh himself is carved as the god – and reliefs were included in the temples of other deities. The other side of the coin, as an Egyptian hymn to Hapy tells us, was that no temple priesthood could commandeer labourers to work on Hapy’s building projects – demands often made in the names of other divinities.

Hathor

Universal cow-goddess, sym- bolic mother of the pharaoh. The name of Hathor immediately sug- gests that the Egyptians themselves had great difficulty in defining the essence of Hapy’s fertility symbolised by the gods of this complex deity. It describes the goddess Upper and Lower Egypt. Statue of in relation to the god HORUS: ‘mansion of Senwosret I, Dyn. XII, Cairo Museum. Horus’ is what her name means literally. 62 Hathor

But it symbolises Hathor as the ‘lady of the WADJET’ or a sycamore. The papyrus was sky’ whose womb protected the hawk-god. a plant sacred to her since the habitat of She is the daughter of the sun-god RA. wild cattle was in the swamps by the Nile. In art and architecture the goddess A ritual of plucking up papyrus stalks was takes the following major forms: performed in her honour. Her nature is predominantly benign (a) Lithe lady on whose wig is a crown but she does have a destructive streak of cow horns and a sun disk. which is best evidenced in the legend (b) Completely bovine as the ‘Great involving the narrowly avoided annihila- Wild Cow’. tion of the human race by Hathor as the (c) As a pillar, the capital of which ‘Eye of Ra’ (see under SAKHMET). shows a human face, a wig (normally There was clearly a veneration of curling at the lappets on each side of cow-goddesses in Predynastic Egypt but her cheeks) but the ears of a cow. without hieroglyphs it is impossible to be Hathor can also be represented as a certain if a cult belongs to Hathor or lioness, as a snake ‘who laughs with perhaps to BAT, the most likely candidate for the cow-heads on the Narmer Palette (c.3000 BC). By the beginning of the Old Kingdom there is indisputable archaeological and textual proof of the worship of Hathor. The valley temple of King Khafra (Dynasty IV) at Giza was placed in its southern sector under the protection of Hathor. Her tem- ples are mentioned on the Old Kingdom annals on the Palermo Stone and royal ladies from the early Pyramid Age onwards take the title ‘’.

1 Hathor and the pharaoh The king of Egypt is called ‘son of Hathor’. This of course leads to a compli- cation since the king as HORUS is the son of ISIS. It seems most probable that Hathor is the original mother of the hawk-god in the cycle of myth where Horus and SETH are brothers. She gave way to Isis when the legend was absorbed into the myth of OSIRIS, necessitating Horus to become the son of that goddess in order to gain the throne of Egypt. There is a further realignment in the relationship when Hathor becomes regarded as the wife of the sky-god Horus of Edfu. The finest sculptural statement of the Tomb of Horemheb. Dyn. XVIII. maternal concern that Hathor has for the Hathor 63

Hathor as cow protecting and suckling Amenhotep II. Hathor shrine of Tuthmosis III, Dyn. XVIII, Cairo Museum. king can be seen on the triad from Menkaura’s temple at Giza (Dynasty IV): the king is flanked by a local cow-goddess on one side while on the other his hand is protectively held by Hathor. In Dynasty XVIII on the west bank at Thebes at Deir el-Bahari, the Hathor chapel in Queen Hatshepsut’s temple shows two reliefs emphasising the relationship between the goddess and the ruler of Egypt. In one the cow-goddess lovingly licks the hand of Hathor as goddess of the west.Tomb of the enthroned monarch and in the other the Horemheb, Dyn. XVIII. Hathor-cow suckles the ruler. This latter motif occurs shortly after the reign of Queen Hatshepsut in a three-dimensional This visually provides a link between the representation in a vaulted shrine origi- tomb and the life continuing in the Nile nally at Deir el-Bahari but now in Cairo valley. In tombs in the Valley of the Kings Museum: Hathor as a cow, papyrus stalks Hathor’s pre-eminence as a guardian of surrounding her head, provides her divine the western necropolis is left in no doubt milk for Amenhotep II. since on decorated pillars around the sarcophagus chamber, such as those in the 2 Hathor as a funerary goddess tomb of Amenhotep II, her figure out- This aspect of Hathor is especially promi- numbers those of Osiris and ANUBIS. In nent in western Thebes where the necrop- the Book of the Dead the goddess as ‘lady olis was under her safekeeping. As ‘lady of the headland of Manu’ (the western of the west’ she is shown on stelae and mountain) is said to be joined by the funerary papyri as a cow leaving the sun-god RA as he sinks below the horizon. desert in which the tombs have been cut Her protection extends to practical help to come down into the papyrus marshes. for the deceased in the Underworld: her 64 Hathor

The seven and sky-bull. Tomb of Nefertari, Dyn. XIX. outer garment, known as the ‘tjesten’, if by the ‘bull of the west, lord of eternity’. possessed by someone in the Underworld, Although not specified in the papyrus will give that person a safe path, particu- as ‘seven’, the Hathors who foretell the larly past enemies dwelling on the perilous fate of the young prince (Papyrus Harris Island of Fire. 500), threatened with doom (probably avoided – the end of the tale is missing) 3 The seven Hathors from a crocodile, snake and a dog, are the Representations in tombs, such as that of same goddesses. Occasionally in spells Queen Nefertari (Dynasty XIX), and in the seven Hathors protect the body from the Book of the Dead show seven cows harm but it is usually the goddess Hathor whose role is to determine the destiny of in the singular who is connected with a child at birth. Each Hathor has her own healing and childbirth. This role derives name: from her actions in the legend of the struggle between HORUS and SETH for i Lady of the universe the Egyptian throne, restoring sight to ii Sky-storm Horus after his eyes have been torn out. iii You from the land of silence Archaeological evidence of this aspect of iv You from Khemmis Hathor can be found in her temple precinct v Red-hair at Dendera: rows of mudbrick cubicles vi Bright red were built near the ‘mammisi’ for sick vii Your name flourishes through skill. visitors to lie in while purified water from Alternative names for the seven Hathors the sacred lake ( previously run over an can be found in mythological papyri: image of Hathor?) was poured over them to help effect a cure. i Lady of the House of Jubilation ii ϩ iii Mistresses of the west 4 Goddess of love, music and dance iv ϩ v Mistresses of the east Hathor is the supreme goddess of sexual vi ϩ vii Ladies of the sacred land love in Ancient Egypt, immediately These goddesses of fate are accompa- identified with Aphrodite by the Greeks nied by the four rudders representing the when they came into contact with her cardinal points of the sky and are served cult. The turmoil or ecstasy which can Hathor 65 result from physical desire are reflected in in the hand, which was not worn but the conflicting forces of Hathor’s person- shaken by Hathor’s priestesses. ality as a goddess of destruction as ‘Eye The crypts in the main cult centre of of RA’ or a goddess of heavenly charm. In Hathor in Egypt at Dendera give, in love poetry Hathor is called the ‘golden’ superbly carved wall reliefs, an idea of or ‘lady of heaven’. Concomitant with the sacred musical instruments and ritual her connection with love is her ability objects and statues of the goddess that to encourage sensual joy by music and were originally contained in them. Also at dancing. In fact the child of Hathor and Dendera (Ancient Egyptian ‘Iunet’), HORUS at the temple of Dendera is the sacred to Hathor since at least the Old god IHY who really personifies musical Kingdom, music accompanied the proces- jubilation. Dances in honour of Hathor sion that brought the cult image of the god- are represented on the walls of courtiers’ dess from the darkness of the sanctuary up tombs, and in the story of the return of onto the roof where a special chapel had Sinuhe to the Egyptian court after years been constructed for the ceremony of the abroad, the princesses perform an union with the sun disk enabling Hathor to Hathoric dance to celebrate the occasion. bathe in the rays of the sun-god. In the myth of the contest for power between Horus and SETH it is the goddess 5 Goddess of foreign countries herself, ‘lady of the southern sycamore’, The best indication of Hathor’s universal- who cures her father Ra of a fit of sulking ity is the way in which foreign regions by dancing naked in front of him until he from which the Egyptians derived mater- bursts into laughter. ial benefit were regarded as personal Music in the cult of Hathor was domains of the goddess. In the Middle immensly important and there were two Kingdom she is called ‘lady of Byblos’ ritual instruments carried by her priest- the long-established commercial centre esses to express their joy in worshipping for the timber trade. Excavations here the goddess. have shown evidence of a cult to Hathor and her semitic counterpart ASTARTE. From SISTRUM the Old Kingdom another area beyond The bronze sacred rattle ‘sesheshet’ in Egypt’s frontier becomes the province of Egyptian – popular into the Roman world – Hathor, namely Nubia. In the Dynasty VI which was shaken in honour of Hathor, the official Harkhuf came back from a consisted of a column-handle with cow- southern expedition leading 300 donkeys eared Hathor at the top surmounted by laden with African produce such as pan- a loop, across the width of which stretched ther skins, incense and ebony wood which three or four horizontal bars piercing are viewed as the gift of Hathor to the small disks that would jangle. There was king. But the goddess’s closest and most also the ceremonial sistrum made of important links abroad lie in the turquoise glazed composition terminating in a naos mines of the Sinai peninsula. In Dynasty or shrine, which was meant to be a votive III Hathor is ‘ mef kat’, i.e. ‘mistress offering to the goddess. of turquoise’ in rock inscriptions near the mines at Wadi Maghara. Later from Dynasty XII through the New Kingdom a This is a necklace, thick with beads and splendid temple was built and added to in a counterpoise long enough to be grasped her honour at Serabit el-Khadim. 66 Hatmehyt

Hatmehyt sun-god Harmachis (see HORUS section titled ‘HARMACHIS’) the sphinx suggested to Fish-goddess worshipped in the the foreign artisans the god Haurun viewing Delta, particularly in the north-east at the ‘City of the East’ which Canaanite leg- Mendes. end has him founding. A temple to this god, The fish as a divinity is comparatively the ‘House of Haurun’ as it was called, was rare in the Egyptian pantheon, but constructed in front of the sphinx. Hatmehyt’s name means ‘she who is in Haurun can be represented as a falcon front of the fishes’ referring to her pre- as in the majestic granite and limestone eminence in relation to the few rival fish statue (now in Cairo Museum) of the god cults. However, it could also be inter- protecting the pharaoh Ramesses II preted in a temporal sense to stress the (Dynasty XIX) depicted as a child. goddess as the ‘beginning’ i.e. earliest Haurun also figures in a magical spell fish-goddess to exist when Egypt emerged against the dangers of wild animals such as from the primeval waters. lions or ferocious dogs; he provides the She can be represented completely as protection under his epithet ‘the victorious a fish, the shape of which led to former herdsman’. There is an inherent contradic- suggestions that it was a dolphin. This tion (or dualism) in his character since his has now been discarded in favour of an role as a healing god in Egypt must be bal- identification with the lepidotus fish, anced against his action as a god of doom common in the Nile. in the Canaanite myth where Haurun is At Mendes, in a district for which the responsible for planting a ‘tree of death’. ancient standard was the fish symbol indicating that Hatmehyt was the senior Heh deity in terms of residence there, her cult becomes subordinated to that of the ram- Anthropomorphic god, god BANEBDJEDET – interpreted after his personification of infinity. arrival as her consort. Heh is represented on temple walls, vases and jewellery with the force of an Haurun amuletic wish for untold millions of years of life. Heh kneels, often on a basket which is An earth-god of the hieroglyph for universality, holding in Canaan identified most importantly in each hand a palm-rib – the hieroglyph for Egypt with the great sphinx at Giza. ‘year’, and frequently carrying the sign of Haurun is attested as a name in Egypt life or ‘ankh’ (see also OGDOAD). for over 1,200 years from 1900 BC when he occurs in the name of a foreign prince Heka whom the Egyptians ceremonially curse. It is likely that a settlement of Canaanite-Syrian workers near the sphinx God who embodies the con- in the New Kingdom made the initial anal- cept of magical power and energy. In the ogy between the guardian-figure of Khafra Coffin Texts Heka is described as coming carved over a thousand years earlier, and into being at the beginning of time at the Haurun. Possibly from its position on the will of the creator god ATUM to provide western desert looking towards the rising a supernatural strength which would sun, reinterpreted by this time as the pervade the universe and enable deities Heket 67 and mankind to function. In the Pyramid Texts Heka is a threatening force and in the spells where the king hunts and devours gods and men his own power is increased by their magic which he has swallowed. The Book of the Dead has spells which emphasise that the deceased will possess the universal magical power of Heka to counteract hazards in the Underworld. Also one spell is specifically directed against the crocodile trying to steal this magic. In later magical spells Heka is, along with RA, THOTH and SAKHMET, one of the protectors of OSIRIS, whose power is invoked to overcome croc- odiles by blinding them. Heka is fre- quently depicted in anthropomorphic form in the Book of Gates standing in the boat of the sun-god during his nightly Mammisi of Nectanebo, Dendera, Dyn. XXX. journey through the Netherworld. In the Second Hall, decorated in the Ptolemaic period, of the Mammisi in the Temple of bear the image of the frog-goddess. Philae, Heka is the god who proclaims the Similarly, magical ‘knives’ of ivory, enthronement of the son of ISIS – and sym- popular during the Middle Kingdom as bolically the pharaoh himself – as ruler of devices to ward off threats to families, Egypt, holding up the child in his arms. carry incisions representing Heket as a defender of the home. Possibly the title Heket ‘servant of Heket’, carved on a musical clapper belonging to a lady Sit-Hathor, indicates that she was a midwife. The life- Frog-goddess of birth. giving powers of Heket enabled her to be Heket makes her debut in Egyptian adopted as a benign deity fit to accom- inscriptions in the pyramids where, in a pany OSIRIS, in whose temple at Abydos magical text destined to enable the king to she receives wine from King Sety I ascend into the sky, she is one of numer- (Dynasty XIX) and is labelled ‘mistress ous divinities that are said to equate with of the Two Lands’. parts of the royal anatomy. Her connec- There are remains of a temple to Heket tion with birth is first made explicit in a at Qus in Upper Egypt where she is Middle Kingdom papyrus which contains regarded as the wife of Haroeris (see tales of wonder set in the Pyramid Age. In HORUS section titled ‘The struggle for the the passage concerning the wife of the throne of Egypt’). Although it is not giving birth to the three archaeologically extant, the best evidence kings who inaugurate Dynasty V, it is of a cult centre to Heket is in an inscrip- Heket in each instance who ‘hastens’ the tion in the tomb of Petosiris (fourth cen- last stages of labour. tury BC) at Tuna el-Gebel in Middle Egypt. and scarabs worn by women Petosiris, high priest of THOTH, relates how to protect them during childbirth often a procession in her honour was guided by 68 Heret-Kau the goddess Heket ‘lady of Herwer’ to the waters. So Heryshaf is envisaged as site of a sanctuary ruined by the annual emerging from the primal matter at the inundation of the Nile. Petosiris takes this beginning of time. Regrettably, inscrip- to mean that Heket wishes her temple tional evidence about Heryshaf is scant, there to be renovated and summons her so it is not possible to accept without scribe, giving him finance and orders for reservations the attractive theory that ‘he the construction of a new monument who is upon his lake’ is the lotus plant surrounded by a girdle-wall to prevent the arising out of the waters to open up and flood-waters carrying it away. reveal the young sun-god. The Greek author Plutarch renders Heret-Kau Heryshaf as ‘Arsaphes’ and gives its meaning as ‘manliness’. This is probably not to be taken as a general observation In the Old on the procreative inclinations of the ram, Kingdom there is a reference to a priest of but more likely as deriving from an this goddess whose name means ‘she who original (and typical) Egyptian play on is above the spirits’ clearly emphasising words: between ‘shaf’ meaning ‘his lake’ her role as a dominating force in the and a word of similar consonantal sound, Afterlife. She figures in temple-founda- translating as ‘respect’ or ‘manly dignity’. tion rituals in the Delta alongside NEITH In Greek terms Heryshaf became and ISIS. ‘Herakles’. Accordingly the name of the site most sacred to the god, called Heryshaf Hnes in Ancient Egypt (modern Ihnasya el-Medina), is given in Greek texts as Ram-god prominent ‘Herakleopolis’ or ‘town of Herakles’. in Middle Egypt at Ihnasya el-Medina on Hnes was the capital city of Northern the west bank of the Nile near Beni Suef. Egypt during the years separating the His cult is mentioned as existing on Pyramid Age from the Middle Kingdom this site as early as Dynasty I in the Old (known as the First Intermediate Period). It Kingdom annals inscribed on the Palermo is at this time that the relatively locally Stone. based god became enhanced with a univer- In reliefs and statuary Heryshaf is rep- sality accompanying his identification as resented as having an anthropomorphic the ‘Ba’ (soul) of Osiris and the ‘Ba’ of Ra. body in a pharaonic stance and wearing Archaeologists have discovered that the the royal kilt, while his head is that of a earliest structures in his temple at Hnes long-horned ram. His association with date from the Middle Kingdom (Dynasty OSIRIS leads to his wearing the ‘Atef’ XII). There is a literary reference from this crown of that god, and his connection period to the temple in a narrative known as with RA results in the adoption of the sun the ‘Eloquent Peasant’: in his fourth disk surmounting his horns. attempt to obtain redress for the unwar- The name of Heryshaf means ‘he who ranted seizure of his donkeys and the goods is upon his lake’, referring to a topo- they were carrying, the peasant comes graphical feature at his cult centre, proba- across the official to whom he has been bly the sacred lake in his temple, which in putting his complaints coming out of the Egyptian religious concepts is an archi- temple of Heryshaf. During the New tectural attempt to recreate the primeval Kingdom the temple at Hnes was greatly Hetepes-Sekhus 69

but discovered in the temple of ISIS at Pompeii and now in the Naples Museum. It is inscribed with the career of Somtutefnakht under the last native Egyptian pharaoh, through the second Persian Domination of Egypt beginning under Artaxerxes III in 343 BC to the conquest of Alexander the Great. Somtutefnakht, in his view guided by Heryshaf, collaborated with the Persians. The god also ensured that he remained unharmed during the turbulent period of the Greek invasion when, according to the inscription, there was colossal slaughter. Heryshaf then appears to Somtutefnakht in a dream advising him to return to his home town of Hnes and serve in the tem- ple. Alone and through great peril on land and sea journeys, he reaches Hnes without even the loss of hair. The god is described by the epithets: ‘king of the Two Lands’ ‘ruler of the riverbanks’. These titles ascribe the sovereignty of Egypt to Heryshaf. Solar symbolism is Gold figurine, c.700 BC, Boston Museum. employed in the stela to invoke Heryshaf as a manifestation of Ra: the god’s eyes are enlarged – especially under Ramesses II the sun disk and the moon. Heryshaf is (Dynasty XIX) who was responsible for ATUM who is here associated with the monolithic granite columns with palm-leaf sacred ‘naret’ tree (sycamore?) of Hnes. As capitals decorating the Hypostyle Hall. It is a primeval force Heryshaf is proclaimed from that area that the exquisite gold minia- creator of all life from the north wind ture statuette of Heryshaf in the ‘Atef’ which he breathes forth from his nostrils. crown, now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, was discovered. This figurine gives Hesat the name of Peftuaubast, the ruler residing at Hnes, at the time of the invasion of Egypt Cow-goddess who gave by the Sudanese King Piye. Peftuaubast birth to the king in the form of a golden sided with Piye (Dynasty XXV) in his cam- calf. In general she is a milk goddess paign of conquest, acknowledging him as quenching the thirst of mankind with his overlord and sending him tribute, divine liquid described as the ‘beer of doubtless some of it from Heryshaf’s tem- Hesat’. ple treasury. The fullest description of the god is Hetepes-Sekhus Underworld cobra- found on a stela originally set up at Hnes goddess who by virtue of her power as the 70 Horus eye of RA annihilates the souls of OSIRIS’s enemies. Her invincibility is enhanced by her entourage of .

Horus

Falcon-god, ‘lord of the sky’ and symbol of divine kingship. His name (‘Har’ in Egyptian) is prob- ably to be interpreted as ‘the high’ or ‘the far-off’. It appears in hieroglyphs in the royal protocol at the very beginning of dynastic civilisation c.3000 BC. The earliest occurrence of Horus, in com- plete hawk-form, is on monuments from the late Predynastic period, such as the palette showing a number of sacred creatures hacking at the walls of fortified towns. He continues to appear in the total Horus holding the heraldic plant of Lower falcon shape throughout Egyptian civili- Egypt. Statue of Senwosret I, Dyn. XII, Cairo Museum. sation but his form, anthropomorphic to the shoulders with the hawk head becomes the most usual iconography. uses, as an illustration that apparent misfortune can be reversed, the reference of Horus ‘hidden behind the papyrus’ 1 Horus the child becoming ruler of Egypt. In the Pyramid Texts the god is once called ‘Horus the child with his finger in his HARPOKRATES mouth’. This aspect of Horus refers to From the Egyptian ‘Har-pa-khered’ liter- his birth and upbringing in secret by his ally ‘Horus-the-child’ the Greeks created mother ISIS. Born at Khemmis in the north- the name of ‘Harpokrates’. In this form east Delta, the young god was hidden in Horus is as a rule iconographically the papyrus marshes, hence his epithet depicted as a young vulnerable-looking ‘Har-hery-wadj’ or ‘Horus who is upon his child, sitting on the knees of ISIS, wearing papyrus plants’. This appears visually in a the and sometimes wall relief in the temple of Sety I (Dynasty sucking his fingers. On a special category XIX) at Abydos as a hawk on a column in of objects occurring in the Late Dynastic the shape of papyrus reed. It is always Period, known as ‘cippi’, Harpokrates possible – though not provable – that this acts as an amuletic force warding off imagery involving the god of kingship is dangerous creatures: the naked child-god behind the adoption of the shape of the stands on the backs of crocodiles and holds papyrus as a column in royal architecture, in his hands snakes, scorpions, lions and first attested in the Step Pyramid complex antelopes. From a papyrus con- of King Djoser (Dynasty III) at Saqqara. cerning the fortunes of Setne Khaemwase In the first century AD an instruction- we have a reference to a temple of Isis and document in Demotic (Papyrus Insinger) Harpokrates at (Koptos). Although Horus 71

are the parents of Harsomtus under the name of ‘Pa-neb-tawy’ or the ‘lord of the Two Lands’.

2 Horus and the king In Ancient Egypt the evolution of divine kingship enabled the monarch to claim that his status as ruler was approved of by the chief gods and that moreover he him- self was a deity and one of their number. Horus satisfied the first requirement by a successful legal action before the gods: the pharaoh therefore was in a supreme position, being seen as a manifestation of the ‘living Horus’ on the throne of Egypt. According to the Turin Canon the late Predynastic rulers of Egypt were ‘follow- ers of Horus’. By the time of the unifica- Horus the child – ‘Harpokrates’ – on the lap tion of Upper and Lower Egypt in 3000 BC of Isis. Bronze statuette, Bubastis, Dyn. XXVI, the ruler was Horus. On the palette in Kunsthistorisches Museum,Vienna. Cairo Museum, which shows King Narmer, the first ruler of a permanently united Egyptian state, the god Horus is pre-eminently the son of Isis, Harpokrates shown holding a rope that passes through becomes representative of the concept of the nose of the defeated northern rival, the divine child-god completing the union symbolising the king’s victory over the of the two chief deities in a temple. Delta. From this period onwards the Consequently at Nag’el Madamud just King’s name is introduced by the symbol north of Luxor a temple was built in of the Horus falcon, surmounting a honour of the god MONTU, his consort rectangular shape which has a base part Raettawy (see under Montu) and their son indicating a fortified wall. This was called Harpokrates. the ‘’ or ‘proclaimer’ of the king, whose name was written in the upper HARSOMTUS section of the rectangle. This version of Horus can be traced back to the Pyramid Texts as ‘Har-mau’ ‘Horus 3 Horus the son of ISIS: Harsiese the uniter’. The idea is the king as This form of Horus emphasises his legiti- upholder of the unification of NORTH and macy as the offspring of the union of Isis SOUTH Egypt. Since in temple dogma the and OSIRIS. (Consult the entries under these divine child of a god and goddess could deities for the events leading up to Horus’s be thought of as a manifestation of the conception.) In the Pyramid Texts Harsiese pharaoh, Harsomtus comes to be used performs the vital ‘opening the mouth’ cer- merely as ‘filling’ in a sacred triad. He is, emony on the dead king. This ritual, restor- e.g. the son of the elder Horus and ing faculties to the corpse for the Afterlife, HATHOR at Edfu temple. Similarly at the would have been carried out at the time of temple of Kom-Ombo the same couple burial by the successor-monarch (ϭHorus) 72 Horus upon his predecessor who has now become house from his father’s brother Seth. Osiris ruler of the Underworld. A clever – Horus then triumphs over his paternal if a typical – pictorial statement of this rite uncle. However, there is a problem in being performed by one pharaoh upon that our pharaonic sources indicate a another can be found on the wall of the sar- conflation of two myths: cophagus chamber in the tomb of OSIRIS CYCLE INDEPENDENT Tutankhamun (Dynasty XVIII). The new TRADITION king in this case was an elderly statesman Brothers ϭ Osiris and Brothers ϭ Horus and called Ay, unrelated to the young Seth Seth Tutankhamun and probably justifying his inheritance of the throne by depicting this The tradition of Horus and Seth as ceremony with its imagery of filial devo- brothers feuding for the throne reflects tion. In the role of dutiful son, Harsiese can the importance of these two cults. be compared with two forms of Horus that Normally Horus is in the ascendant, but imply the same idea of piety towards there is indisputable evidence that the Osiris. supporters of Seth were never suppressed. Royal propaganda refused to acknowl- HORUS ‘IUN-MUTEF’ edge that any conflict existed between the The translation of the Egyptian means two gods: in Dynasty I King Anedjib uses ‘pillar of his mother’ evocative of Horus’s the title ‘Nebwy’ or ‘two lords’ viewing success in regaining the throne of his Horus and Seth as a reconciled partner- father – the raison d’être of ISIS’s careful ship. Later on, in Dynasty XII, Senwosret upbringing of her son. At funeral cere- I has the sides of his throne carved with monies the eldest son of the deceased – or the figures of Horus and Seth facing each mortuary priest – dressed in a panther other across the symbol of ‘unity’ around skin, played the role of Horus Iun-mutef which they tie the heraldic plants of North burning incense and scattering purified and South Egypt. However, for the pur- water before the coffin. poses of stressing unequivocably the supremacy of Horus (by implication the HARENDOTES king himself), the Osirian tradition absorbs some of the vicious fighting This is the Greek version of the Egyptian between the two brothers into its own ‘Har-nedj-itef’ or ‘Horus the saviour of account of the struggle for Egypt – with his father’. This form of Horus refers to the necessity of Seth becoming the mur- the vindication of his claim to succeed derous brother of Osiris and hence the OSIRIS, rescuing his father’s former uncle of Horus. earthly domain from the usurper SETH. From the Shabaqo Stone in the British Museum, a copy, carved in Dynasty XXV, 4 The struggle for the throne of an original document from the Pyramid of Egypt Age, there is a concise statement of the When he reaches maturity Horus becomes dispute between Horus and Seth. The god ‘Harwer’ or ‘Haroeris’ – the elder Horus GEB is the judge and makes a preliminary now capable of seizing power. As early as decision to divide Egypt between the pro- the Old Kingdom it was envisaged that tagonists: Seth will be king of Upper Horus wrested the kingship of Egypt from Egypt and Horus will rule over Lower the god Seth: Horus takes his father’s Egypt, the border being the ‘Division of Horus 73 the Two Lands’, i.e. the apex of the Nile Eventually, after 80 years of conflict Delta at Memphis where Osiris is said to between the two gods, the tribunal awards have drowned. On reflection Geb revises Horus the throne of Egypt. this judgement awarding the whole Symbolism of Horus’s triumph over ‘inheritance’ of Egypt to Horus. It is Seth (e.g. the pharaoh cutting the throat of stressed that this result is amicably an oryx or spearing a turtle) permeates accepted by the disputants – the reed of many temple reliefs. It also lies behind the Seth and papyrus of Horus being attached gilded wooden statuette of Tutankhamun to the door of the god PTAH to symbolise standing on a papyrus boat, a lasso in one that they were pacified and united. hand and a harpoon in the other: the king Fortunately a fuller and more is in the act of spearing the hippopotamus scandalous description of the trial sur- Seth, superstitious reasons preventing vives in Papyrus Chester Beatty I written his effigy from being included in the in the reign of Ramesses V (Dynasty royal tomb. XX). The following is a brief synopsis of passages germane to Horus’s struggle 5 The both against Seth and for recognition as The injury inflicted by SETH on the eyes of rightful heir to the throne. Horus mentioned earlier is alluded to in The sun-god, in this tribunal, is not the Pyramid Texts where royal saliva is sympathetic to Horus’s case to be ruler of prescribed for its cure. The restored Egypt, dismissing him as a youngster eyes of Horus become, in singular form, with halitosis and preferring the older the symbol for a state of soundness or claimant Seth (see also BANEBDJEDET). perfection – the ‘udjat’ eye. Its iconogra- Horus pleads that he is being phy consists of a human eye with the defrauded of his lawful patrimony. There cosmetic line emanating from its corner, are now a series of episodes involving below which are the markings of a fal- Horus and Seth, each trying to outwit the con’s cheek. It became the protection sign other and win over the court (see Isis for par excellence. As an amulet the ‘udjat’ Seth’s unintentional admission of guilt was placed in mummy wrappings or worn and his homosexual assault on Horus). on a necklace. Apotropaically, in the In one contest, in which the two gods Middle Kingdom, it was painted on the as hippopotamuses intend to see if they sides of rectangular coffins. However, it is can remain submerged under water for only from the inscriptional evidence that three months, ISIS refuses to take the we get some idea of its diversity and opportunity of killing Seth with a har- complexity of meaning. For example, the poon. Horus, enraged, savagely attacks his eye of Horus can stand for: mother and escapes into the desert. Seth The strength of the monarch finds him and cuts out his eyes. HATHOR, Concept of kingship using gazelle’s milk, restores Horus’s eyes. Protection against Seth On another occasion Seth suggests a Royal purification agent race in boats of stone. Horus secretly Offerings at the festival of the waxing builds a vessel of pine covered with moon Wine. plaster to imitate stone. Seth’s boat, 36 m of solid stone, sinks and he turns himself There is even a reference to a cult of the into a hippopotamus. Horus is prevented ‘udjat’, since an official, Udjahorresne, from slaying Seth by the other gods. living during Cambyses’s invasion of 74 Horus

Horus the falcon and the ‘Eye of Horus’. Tomb of Pashedu, Deir el-Medina, Dyn. XX.

Egypt in 525 BC, numbers among his can be a dual form of the noun ‘akhet’, titles ‘priest of the Horus-eye’. ‘horizon’, there is a play on words when the king is said to be given power over the 6 Horus as sun-god ‘two horizons’ (i.e. east and west) as As a cosmic deity Horus is imagined as a Harakhti. Naturally, the Egyptians had to falcon whose wings are the sky and accept that technically their pharaoh, as whose right eye is the sun and left eye ‘son of RA’ the sun-god, could not achieve the moon. From the reign of King a total identification with this aspect of Den (Dynasty I), on an engraved ivory Horus, especially with the coalescence of comb, the hawk’s wings as an indepen- this form of Horus with the Heliopolitan dent entity convey the celestial imagery sun-god to become Ra-Harakhti. Thus while a hawk in a boat suggests the Senwosret I (Dynasty XII) was appointed journey of the sun-god himself. Textual ‘shepherd of this land’ by Harakhti. But in evidence from the Pyramid Era refers laudatory or propagandist inscriptions the to Horus as ‘lord of the sky’ or as a assimilation of the pharaoh to Harakhti is god ‘of the east’, i.e. region of sunrise. maintained, as for instance in the case of Three forms of Horus as a solar deity are the Sudanese King Piye (Dynasty XXV) particularly important. on his stela commemorating the conquest of Egypt. HARAKHTI This name means ‘Horus of the horizon’, HORUS OF BEHDET referring to the god rising in the east at The location of Behdet was in the marshy dawn to bathe in the ‘field of rushes’. The north-east Delta. It is not mentioned in the Pyramid Texts mention this aspect of the Pyramid Texts and the antiquity of the site god linked to the sovereign: the king is as a cult centre of Horus (in relation to said to be born on the eastern sky as Edfu, e.g.) cannot yet be ascertained. Harakhti. Also since the element ‘akhti’ The symbol of Horus of Behdet was the Horus 75 hawk-winged sun disk. It becomes a with his consort HATHOR and their child ubiquitous motif – e.g. in temple decora- Harsomtus watching a myriad of rituals tion of ceilings or gate lintels, or the upper performed in their honour. One group of frame of wall-reliefs and stelae. carvings represents a sacred drama, enacted by the priests, of Horus and the HARMACHIS spearing of SETH in the form of a hip- This name from ‘Har-em-akhet’ or popotamus. This animal is annihilated – ‘Horus in the horizon’ aptly regionalises symbolically eaten in fact, as a cake in the Horus as sun-god. Pharaonic inscriptions shape of a hippopotamus – flying in the of the New Kingdom reinterpreted the face of the tradition of the conflict where sphinx at Giza, originally representing Seth is spared, because no detraction from King Khafra guarding the approach to his Horus’s supremacy can be permitted on pyramid, as Harmachis looking towards this sacred site. the eastern horizon (see also HAURUN). Other forms of Horus had sanctuaries on sites now almost totally bereft of archaeo- 7 Localities with a Horus cult logical remains, e.g. Horus Khenty-Irty. The two most important sanctuaries in terms of historical or archaeological HORUS KHENTY-IRTY evidence belong to Horus of Nekhen and This falcon-god was worshipped in the Horus of Mesen. south-west Delta at Ausim (Greek Letopolis) called Khem in Ancient Egypt, HORUS OF NEKHEN since at least Dynasty IV. Probably assimilating an earlier falcon- Finally, there were a number of names deity ‘Nekheny’, Horus made this site under which Horus was worshipped south (modern Kom el-Ahmar) his own by the of the first cataract of the Nile in Nubia. Early Dynastic Period – an association lasting into the Graeco-Roman period HORUS OF BAKI when Nekhen became ‘Hierakonpolis’ or This is the ancient name for the fort of ‘Hawk-city’. The exquisite gold falcon- Quban, controlling vital gold supply head in Cairo Museum comes from a cult routes. statue that stood in the Old Kingdom temple. Later in Dynasty XIII an official, HORUS OF BUHEN Horemkauf, boasts how he was commis- sioned to bring a new cult image from the Impressive fortress at the second cataract royal residence near Memphis all the way of the Nile – the south temple to Horus was to Nekhen. built here during the reigns of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III (Dynasty XVIII). HORUS OF MESEN This is the ancient name (connected with HORUS OF MIAM the idea of Horus as a harpooner) for This is Aniba, the administrative centre of modern Edfu. The magnificently pre- Lower Nubia which had a temple to served temple of Horus dates from the Horus dating back to the Middle Ptolemaic period but Horus’s sanctuary Kingdom. Like all regional forms of has stood here in one form or another the hawk-god, Horus of Miam is not since at least the beginning of the restricted to his name-site: there are depic- Pyramid Age. The reliefs show Horus tions of him throughout Nubia – e.g. he 76 Hours stands opposite Seth raising his hands to to produce anarchic powers from itself to the crown of Ramesses II in Nefertari’s challenge the order of the cosmos created temple at Abu Simbel (Dynasty XIX). by Ra – they swallow and annihilate these as they emerge out of the snake. Hours Twelve Underworld-goddesses, The imagery of some of the epithets daughters of the sun-god RA, represented attached to each of these goddesses in human form, each with a five-pointed emphasises their destruction of the star above her head. They figure among enemies of the sun-god. For instance, the the deities on the walls of tombs in the First Hour cuts open the heads of oppo- Valley of the Kings which illustrate nents, the Seventh drives away a threaten- the religious compositions known as the ing snake and the Tenth decapitates rebels. Book of Gates and the Amduat. These goddesses personify the reality of time over chaotic forces that would, if given the chance, render the universe of The god who personifies the sun-god non-existent. Accordingly Ra the authority of a word of command. has given them the power of destiny so Hu came into being from a drop of that they control the life-spans of beings blood from the phallus of the sun-god RA. that they live among, i.e. all living When, according to the theology of creatures subject to the progress of the Pyramid Age, the king becomes a lone time. Possibly the ithyphallic form of star, his companion is Hu. The royal OSIRIS in the Book of Caverns on one authority is maintained in the Afterlife by wall of the sarcophagus hall in the tomb Hu acknowledging the king’s supremacy of Ramesses VI (Dynasty XX), who is and allowing the monarch to cross the called ‘he who conceals the Hours’, waters of his canal. symbolises a magical power desired by It is tempting to correlate Hu with the the monarch to halt the decay of time and power of the tongue of PTAH in the live in ageless vigour. Memphite creation legend, commanding Furthermore the Hours thwart the the universe into existence, at the instigation attempt of a hostile serpent called Hereret of Ptah’s heart (see SIA). I

Iah applied to Sin describing him as a ‘young bull...with strong horns’ (i.e. the tips of the crescent moon). This imagery would be Moon-god. totally compatible with the Egyptian con- In its earliest attestations the name cept of the pharaoh as an invincible bull refers to the moon as satellite of the earth. (see APIS). Iah then becomes conceptualised as a In the tomb of Thutmose III (Dynasty lunar deity, iconographically anthropo- XVIII), the pharaoh whose campaigns morphic but whose manifestations, from took him to the banks of the Euphrates the hieroglyphic evidence, can include the river, there is a scene where the king is crescent of the new moon, the ibis and the accompanied by his mother and three falcon – comparable to the other moon queens, including Sit-Iah ‘daughter of deities, THOTH and KHONSU. the moon-god’. Traces of his cult beyond It is probable that contact with Middle this period are sporadic. Eastern states in Palestine, Syria and Babylonia was instrumental in the devel- Ihy opment of Iah as a deity. Certainly the zenith of Iah’s popularity lay in the period following the Middle Kingdom when Young god personifying the immigration from the Levant was high and jubilation emanating from the sacred rattle. princes from Palestine, known as the The name of Ihy was interpreted by the Hyksos rulers, dominated Egypt. These Egyptians as ‘sistrum-player’ which was foreigners may well have looked for a the raison d’être of this god. The sistrum lunar deity analogous to the Akkadian was a cultic musical instrument used pri- moon-god Sin who had an important tem- marily (but not exclusively) in the worship ple at Harran in north Syria. Strangely, it is of HATHOR, mother of Ihy. At Dendera tem- within the Theban royal family eventually ple Ihy is the child of the union of Hathor responsible for the expulsion of these alien and HORUS and is depicted as a naked rulers that there is a definite inclination for young boy wearing the sidelock of youth names involving the moon-god Iah. The and with his finger to his mouth. He can daughter of Seqenenra Taa (Dynasty XVII) hold the sacred rattle and necklace (menat). is Iah-hotep (‘Iah is content’). The founder In the temple complex the birth house of Dynasty XVIII was called Iahmose or ‘mammisi’ was a sanctuary where the (‘Iah is born’) and the same element is in mystery of the conception and birth of the name of his wife Iahmose-Nefertari. the divine child Ihy was celebrated. His Most likely the Middle Eastern deity who name is rarely found outside the confines gave the stimulus to the adoption of Iah is of Dendera temple – e.g. occasionally in the influence behind the name Kamose, spells in the Coffin Texts or Book of the the brother of Iahmose, who began the Dead where he is called ‘lord of final thrust against the Hyksos domina- bread...in charge of beer’, a possible tion. Kamose (‘the bull is born’) might be reference to the celebrations at Dendera the Egyptian equivalent of the epithet deliberately requiring a state of intoxication 78 Imhotep on the part of the acolyte in order to 2 At Thebes where he was worshipped in communicate with Hathor. conjunction with Amenhotep-Son-of- Hapu he has a sanctuary on the Upper Imhotep Terrace of the temple at Deir el-Bahari and is represented in the temple at Deir Historical high courtier el-Medina. under King Djoser (Dynasty III) who 3 At Philae there is a chapel of Imhotep after deification becomes the embodi- immediately before the eastern pylon ment of scribal wisdom and, as ‘son of of the temple of ISIS. PTAH’, of supreme architectural and cre- An inscription, dated to the reign of ative skill. the Roman emperor Tiberius, in the Statue fragments attest that Imhotep temple of Ptah at Karnak, gives some was given the extreme privilege of his information on Imhotep’s priesthood. It name being carved alongside that of also emphasises Imhotep’s ability as a Djoser Netjerykhet himself. He held the healer, which had already produced offices of chief executive (vizier) and identification in the Greek mind with master sculptor – the Egyptian priest Asklepios, their own god of medicine. Manetho, who wrote in Greek a history of His connection with Ptah – whose son he Egypt in the third century BC, credits is considered to be by an Egyptian lady ‘Imouthes’(i.e. Imhotep) with the invention called Khreduankh – causes him to be of the technique of building with cut seen as an agent capable of renewing his stone. It is likely he was the architect who planned Egypt’s first large-scale stone monument: the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. After his death Imhotep is remem- bered in Middle and New Kingdom scribal compositions as the author of a book of instruction – a well-known genre of although the one credited to Imhotep has not survived. In the Late Period bronzes of Imhotep show him seated in scribal posture with a papyrus-roll open across his knees. This veneration for him leads to his deification – an extremely rare phenomenon in ancient Egypt (compare AMENHOTEP-SON-OF- HAPU, PETEESE and PIHOR, and PHARAOH sections titled ‘Living king ϭ deified through ritual’ and ‘Dead king ϭ deified as royal ancestors’). In the Ptolemaic period Imhotep as a god is found in cult centres and temples throughout Egypt: 1 Objects dedicated in his name are found in north Saqqara. Late Period bronze statuette, British Museum. Isis 79 father’s creative force in response to into the realm of the Hurrians and Hittites prayers. Taimhotep, a lady who died in the to the north. Her emblem, as on her gate reign of Cleopatra VII (Ptolemaic period), in Babylon, is the eight-pointed star and left a poignant stela (now in the British her eminence is emphasised by her Museum) on which is mentioned how she identification with the brightest planet and her husband, , Venus. Further, she is the daughter of the prayed to Imhotep for a son. In a vision or moon-god Sin. dream Imhotep requests the embellish- Ishtar of Nineveh accompanies the ment of his sanctuary in north Saqqara. Assyrian king into battle breaking the bows The high priest commissions a monument of his enemies, armed with her own quiver, for him involving ‘sculptors of the house bow and sword. Her animal, the lioness, of gold’. Imhotep responds by causing symbolises her martial prowess. Taimhotep to conceive a son who is It has been suggested that the born on his festival-day and named voluptuous side of Ishtar – her pleasure in ‘Imhotep-Pedibast’. love, her ‘beautiful figure’ and ‘sweet lips’ as the texts tell us – is an inheritance from the Sumerian Inanna. Certainly, when lamenting the death of her consort Benign hippopotamus-god- Tammuz (Sumerian Dumuzi), Ishtar dess first attested in the Pyramid Age descends into the Underworld, all sexual where the monarch calls her his mother activity ceased on earth. It would be and requests her to suckle him with her tempting to make an analogy between divine milk. In another royal connection Ishtar and ISIS or HATHOR but evidence Ipy is carved as an amuletic force on the from the Egyptian sources is lacking. back of a statue of a Theban ruler of The role of Ishtar as a goddess of heal- Dynasty XVII. Funerary papyri described ing traverses frontiers in the Middle East. Ipy as ‘Lady of magical protection’ and The best example comes from Egypt, pre- show her lighting a bowl of incense cones. served in one of the cuneiform letters from At Karnak to the west of the temple of the diplomatic archive discovered at el- KHONSU is the temple of a goddess called Amarna. Towards the end of his reign the Great Ipet who is none other than Ipy. Amenhotep III (Dynasty XVIII) suffered a In Theban theology this goddess rested on sickness or pain – if the mummy reburied this spot when she was pregnant and gave under his name by priests living generations birth to OSIRIS. later is definitely that of this king, then the agony of his severe dental abscesses must Ishtar An astral goddess (although have made him desperate for relief. To alle- possibly androgynous in origin) wor- viate Amenhotep’s illness his father-in-law shipped in Mesopotamia as ‘lady of battle’ Tushratta of sent – on loan only – a and as an embodiment of sexuality and statue of Ishtar of Nineveh to Egypt in the fertility. hope that the goddess’s curing-power might She is the Eastern Semitic counterpart operate through the divine effigy. of ASTARTE (who figures far more promi- Isis nently in Egyptian theology) and the Akkadian equivalent of the Sumerian goddess Inanna. One of the most important Goddess of immense magi- Assyrian goddesses, her fame extends cal power, symbolic mother of the king. 80 Isis

1 Sister–wife of OSIRIS In the genealogy developed by the priests of Heliopolis, Isis was one of the children of GEB and NUT. As the ‘sister whom Osiris loved on earth’ she devotedly assists him in the government of Egypt. In the earliest references to the goddess in the Pyramid Texts she appears to foresee his murder by SETH, and is described as sitting despairing, weeping for her brother. After his death she – and her sister NEPHTHYS – mourn inconsolably in the shape of kites. She wearilessly seeks, and finds his body after her brother Seth had thrown it into the Nile; she reassem- bles Osiris’s corpse after Seth had dis- membered it and scattered the parts throughout Egypt (see Osiris for details of the myth). In the Great Hymn to Osiris on Isis wearing throne symbol. Sarcophagus of Amenhotep II,Valley of the Kings, Dyn. XVIII. the stela of Amenemose (Dynasty XVIII) in the Louvre Museum, the goddess is envisaged as a kite protectively shading The goddess’s name is written in hiero- the god with her plumage, the breeze cre- glyphs with a sign that represents a throne, ated by her wings providing breath for indicating the crucial role that she plays in him. She then acts as a guard over the the transmission of the kingship of Egypt. god. This is iconographically shown in Isis is shown as queenly in poise some statues by the goddess standing in wearing on her head either the ‘throne’ human form, stretching forward her arms symbol or a crown of cow-horns and the from which grow wings to flank the fig- sun disk. An amulet known as the ‘’, ure of Osiris before her – a clear state- already regarded as sacred in the Pyramid ment of how the Egyptians saw Isis as an Age, becomes her special symbol from example of supreme devotion to her hus- the New Kingdom onwards. This consists band. It is through her magic that Osiris of a girdle with a loop or knot on the front makes her pregnant – the god now leaving and seems to be connected with the Egypt for his role as Underworld king. sign of life (the ‘ankh’), symbol of divine and royal power. In the Book of the Dead the tyet is described as being made of 2 Mother of HORUS red jasper, suggesting its secondary inter- It is in this aspect that the goddess was pretation as the blood of the goddess. regarded as the vital link between deities In her role as a mother she could manifest and royalty, since the king was the living herself as a sow – particularly the Horus on the throne of Egypt. In the ‘Great White Sow of Heliopolis’. She Pyramid Texts it is stated that the ruler also had a form as the Isis-cow which drinks divine milk from the breasts of his gave birth to the sacred bull of Memphis mother Isis. This is the imagery of the (see APIS). plethora of statuettes of Isis seated on a Isis 81

the assassination of his father. This close guarding of Horus from danger becomes a frequent point of reference in magical texts concerning cures for children’s ailments resulting from hazards like scorpion bites, or accidental scalds. Isis called ‘great of magic’ is invoked to come to the child’s assistance as if it were Horus himself. A spell against a burn, e.g. is recited over a concoction of human milk, gum and cat hairs, to be applied to the injured child: in it Isis, told that her son lies in the desert suffering from a burn with no water to cool him, gives the assur- ances that her saliva and urine (which she euphemistically calls ‘the Nile flood between my thighs’) possess the power to alleviate the pain.

3 Her tenacity and guile When her son reached maturity Isis had to fight hard in the law-court of the gods for the award of his rightful inheritance of the Egyptian throne. In this respect she reveals her true nature as ‘clever of Isis in cow-horn crown, holding ritual rattle tongue’ and perseverance against obsta- and necklace.Temple of Sety I, Abydos, cles put in her way by the most powerful Dyn. XIX. gods. The Broad Hall of GEB is the scene for the litigation between Horus and SETH, throne, suckling the young Horus who the proceedings of which are preserved sits on her lap. The goddess was thought on a papyrus dating to Dynasty XX. An to have given birth to her son at Khemmis underlying motif in the account is the in the Delta, reinforcing the connection relationship between Isis and Seth, her with the monarchy since the place-name brother. The blood-bond is, on one occa- in its ancient Egyptian form of ‘Akh-bity’ sion, strong enough to soften the god- means ‘papyrus thicket of the king of dess’s resolve on behalf of her son. When Lower Egypt’. Her role as a goddess pro- Isis has harpooned Seth, who is in the tecting royal births is found in the Middle form of a hippopotamus, he appeals to her Kingdom story (in the Papyrus Westcar) in the name of their consanguinity and foretelling a dynastic change: Isis receives she releases the barb from his flesh. into her arms each of the first three However, this is only a momentary lapse. kings of the Dynasty V as Ruddedet gives Two episodes will illustrate how Isis, by them birth. her guile and skill in magic, humiliates Isis intends to bring up Horus in Seth in front of the gods presiding at the secret so that he might eventually avenge tribunal. 82 Isis

ISIS CAUSES SETH TO CONDEMN a scorpion sting. The skeleton of the story HIMSELF is as follows: Seth, annoyed at the sympathy Isis gains Isis ‘more clever than a million gods’ among some of the gods, refuses to schemes to discover the secret name of continue with the lawsuit for the Egyptian Ra, knowledge of which conferred throne while the goddess is present in the limitless power. court. The tribunal adjourns to an island, Obtaining some saliva that Ra had with strict instructions being given to the dribbled from his mouth, she mixes it ferryman not to bring Isis across the with earth and fashions it in the shape water. Isis disguises herself as an old of a snake. woman wishing to take food to a boy Ra passes the snake and is bitten. looking after cattle on the island. He falls into a trembling agony, feverish Assuming the shape of a beautiful with the poison. lady she entices Seth away from the court. Isis offers to use her magic to She tells him how she is distressed alleviate the sun-god’s pain in exchange because, following her husband’s death, for his secret name. a stranger stole her son’s inheritance of Ra attempts to confuse the goddess his father’s cattle and evicted him. The by reciting a string of names, but Isis righteous anger expressed by Seth is remains obdurate, refusing to cure the immediately turned against him by the god until the true name is spoken to goddess who declares her identity. her. She even ‘turns the screw’ by caus- He meets with little sympathy from the ing the poison to burn into Ra more judging gods. stringently. The sun-god divulges the secret to ISIS PROVES SETH GUILTY OF Isis who becomes ‘the mistress of the SEXUAL ASSAULT gods who knows Ra by his own name’. During the dispute Seth makes a success- The most important element in the ful sexual attack on HORUS who takes story is Ra’s permission for Isis to pass the some of the god’s semen to his mother Isis knowledge of his mysterious name onto as witness of the event. Isis determines to her son Horus. Consequently the pharaoh, bring Seth into discredit with the gods. through the goddess’s ruthless determina- She obtains some of Horus’s semen and tion, as Horus, has a power no other god spreads it over the lettuces growing in can rival. Seth’s garden, which are then eaten by him. In front of the tribunal Horus asks 4 Her sanctuaries for his semen to be summoned from the Isis as a universal goddess is worshipped head of Seth who, to his chagrin, is left in many temples of which a handful are: looking ridiculous. At the end of the liti- gation it is Isis who brings Seth in fetters Behbeit el-Hagar ϭ ISEION This was a into the court, where he concedes defeat. major cult centre of Isis in the north-east In an episode involving the sun-god Delta on the Damietta of the RA, Isis’s craftiness has far-reaching impli- Nile. Today Isis’s temple’s granite slabs cations for the ruling pharaoh although, it and structures with fine reliefs of the must be admitted, the surviving account goddess lie in ruins. Although it is an early exists only as an elaborate spell to cure sanctuary of the goddess – mentioned in lusaas 83 the Pyramid Texts as providing the king written in the Demotic script (the with jars of water possessing the breath of Petubastis story-cycle) there occurs a frag- ‘Isis the Great’ – archaeology has not yet mentary saga, heavily influenced by discovered evidence of buildings prior to classical Greek literature, involving an Dynasty XXX. Egyptian, Pedikhons, and a Syrian, Queen Temple of Isis ‘mistress of the pyramid’ Serpot, who rules a land of women-war- at Giza In Dynasty XXI the chapel of one riors. The climax is a single combat of the three satellite pyramids of queens, between them, before which Serpot east of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. invokes Isis as ‘mistress of the land of Deir el-Shelwit Here, on the western women’. bank of Thebes south of Medinet Habu, a There is a dichotomy between a few small square temple was built under the Roman writers and the archaeological Roman occupation of Egypt. proof, of the spread of the goddess’s cult Temple of Sety I (Dynasty XIX) at throughout the Mediterranean world and Abydos There are three chapels and inner northern Europe. Isis is castigated by the apartments, for Isis, OSIRIS and HORUS, in satirist Juvenal AD (60–128) who mocks which there are the most exquisite and the exaggerated lengths to which her detailed representations of the goddess initiates go in celebrating the rituals. ever carved in pharaonic Egypt. However, the popularity of Isis as the Temple of Augustus at Dendera A centre of a mystery cult was phenomenal. small sanctuary built to celebrate the birth In this foreign development of Isis’s cult of Isis, a day associated with falls of rain. the goddess surpassed Osiris in impor- The presence of Isis on terrain sacred tance. Apuleius (born AD 125) has left a to HATHOR, the goddess from whom she valuable description of the stages of initi- borrowed the cow-horn crown, is not sur- ation for a new acolyte (but is discreetly prising since both were bound up with the silent over the culminating rite). Her sanc- concept of kingship. tuaries could be found on the Acropolis at Temple of Isis on the island of Philae Athens, on the island of Delos and at Now relocated on the neighbouring island Pompeii. Christianity had an uphill struggle of Agilqiya, this monument, with minor in eclipsing her worship. exceptions, belongs to the Graeco-Roman period. It has the distinction of outliving Iusaas A goddess of Heliopolis whose all other Egyptian temples as a place of name means ‘she comes who is great’. worship and priestly rituals. Wearing a scarab beetle on her head she can easily be seen as a counterpart to the ISIS ABROAD sun-god ATUM and like NEBETHETEPET (For the goddess’s connection with Byblos plays a crucial role as the feminine in Lebanon see OSIRIS.) In documents principle in the creation of the world. K

Khepri without undergoing the natural cycle of reproduction. The creator sun-god was therefore aptly manifest in the ‘scarabaeus Sun-god creator in the sacer’ or . form of a scarab beetle. Inscriptional evidence for Khepri The image of the scarab is almost synonymous with Ancient Egypt. The occurs in the pyramids of the Old choice of an insect to convey one of the Kingdom: a wish is expressed for the sun forms of the sun-god illustrates the keen to come into being in its name of Khepri. eye of the Egyptian in observing nature The priesthood of the sun-god combined and his imagination in trying to under- his different forms to assert that ATUM- stand the universe. Khepri is the sun-god Khepri arises on the primeval mound in at dawn on the eastern horizon. His the mansion of the BENU in Heliopolis. iconography is that of the scarab beetle Referring to the myth of the sun-god’s (of which there are numerous varieties in journey through the hours of night, Khepri Egypt) pushing the disk of the sun is said to raise his beauty into the body of upwards from the Underworld to journey NUT the sky-goddess. From noticing the across the sky. In their own local environ- somewhat slimy consistency of the scarab ment the Egyptians would have noticed beetle’s dirt-ball, the earth is made from the scarabs busily rolling balls of dirt the spittle coming from Khepri. across the ground and translated this From about the Middle Kingdom method of propulsion into an explanation representations of Khepri, as the ovoid of the sun’s circuit. However, the analogy scarab, regularly occur in three-dimensional did not stop there. Observing that out of form carved as the amuletic backing of the ball emerged a scarab, apparently seals. These scarabs, by implication, con- spontaneously, it was logical to see the nect the wearer with the sun-god. The insect as Khepri – ‘he who is coming into underside could be incised, not just with being’, i.e. self-created of his own accord the titles and name of an official, but also with good-luck designs, deities and the names of royalty used for their protec- tive power. Kings would use the undersides of large scarabs to commemorate specific events – Amenhotep III (Dynasty XVIII) has left a number of these news bulletins which inter alia give information on his prowess at lion hunting and celebrate the arrival of a Syrian princess into his harem. The scarab could form the bezel of a ring or be part of a necklace or Khepri as hawk-winged scarab. Pectoral bracelet – the tomb of Tutankhamun has from the Tomb of Tutankhamun, Dyn. XVIII, provided us with splendid examples of Cairo Museum. scarabs made of semi-precious stones like Khnum 85 lapis lazuli set in gold. One of the young indicates, is an earth-god and so can act king’s pectorals in particular stresses as the guardian of the royal tomb. The the dominance of Khepri the sun-god as king’s power over the winds is likened to well as being a masterpiece of the the grasp of Kherty’s hand. jeweller’s craft: in the centre of the design In the Old Kingdom Kherty is eminent is a scarab carved from chalcedony enough to figure as a partner of OSIRIS and combined with the wings and talons of his ram form leads naturally to a rela- the solar hawk, representing Khepri who, tionship with KHNUM. Kherty’s major cult as controller of celestial motion, is shown centre appears to have been at Letopolis, here pushing the boat of the moon-eye. north-west of Memphis. Paintings in funerary papyri show Khnum Khepri on a boat being lifted up by the god NUN, the primeval watery chaos. In some depictions Khepri coalesces with Ram-god, creator of life other conceptions of the sun-god to on the potter’s wheel. present the appearance of a ram-headed Khnum, called ‘high of plumes, sharp beetle. On a wall of the interior chamber of horns’, had primarily an association in the tomb of Petosiris (fourth century BC) with the Nile cataract. He controls the at Tuna el-Gebel, Khepri was carved quite annual inundation of the river from naturalistically in low relief, painted lapis the caverns of HAPY, the god personifying lazuli blue, wearing the ‘atef’ crown of the flood itself. His importance at OSIRIS. Less frequently Khepri could be Elephantine can be traced back to the Early shown as an anthropomorphic god to Dynastic Period although the archaeological the shoulders with a full scarab beetle for evidence is predominantly from the New a head. Bizarre as it might seem, the Kingdom and Graeco-Roman period. Egyptian artist has left some magnificent Rams sacred to Khnum have been discov- depictions of Khepri in this form – e.g. in ered on Elephantine Island, mummified, the tomb of Nefertari (Dynasty XIX) in adorned with gilded head-pieces and the . buried in stone sarcophagi. A stela was Although relatively few examples are carved on a dominant rock on Seheil extant in museums or in Egypt, it seems Island overlooking the first cataract which likely that the major temples each pos- emphasises the antiquity of Khnum’s cult at sessed a colossal hard-stone statue of Elephantine. The inscription itself is a Khepri. Raised on a plinth, the scarab Ptolemaic copy (or forgery) of an origi- symbolised architecturally the concept nal document dating to the reign of King that the temple was the site where the Djoser (Dynasty III). There has been a sun-god first emerged to begin the creation seven-year famine which Djoser is anxious of the cosmos. to halt. Khnum relents from preventing the Nile flood, on being assured of his temple’s Kherty renovation and regular income of Nubian wealth, and Egypt prospers again. A ram-god with a dual In his supervision over the cataract nature of hostility and protection. From region he is assisted by the goddesses SATIS Kherty the king has to be protected by and ANUKIS. He was also regarded in this no less a deity than RA. However, Kherty, aspect as lord of the cataract as the ‘Ba’ as his name which means ‘Lower One’ (soul) of the sun-god, hence his name 86 Khonsu becomes Khnum-RA. This strong connec- Esna. This temple which survives only in tion with the river lies behind one of his the form of one hypostyle hall surrounded titles ‘lord of the crocodiles’, intensified by by the modern conurbation is also sacred the presence of the goddess NEITH, mother to Khnum in a manifestation strongly of the crocodile-god SOBEK, as the most allied to the air-god SHU as war-champion important guest deity in his temple at Esna. of the sun-god. Important hymns provide His other major role is probably a manifesto of the priests’ belief in the derived from the procreative powers of supremacy of their god of the potter’s the ram and the life-supporting river wheel responsible for fashioning gods, which make him eminently suitable as a mankind, cattle, birds and fish. The dif- creator-god. The iconography represents ferent speeches of the human race are also Khnum seated before a potter’s wheel on his gift. His consort at Esna (Neith having which stands the being which he has a totally independent role in this temple) moulded into existence. The god normally is a minor lioness-goddess called Menhyt. performs this task at the behest of another On other sites Khnum is found as the deity, e.g. in the theogamies on Theban ‘Ba’ of GEB (at Herwer near modern temple walls (see AMUN) or in the story of el-Ashmunein in Middle Egypt) and the the Two Brothers where Khnum is ‘Ba’of OSIRIS at Shashotep (modern Shutb). instructed to fashion a wife for . It Khonsu seems that Khnum breathes in the life force to the created being, as mentioned in the where after the Moon-god especially divine birth of the first three kings of the prominent at Thebes. fifth-dynasty Khnum is said to put The name Khonsu, ‘wanderer’, reflects ‘health’ into each of their bodies. the path of the moon across the sky. Most It is the aspect of Khnum as ‘potter’ frequently shown human-headed, Khonsu that is especially venerated in his main as a sky-deity can have a hawk’s head. cult centre north of the first cataract at The god’s body is depicted in human form enveloped in a tightly fitting garment that does not permit his limbs to be differenti- ated. On his head is the crescent of the new moon in which the circle of the full moon rests. Around his neck is a loosely hanging necklace with the counterpoise on his back shoulders represented in profile. In his role of the divine child in a triad of deities he wears the ‘lock of youth’. As a moon-god his sacred animal is the baboon, considered a lunar creature by the Egyptians. The nature of Khonsu in the Pyramid Age is totally different from his character at Thebes in the New Kingdom. In the spell which aims to give the king power to hunt and eat certain deities, thereby absorbing Khnum moulding Ihy on potter’s wheel. their strength, Khonsu is a bloodthirsty god Mammisi of Nectanebo, Dendera, Dyn. XXX. who helps to catch and slay these victims. Khonsu 87

New Kingdom statue. Cairo Museum.

Khonsu as falcon-headed god. Papyrus of At Thebes Khonsu is regarded as the Ramesses IV, Dyn. XX, British Museum. child of the union of AMUN and MUT, appearing with them to complete the ‘nuclear family’ image in the temples on mayor of the city during the later part the eastern and western banks of the Nile. of Dynasty XXV and the subsequent However, at Karnak he is given his own traumatic Assyrian invasion. Montuemhat precinct to the south of the first court of boasts of the improvements carried out by the Great Temple of Amun. The pylon of him at Karnak temple: he renovates the Khonsu’s temple known as ‘Benent’ rep- sacred boats of: resented the starting point of the proces- sional avenue south to Luxor temple. In Khonsu-pa-khered Khonsu the child the New Year Festival at Thebes his statue The Three-Khonsu Khonsu in Thebes, was transported on his sacred boat, with Nefer-hotep a falcon’s head at the prow and stern, to Khonsu join his parents for the celebration at the Wen-Nekhu temple of Luxor (see Amun section titled Khonsu ‘Amun em ipet resyt ϭ Amun who is in Pa-ir-sekher his southern sanctuary’). (‘he who governs’ Khonsu has a number of forms at or possibly the Thebes found in inscriptions, for instance, ‘provider’) carved for Montuemhat the powerful 88 Khonsu

Khonsu is also regarded as controlling A request arrives from Bakhtan destiny in his form Khonsu ‘Heseb for help in curing Nefrura’s younger Ahau’, ‘Reckoner of the life-span’. sister, Bentresh. There are instances of Khonsu being The royal scribe Djeheutyemheb involved with other deities outside of goes to Bakhtan and diagnoses that Thebes. At the Graeco- Bentresh is possessed by a hostile of Kom-Ombo he is the child of the spirit. He informs the pharaoh. crocodile-god SOBEK and the goddess In Egypt Ramesses consults Khonsu HATHOR. Also an obscure link exists with in Thebes Nefer-hotep. OSIRIS at Edfu temple where Khonsu is Khonsu approaches the manifesta- called the ‘son of the leg’, i.e. part of that tion of himself specialising in healing god’s body preserved there. and driving out demons, who is An interesting account of two cults of Khonsu pa-ir-sekher. Khonsu at Thebes around the fourth This Khonsu’s statue is sent to century BC exists on a monument in the Bakhtan, a journey of seventeen months. Louvre Museum, originally from Karnak To the amazement of the Bakhtan (the ). The priests, authors of court, Khonsu cures Bentresh and the stela – in order to give it more author- the hostile spirit acknowledges his ity – perpetrate a pious forgery by ascrib- supremacy. ing the inscription to the reign of Ramesses The Prince of Bakhtan deliberately II (Dynasty XIX) about 800 years earlier. detains the statue for three years and The essentials of the document are as nine months until a dream of Khonsu follows: as a golden falcon flying away causes a crisis of conscience. Ramesses on a tour of inspection in Khonsu’s statue returns to Thebes Syria falls in love with the daughter of laden with treasure from the prince, the Prince of Bakhtan (ϭ Bactria?). which is handed over to Khonsu in The princess goes to Egypt as his Thebes Nefer-hotep – obviously the Nefrura. senior partner. M

Maat Dynasty XVIII that Maat is given the epithet ‘daughter of Ra’. In the Pyramid Texts Osiris is called ‘lord of Maat’ and Goddess personifying later frequently appears with her plinth all the elements of cosmic harmony as symbol as the base of the Underworld established by the creator-god at the throne on which he sits as judge of the beginning of time – including Truth, dead. Similarly the deities of the ENNEAD Justice and Moral Integrity. in their role of tribunal judges are Maat is shown as a lady wearing on her described as the ‘council of Maat’. head an ostrich feather which can stand on Pharaohs see Maat as their authority its own instead of a full depiction of the to govern and stress how their reigns goddess. The hieroglyphs of her name con- uphold the laws of the universe which she tain the symbol of a plinth representing the embodies. Amenhotep II (Dynasty XVIII) primeval mound upon which the creator- on his stela near the Sphinx at Giza claims god emerged (see ATUM and KHEPRI). that Maat was placed on his breast by AMUN The goddess’s origins can be traced himself. Numerous examples exist of the back at least as far as the Old Kingdom kings being called ‘beloved of Maat’, and where she is already an integral part of they are depicted in temples proffering the the existence of RA and OSIRIS. Maat effigy of the goddess in the palm of their stands behind the sun-god or, in the hands before major deities. The ruler who Middle Kingdom, is described as being at forcibly emphasises his adherence to Maat the nostrils of Ra. It is not, however, until on his monuments is Akhenaten (Dynasty XVIII) – the very pharaoh whom succeed- ing kings considered to have deviated immensely from her laws (see ATEN). Akhenaten ‘lives by Maat’ who can be seen next to him in a scene carved early in his reign in the tomb of his vizier Ramose at western Thebes. The funerary papyri of the New Kingdom and later give many representa- tions of Maat as the goddess crucial to the deceased reaching Paradise. In the Hall of the Two Truths (Maaty) the dead person’s heart is placed in a pair of scales to balance against the image of the goddess Maat sym- bolising the truthful assertions of a blame- less life given before the ASSESSOR GODS. A hymn to Osiris praises that god for setting Maat throughout the ‘Two Banks’, Tomb of Sety I, Dyn. XIX, Florence Museum. i.e. Egypt. In this aspect Maat is justice 90

The Goddess Matt at the Weighing of the heart Papyrus of Anhai, Dyn. XX, British Museum. administered by magistrates in the law decapitating his enemies in the courts. Possibly the title ‘priest of Maat’ Underworld. When Mafdet is described as relates to this part of an official’s career leaping at the necks of snakes, the imagery as in the case of the ‘royal secretary’ seems to suggest her form takes on that of Neseramun living under Osorkon II a mongoose. In one epithet Mafdet wears (Dynasty XXII). According to a classical braided locks, probably a reference to her source Egyptian law-officials wore an displaying the jointed bodies of the scorpi- effigy of Maat when giving judgements – ons which she has killed. the British Museum possesses a small Mahaf golden Maat on a gold chain that could be just such an ensign of authority. A small ruined temple to Maat is in The ferryman the southern sector of the precinct of who navigates the boat, provided by MONTU at Karnak. AKEN, along the winding waters of the Underworld. He also acts as a herald Mafdet announcing the arrival of the king into the presence of the sun-god RA. A panther-goddess Sun-god of Lower Nubia. whose ferocity prevails over snakes and Mandulis wears a crown of ram- scorpions. horns surmounted by high plumes, sun The scratch of her claws is lethal to disks and cobras. His name in Egyptian snakes, hence symbolically the barbs of the inscriptions is ‘Merwel’ but the Greek king’s harpoon become Mafdet’s claws for version, as found in the text known as 91 the ‘Vision of Mandulis’ is used almost also a manifestation of the primeval universally. waters – consequently being sometimes A chapel to Mandulis existed on the considered as the ‘mother of RA’. island of Philae off the eastern colonnade (Compare NEITH with whom Mehet-Weret approaching the temple of ISIS, a goddess identifies.) From vignettes in the New who seems to be regarded at least as his Kingdom funerary papyri the goddess is close companion. But it is in the temple of pictured as a cow lying on a reed mat with Kalabsha (now resited just above the High a sun disk between her horns. Dam at Aswan), architecturally impressive Meretseger but sparsely decorated, that the best evi- dence of the cult of Mandulis can be found. Constructed on the site of an earlier New Cobra- Kingdom sanctuary Kalabsha (ancient goddess dwelling on the mountain which Talmis) took its present form during the overlooks the Valley of the Kings in reign of the Roman emperor Augustus. western Thebes. Mandulis, as represented on its walls, does During the New Kingdom Meretseger not seem at all out of place among the other had great authority over the whole Theban members of the Egyptian pantheon placed necropolis-area. She can appear as a in his company. From the ‘Vision of coiled cobra or as a cobra with a female Mandulis’ we find the unforced equation of head and an arm projecting from the front this Nubian solar deity to Egyptian HORUS of the snake’s hood. An excellent carving (compare section titled ‘Horus as sun-god’ of Meretseger is on the sarcophagus lid of under that god) and to Greek Apollo. Ramesses III (Dynasty XX) now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Less frequently Meretseger is an equally poisonous, female-headed scorpion. Coiled serpent-god protecting the Her name translated is ‘she who loves boat in which the sun-god RA travels silence’, aptly descriptive of a deity through the Underworld. His coils envelope protecting secluded royal tombs. the kiosk on the deck of the boat. The ear- The necropolis workers living at their liest mention of the god occurs in a Coffin village, known now as Deir el-Medina, or Text of the Middle Kingdom. Detailed rep- in huts in the Valley of the Kings have left resentation of the ‘coiled one’ can be found stelae dedicated to Meretseger as a danger- in vignettes of funerary papyri and on the ous but merciful goddess. As a mark of walls of tombs in the Valley of the Kings, respect they often use her dwelling place to especially Sety I (Dynasty XIX) and describe her so she is addressed as the Ramesses VI (Dynasty XX). Mehet-Weret

Cow- goddess of the sky. Her name means ‘great flood’. In the Pyramid Era Mehet-Weret represents the waterway in the heavens, sailed upon by both the sun-god and the king. She is Stela of Paneb, Dyn. XIX, British Museum. 92 Meskhenet

‘Peak of the West’ (‘Dehenet Imentet’). Userkaf, Sahura and Neferirkara into the The inscriptions on these workmen’s stelae arms of ISIS, she approaches each child and reveal an admission of guilt normally assures it of kingship. Similarly she is the absent from Egyptian monuments (com- force of destiny that assigns to a scribe pro- pare PTAH section titled ‘Ptah god of crafts- motion among the administrators of Egypt. men’). Meretseger strikes down with A hymn in the temple of Esna refers blindness or venomous stings workers who to four ‘Meskhenets’ at the side of the commit crimes or make false oaths. creator-god KHNUM, whose purpose is to (Working conditions may have contributed repel evil by their incantations. to the deterioration of eyesight and snakes Mihos Lion-god, son of BASTET, called and scorpions were always a hazard.) But Miysis by the Greeks. Meretseger, who in her anger is a ‘raging His local roots were at Leontopolis lion’, will cure a person provided she is (modern Tell el-Muqdam) in nome 11 of convinced of his repentance – as in the case Lower Egypt in the eastern Delta. Osorkon of the draughtsman Neferabu (Dynasty III (Dynasty XXII) erected a temple to him XIX) who ends his stela with the words at Bubastis, the town sacred to the god’s ‘beware of the Peak of the West!’. mother. Mihos’s name is also found in The demise of Meretseger is approxi- amuletic papyri of the late New Kingdom. mately coeval with the abandonment of Thebes as the royal burial-ground under Min Dynasty XXI. Meskhenet Anthropomorphic god who is the supreme symbol of sexual procreativity.

Goddess presiding at childbirth. In her form of a tile terminating in a female head (called in the Book of the Dead ‘cubit-with-head’) she represents one of the bricks upon which women in Ancient Egypt took a squatting position to give birth. Her presence near the scales in the Hall of the Two Truths, where the dead person’s heart is examined and weighed to ascertain suitability for the Egyptian Paradise, is there to assist at a symbolic rebirth in the Afterlife. Her symbol of two loops at the top of a vertical stroke has been shown to be the bicornuate uterus of a heifer. In addition to ensuring the safe delivery of a child from the womb, Meskhenet takes a decision on its destiny at the time of birth. In the Papyrus Westcar the goddess helps at the birth of the future first three kings of Dynasty V. On the arrival of Temple of Karnak, Dyn. XII. Min 93

Also the protector-deity of the mining Dynasty I, provides an image of the god regions in the desert east of the Nile. as anthropomorphic and ithyphallic, indi- Min is shown standing with his legs cating that this was his form from the closely linked and his arm raised from the beginning of Egypt’s dynastic history. crook of the elbow. The impression from Sizeable fragments of three limestone two-dimensional representations of the colossal statues of Min, discovered at Qift god is that the arm is stretching out behind and now in the Ashmolean Museum, the body: this is the Egyptian artist avoid- could prove the point if they date to this ing any obscuring of the god’s body, and archaic period. It is definitely a ‘primi- statuary makes it quite clear that the god’s tive’ Min represented by these statues in arm is raised on his right side. The royal the cylindrical body and the style of the flagellum or whip rests semi-folded just wide beard. Incisings on the statues of above the god’s upright fingertips on the elephants and sawfish are of a genre raised arm – visually suggesting sexual found on small ivories and cylinder seals penetration, although inscriptions (e.g. in of the late Predynastic Era and even sup- Edfu temple) refer to the arm poised to port the archaeologically attested contact destroy the god’s enemies. Two high with civilisations flourishing in southern plumes rise from a low crown from which Iraq and Iran. But some scholars have hangs a ribbon. The most distinctive fea- doubted that the sculptures predate the ture of Min is his phallus projecting out at Old Kingdom. a right angle to his body, the symbol par excellence of the fertility god. On rare 1 Min and HORUS occasions Min can be depicted with a By the Middle Kingdom there was a deity lion’s head as in a chapel in the temple of Min-Horus combining attributes of the two KHONSU at Karnak. gods. In the beginning it seems that the link The emblem of Min, comprising two between the gods stemmed from their asso- horizontal tapering serrated cones emanat- ciations with foreign lands – Horus as the ing from a central disk, appears, prior to god of the eastern Delta route into Palestine his anthropomorphic iconography, on pre- and Min as god of the eastern desert. In an dynastic monuments such as standards on inscription in the Wadi Hammamat the boats painted on Naqada II pottery. Like pharaoh Mentuhotep IV (Dynasty XI) the name of the god himself – Menu in regards his mining expedition as being Egyptian – no explanation for it has under the protection of his ‘father’ Min. He met with a consensus of agreement. sets the stela where Min resides, in a moun- Suggestions for the symbol range from a tain which he calls ‘the godly nest of bolt of lightning or a circumcision instru- Horus’. Also in the adventures of Sinuhe ment to a fossil belemnite. This emblem (set in early Dynasty XII) we meet with on a standard on a macehead from ‘Min-Horus of the Hillcountries’. In the Hierakonpolis indicates that Min is Graeco-Roman era the ensign of the two counted among the allies of King Scorpion falcons indicating the district incorporating just prior to the lasting unification of the god’s temple at Koptos was interpreted Upper and Lower Egypt c.3000 BC. as Min-Horus. The Greek writer Plutarch Although there is a small element of (AD 40–120) states that Horus is called doubt due to the monument dating from Min, a name which he interprets as ‘that Dynasty V, the Palermo Stone, in men- which is seen’ – an explanation possibly tioning the making of a statue of Min in going back to an original Egyptian pun 94 Min involving the name of Min and the verb to tomb at Giza (Dynasty V) there is a ‘see’ used in the past tense. The goddess reference to a feast celebrating the god – ISIS is drawn into this amalgamation the ‘procession of Min’ – so his cult is becoming the ‘mother of Min’. In a charm obviously well established in terms of an against a fatal snake bite, Min is described organised priesthood. Relating to the god’s as the ‘son of the White Sow of Heliopolis’ temple at Qift are royal decrees from the which is a periphrasis for Isis. At other end of the Old Kingdom exempting cer- times, however, Isis plays the role of Min’s tain chapels (e.g. that built in the name of consort with Horus the child completing Queen , mother of King Pepi I, the divine family. Dynasty VI) from taxation.

2 Sacred sites 4 Min in the Middle Kingdom While figuring as a universal deity in Some of the finest representations of the many temple reliefs all over Egypt, Min is god in Egyptian art date to this era, such as thought to reside at two sites in particular. the limestone relief in the Petrie Museum at University College London from Qift ϭ QIFT (ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ‘GEBTU’, showing Senwosret I (Dynasty XII) per- ϭ GREEK ‘KOPTOS’) forming part of his jubilee celebrations South of modern Qena and north of before Min. In the private Coffin Texts, Luxor, this town lies at the western end the sexual prowess of the god is seen as of the Wadi Hammamat and was the a desirable quality to possess in the starting-point for gold and stone mining Afterlife, hence the deceased describes expeditions into the eastern desert. himself as the ‘woman-hunting’ Min. Although sculptured reliefs of the Middle Some interesting epithets of Min occur Kingdom date and New Kingdom temple in the hymn of Sobek-Iry (Dynasty XII) foundation deposits have been discovered in the Louvre Museum. The god ‘high of here, none of the extant temple ruins plumes’ is the ‘lord of awe’ who humbles predate the Graeco-Roman period. the proud. He possesses all the valued incense originating from equatorial Africa ϭ AKHMIM (ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ‘IPU’ OR by his domination of Nubia – compare the ϭ ‘KHENT-MIN’, GREEK ‘KHEMMIS’ OR Wadi Hammamat inscription of King ‘PANOPOLIS’) Mentuhotep IV (Dynasty XI) which This site, north of Qena, has in its vicinity calls him ‘ruler of the Iuntiu’, i.e. Nubian a rock-cut chapel decorated for the pharaoh bowmen. Ay (Dynasty XVIII) and Queen Teye by the High Priest of Min, Nakht-Min (a name 5 The New Kingdom festivals of Min meaning ‘Min is mighty’). The temple The pharaoh, in the celebratory rituals ruins to the west of the town are from the surrounding his coronation, participated Graeco-Roman period. The Greek equation in a major procession and feast in honour of Min with the god Pan led to the later of Min whose powers of fertility and name of the site as ‘Panopolis’. regeneration could be seen as symbolising the vigorous renewal of sovereignty. At 3 Min in the Pyramid Age Thebes this festival has been carved on the The god is likely to be the deity described second pylon of the Ramesseum, the mor- in the Pyramid spells as ‘he whose arm is tuary temple of Ramesses II (Dynasty raised in the east’. In a princess’s mastaba XIX) but a better preserved representation Mnevis 95 is found in the second court of the temple called Min-Amun-Kamutef. But one plant at Medinet Habu, built by Ramesses III becomes the special emblem of Min, (Dynasty XX): appearing on stands or chests near him, or carried by priests in his festivals, namely A splendid pageant leaves the royal the long lettuce (lactuca sativa). This plant palace with Ramesses III carried on a was supposed to assist the god – the ‘great palanquin. The king burns incense of love’ as he is called in a text from Edfu and pours sacred water before the temple – perform the sexual act untiringly. statue of the god. In the procession that The symbolism stems perhaps not so follows, the statue is carried on poles much from the vaguely phallic shape of on the shoulders of priests practically the lettuce as its milk-sap which could hidden by a vast ceremonial cloth, Two suggest the god’s semen. Min is shown priests also carry a cover to hide the with the lettuce as early as Dynasty VI on god’s statue from profane eyes when the tax-immunity decrees from Qift. Over the procession reaches the point on its 2,000 years later the Roman Emperor journey at which outsiders are allowed Augustus is shown offering lettuces to the to view the pomp. The hieroglyphs god in the temple of Kalabsha. contain hymns in honour of Min chanted by the chief . The Mnevis queen and the ‘White Bull’, probably Min’s sacred creature, take part in the Sacred bull of the sun-god ceremony at which statues of the of Heliopolis. ancestors of Ramesses III are carried Mnevis or ‘Mer-wer’ in Egyptian is an by priests, emphasising the continuity originally autonomous bull-god who of kingship and the coronation of the becomes subordinated to the cult of current pharaoh. Four sparrows are set RA-ATUM. The bull’s hide is totally black free into the sky to carry news of the and he wears the sun disk and Uraeus (see prospering sovereign and Min’s festi- WADJET) between his horns. At Heliopolis val to the points of the compass. Min’s the cow-goddess HESAT plays the role of role as an ancient agricultural deity the mother of Mnevis. ensuring the fecundity of the crops is The sacred bull is the earthly represen- brought to the fore by the ritual of tative of the sun-god, acting as a herald Ramesses cutting a sheath of emmer (‘wehemu’) for the divine communica- wheat. From a much later date in the tions to the priests of Heliopolis. Mnevis Ptolemaic temple of Edfu the idea of is also the intermediary for the interpreta- Min as the bringer of prolific harvests tion of oracles, a phenomenon of Egyptian lies behind the ritual of ‘driving the religion particularly in the later dynasties. calves’ over the threshing-floor. The bull of the Heliopolitan solar theology is one of the few state-recognised survivors 6 Min’s sacred lettuce among the gods during the reign of Bouquets of flowers were offered to Min, Akhenaten (Dynasty XVIII). That pharaoh, as to other deities, with the idea of stimu- as explicitly stated on his Boundary stelae, lating fruitfulness in the Nile Valley, e.g. prepared a burial place, as yet undiscov- the pharaoh Sety I (Dynasty XIX) offering ered, for the sacred bull in the eastern flowers to a deity who is a combined form cliffs behind his new capital at Akhetaten of Min and the ithyphallic form of AMUN, (see ATEN). 96 Montu

The temple of Heliopolis has all but Montu enters the pantheon under the disappeared but some burials of the expansionist rulers of Thebes c.2000 BC. A Mnevis-bull under the Ramesside kings number of the kings of Dynasty XI display have been discovered to its north-east at the local allegiance to this militaristic deity Arab el-Tawil. by bearing the name Montuhotep (‘Montu Although the names Mnevis-OSIRIS is content’). From now on Montu becomes and Mnevis-WENEN-NOFER (see Osiris, the embodiment of the conquering vitality section titled ‘Osiris in the Middle and of the pharaoh. The quasi-historical narra- New Kingdoms’) are attested, there is no tive of the fugitive court official, Sinuhe, close link between the bull of the solar set in Dynasty XII describes how, after cult of Heliopolis and the god of the slaying the champion of a Syrian tribe, he Underworld. According to the Greek raises his war cry and gives praise to writer Plutarch, Mnevis was runner-up to Montu. At the beginning of Dynasty XVIII APIS in being awarded official honours. a ceremonial axe from the burial equip- While not stated, this must be on account ment of Queen Iahhotep represents Montu of the importance of Memphis, residence as a fierce, winged and crested griffin, an of the Apis, as capital of Egypt. iconography clearly influenced by the same Syrian origin as that which inspired Montu Minoan artists at Knossos. Over the griffin the pharaoh Iahmose ‘beloved of Montu’ Falcon-headed war-god slays a foreigner. of the Theban district. Montu’s consorts are a Theban goddess Tjenenyet and the solar goddess Raettawy. In the later period Montu is associated with a sacred bull called whose distinguishing features are a white hide and black face. On the edge of the desert at Armant is the burial place of the bulls (known as the Bucheum) and of the cows who were the ‘mothers of Buchis’. On present archaeological evidence sacred bulls were buried from the reign of Nectanebo II (Dynasty XXX) to the time of the Roman emperor Diocletian. The cult centres of Montu in the Theban nome, from north to south, are at:

1 Medamud (ancient Medu) – north- east of modern Luxor – where a sanctuary founded by Senwosret III (Dynasty XII) was expanded during the New Kingdom and Graeco- Roman period. 2 Karnak, where a precinct for Montu ‘lord of Thebes’ lies north of the main Relief of Nebhepetra Montuhotep, Dyn. XI. temple of AMUN. Mut 97

3 Armant (Hermonthis), originally the major sanctuary from the early Middle Kingdom to the Graeco-Roman era. Luckily the ruins were drawn by early nineteenth-century visitors to Egypt before the temple was used as a quarry for stone for a sugar factory. 4 Tod, where during the Middle Kingdom the temple of Montu ‘lord of Djerit’ received from Amenemhat II (Dynasty XII) four ‘treasure chests’ of diplomatic gifts from Syria, the Aegean and Mesopotamia, now displayed in the museums of Cairo and . The scant ruins are of Graeco-Roman date.

Mut

Pre-eminent goddess of Thebes. Mut’s name is the same root as the Egyptian word for ‘mother’ and this reveals part of her character in that, like HATHOR or ISIS, she is one of the pharaoh’s symbolic mothers. Papyrus of Ramesses IV, Dyn. XX, British Her iconography is predominantly Museum. anthropomorphic: a slim lady in a linen dress, often brightly coloured blue or red in a pattern suggesting feathers, wearing a described as being present in Heliopolis head-dress in the shape of a vulture sur- with RA to split the ‘ished’tree. Dedications mounted by the combined crowns of to the goddess in the form of cat stat- Upper and Lower Egypt. She holds the uettes far outweigh those of Mut as the lily sceptre of the south. vulture. Mut can also appear as a lioness- At Thebes she supplants AMAUNET, the headed goddess. The lion is the main original consort of AMUN, to become manifestation of Mut, more important the god’s chief wife. She appears on all than the vulture symbolised on her the major temple walls enthroned beside crown or in the hieroglyph that writes Amun or as ‘mistress of the nine bows’ her name. Developing from the lion (ϭ symbolic enemies of Egypt), standing imagery is the association of Mut with by him as he proffers a pharaoh the scim- the cat, i.e. a vaguely leonine creature itar of war. She becomes adopted as the that can be approached and stroked. mother of KHONSU to complete the Theban Her name can be written with the sacred sacred triad. cat and naturally she coalesces with Her temple precinct was connected the northern cat-goddess to become to Amun’s sanctuary by a processional Mut-BASTET. In religious texts Mut is road through the series of pylons leading 98 Mut off to the south. The goddess’s sanctuary the sacred lake and subsidiary temples was called ‘Isheru’, the hieroglyphs for from the Dynasty XVIII survive but the which contain, not fortuitously, the symbol whole precinct is greatly ruined. It was in of a recumbent lion. In addition to this enclosure that Amenhotep III set up the main temple of the goddess where the numerous statues of Mut’s northern she was worshipped with Amun-Kamutef, counterpart, the lioness-goddess SAKHMET. N

Nebethetepet

A goddess of Heliopolis whose name ‘mistress of the offering’ conceals a more intellectual con- cept. Like IUSAAS she is a feminine counter- part to the male creative principle embodied in the sun-god ATUM. She is therefore trans- formed from merely a manifestation of HATHOR at Heliopolis into an integral ele- ment of the creator-god, namely the hand with which he grips his phallus prior to bringing the Egyptian cosmos into being.

Nefertum Tomb of Horemheb, Dyn. XVIII.

God of the primeval take leonine form. Similarly the feline god- lotus blossom. dess BASTET has a claim to being the god’s The name of Nefertum has the notion mother. As a child, he can be depicted of ‘perfection’. He is the blue lotus out of seated on a lotus blossom, reminiscent of which, according to one myth, the sun the young sun-god. rises. In a description in the Pyramid Texts Nefertum is the lotus blossom in front of Nehebu-Kau the nose of RA – the textual equivalent of courtiers holding the plant in their hand A and breathing in the scent of the lotus. In snake-god, ‘He who harnesses the spirits’, art Nefertum is normally anthropomor- whose invincibility is a source of protection phic wearing a head-dress in the shape both in Egypt and in the Underworld. of the lotus plant, embellished with two In the Pyramid Texts Nehebu-Kau is plumes and two necklace-counterpoises called ‘son of Selkis (see )’, the (Hathoric symbols of fertility). scorpion-goddess, emphasising his role Sometimes the god is portrayed lion- in later spells of restoring the health headed by association with leonine of victims of venomous bites. Protective mother goddesses: at Memphis Nefertum of royalty, Nehebu-Kau receives the is the son of the lioness-goddess SAKHMET monarch in the Afterlife and provides a and, although it is never explicitly stated, meal. A Middle Kingdom spell identifies he becomes by implication the child of the deceased with this snake-god who is the union of the goddess and PTAH. At not subject to any magic, nor vulnerable to Buto in the Delta Nefertum is the original fire and water. One source of his power son of WADJET, a cobra-goddess who can lies in the magical force of the number 100 Neith

‘seven’ in the ‘seven’ cobras which he swallowed. In a spell concerning the welfare of his heart in the Afterlife, the deceased requests other deities to give him a good recommendation to Nehebu-Kau. There is a hint in the Old Kingdom that Nehebu-Kau’s power needs to be controlled by the sun-god ATUM pressing a fingernail on the snake’s spine. Another tradition makes Nehebu-Kau the son of the earth-god GEB and the harvest-goddess RENENUTET. Consequently his chthonic and fecund power provides other deities with their vital strength. Neith

Creator-goddess of Sais. The goddess’s name has been derived from the word meaning ‘that which is’ which, while not totally convincing, suits Neith, on right, opposite Serket, at theogamy her procreative aspect and seems preferable of Amun and Queen Mutemwiya.Temple of to the etymology which would give it the Amenhotep III, Luxor, Dyn. XVIII. sense ‘the terrifying’. The goddess does have an undeniably bellicose side to her nature but it has been greatly overstated. into one unified state. The northern goddess Her most ancient symbol is the shield Neith, whose home town was Sais (modern with crossed arrows, which occurs in the Sa el-Hagar) in the western Delta, was one Early Dynastic Period, e.g. engraved and of the most prominent deities of the con- inlaid in blue paste on a gold amulet in the quered kingdom. It seems a plausible sug- shape of a cockroach from a first-dynasty gestion therefore that an early ruler of tomb at Naga ed-Deir. This warlike Dynasty I, Hor-Aha, founded a temple to emblem is reflected in her titles ‘mistress Neith at Sais, possessing the political of the bow ...ruler of arrows’. The hiero- foresight to placate the defeated northerners glyph writing her name comprises two by a gesture of goodwill towards their god- bows bound in a package. The warrior dess. In addition the red crown of Sais and imagery behind these symbols led to the the town’s palace-emblem of the ‘’ both Greek identification of Neith with Athene. became symbols of immense importance to Iconographically the goddess is repre- the monarchy of dynastic Egypt. By the Old sented as a lady wearing the red crown of Kingdom at the latest Neith was an integral Lower Egypt. The earliest occurrence of element of the state pantheon with a sanc- Neith in the northern crown comes from the tuary at Memphis. There, by analogy with sun temple of King Userkaf (Dynasty V) the host-deity PTAH ‘south of his wall’, she at Abu Ghurob. Historically it was the was termed as being ‘north of her wall’. Delta which in 3000 BC succumbed to In the Roman period inscriptions were the onslaught of the ruler of the south, carved on the columns of the temple of becoming incorporated with Upper Egypt Esna in Upper Egypt attempting to give Nekhbet 101

Neith, a goddess of impeccable northern relationship to Ra, late inscriptions in the credentials, southern origins. It is impor- Esna temple call the goddess mother of tant, however, because it stresses the domi- the serpent APOPHIS, arch-enemy of the nant feature of Neith which is her role as sun-god, ascribing his birth to the saliva creator. According to the Esna cosmology spat out by Neith into the primeval water. the goddess emerged from the primeval waters to create the world. She then follows Nekhbet the flow of the Nile northward to found Sais in company with the subsequently Vulture-goddess of Nekheb venerated lates-fish. There are much earlier (el-Kab), upholding the monarch’s sway references to Neith’s association with the in Upper Egypt. primordial floodwaters and to her as the Iconographically the goddess is often demiurge: Amenhotep II (Dynasty XVIII) shown with wings spread, grasping the in one inscription is the pharaoh ‘whose symbols of ‘eternity’ in her claws. She also being Neith moulded’; the papyrus appears as a vulture at rest in statuary or (Dynasty XX), giving the account of the as an element in one of the king’s titles struggle between HORUS and SETH, men- (see PHARAOH). With one wing outstretched tions Neith ‘who illuminated the first face’ before her she is a protective symbol and in the sixth century BC the goddess is carved above royal or ritual scenes. said to have invented birth. Nekhbet was favoured by the rulers of This abovementioned papyrus relates South Egypt whose capital was nearby on a brief passage that brings Neith into the the opposite bank of the Nile to el-Kab at struggle over the throne of Egypt as a Nekhen (Hierakonpolis, modern Kom wise counsellor: el-Ahmar). This adoption led to her being Banebdjedet urges Ra to seek the recognised as one of the ‘two Mighty advice of Neith the Great to solve the Ones’ – the tutelary goddesses of the eighty-year dispute. Neith’s advice, kingdoms united into one state c.3000 BC. which is the course eventually but not Important epithets for the understanding immediately adopted, is to award the of the nature of Nekhbet (‘she of Nekheb’) throne to Horus (also to compensate can be gleaned from the Pyramid Texts. The Seth by giving him the goddesses king’s mother is named as the ‘Great White Astarte and Anat as his wives). Cow who dwells in Nekheb’ and possesses Aggressively Neith threatens in her hanging breasts. Here the allusion is to letter to the court that if Horus does Nekhbet as a mother-goddess for which the not win she will grow angry and the cow-imagery is traditional in Egyptian sky will crash to the earth. thought (compare HATHOR and HESAT). In By the Pyramid Era Neith was regarded as the consort of Seth and the mother of SOBEK, in this role aptly described as ‘nurse of crocodiles’. This concept of Neith as divine mother extends to other deities, such as ISIS and even to the sun-god Ra himself. In this aspect she necessarily transforms into a sky-goddess with the title of the Great Cow. In Pectoral from Tomb of Tutankhamun, complete contradiction to her maternal Dyn. XVIII, Cairo Museum. 102 royal birth-scenes Nekhbet takes the role of Nephthys protective nurse to the monarch (e.g. in the mortuary temple of Sahura at Abusir). This led to a later identification with the Greek Funerary goddess with a goddess of childbirth Eileithyia. subordinate role in the OSIRIS myth. Also in the Pyramid Texts she is called Her own personality is lost behind the ‘White Crown’, symbolic headdress of the bland meaning of her name ‘neb-hut’ – king as ruler of Upper Egypt, and ‘mistress ‘lady of the mansion’, the hieroglyphs for of the Per-wer’, i.e. the shrine par excel- which she wears as a symbol on her head. lence of the southern kingdom. In this Nephthys is the daughter of GEB and NUT, respect she is the counterpart to WADJET of and nominally partners SETH to balance the north whom she occasionally accompa- the couple ISIS and Osiris. According to a nies on the front of the royal headdress. She late tradition Nephthys had a liaison with can even take the serpent-form of the north- Osiris, the result of the union being the ern goddess – normally to form an heraldic jackal-god ANUBIS. device around the sun disk or royal name. She occurs in the Old Kingdom along- Her cult-sanctuary at el-Kab is impres- side Isis as a protectress of the monarch: sive in size but devastated. The presence she escorts him into the darkness of the of a Middle Kingdom shrine is attested as Underworld and weeps violently for him are constructions from Dynasty XVIII but as her brother Osiris. Vague identifica- the present ruins date to the last native tions occur indicating that the goddess’s rulers of Egypt (Dynasties XXIX–XXX). original role might well have been of greater prominence than the shadowy Neper character of the Osirian legend. Nephthys God of grain. In a procession of deities carved in the reign of Sahura (Dynasty V) Neper’s body is dotted to represent grains of corn. The hieroglyphs that write his name similarly include the symbols of grain. He represents the prosperity of the barley and emmer wheat crops which the Egyptians cultivated. The pharaoh Amenemhat I (Dynasty XII) is described as responsible for the ripening of the grain and called ‘beloved of Neper’. Being dependent, however, on the silt brought by the Nile flood he is subordinated to HAPY who is proclaimed ‘lord of Neper’. His association with agriculture is as early as, if not predating, that aspect of OSIRIS. He also resembles that god inasmuch as the Coffin Texts characterise Neper as a god ‘living after he has died’. Accordingly the latter has no problem assimilating Neper into his own nature (see also RENENUTET). Tomb of Nefertari, Dyn. XIX. Nome gods 103 suckles the king who is described as her the tutelary goddesses into whose care the menstrual blood. Her funerary associa- mummified organs in their respective jars tion is evident when the king is urged are placed (see SONS OF HORUS). to escape from the tresses of Nephthys which symbolise the mummy wrappings, Nome gods Pharaonic Egypt was necessary but feared as an impediment. divided into forty-two administrative dis- The goddess can take the form of a kite tricts or nomes. Each nome had principal guarding the funerary bed of Osiris – an deities but on temple walls all the nomes inscription from the reign of Thutmose III are personified as androgynous figures (Dynasty XVIII) calls her ‘Nephthys of bearing the ensigns of their districts on the bed of life’. She is in the company of their heads.

Ensign No. Location Title Important Deities

The Nome gods of Lower (North) Egypt

1 Memphis area White Wall PTAH, SOKAR, APIS

2 South-west Delta Foreleg HORUS of Letopolis, apex KHERTY

3 North-west Delta West HATHOR flanking Libyan Desert

4 South-west Delta Southern NEITH Shield

5 Sais area to coast Northern Neith Shield

6 Mid-Delta to coast Mountain RA Bull

(continued) 104 Nome gods

Continued

Ensign No. Location Title Important Deities

7 North-west Delta Western HA along Harpoon branch of Nile

8 East Delta along Eastern ATUM of Tell Wadi Tummilat Harpoon el-Maskhuta to Bitter Lakes

9 Mid-Delta to Andjety OSIRIS of Djedu Busiris ANDJETY

10 South-east Delta Black Ox Horus around Athribis

11 Mid-east Delta Ox-count SHU, TEFNUT and MIHOS of Leontopolis

12 North-east Delta Calf and Cow ONURIS from Sebennytos to coast

13 South-east Delta Prospering Atum, IUSAAS and apex Sceptre MNEVIS of Heliopolis

14 East Frontier coastal Foremost of SETH Delta to Pelusium the East beyond modern Port Said

15 North-east Delta along Ibis THOTH of northern Damietta branch of Hermopolis Nile Nome gods 105

Continued

Ensign No. Location Title Important Deities

16 North-east Delta from Fish BANEBDJEDET Mendes to coast HATMEHYT

17 North-east Delta coast Behdet Horus of Behdet to West of Damietta branch of Nile

18 North-east Delta Prince BASTET around Bubastis of the South

19 North-east Delta Prince WADJET of Nabesha incorporating Tanis of the North

20 North-east Delta above Plumed SOPEDU Wadi Tummilat Falcon of Sopedu

The Nome gods of Upper (South) Egypt

1 First cataract of Ta-Sety ISIS at Philae the Nile to Gebel KHNUM, SATIS and el-Silsila ANUKIS of Elephantine, Haroeris (see Horus, section titled ‘The struggle for the throne of Egypt’) and SOBEK of Kom-Ombo 2 Edfu area Throne of Horus of Mesen Horus

3 Hierakonoplis to Shrine Horus of Nekhen north of Esna NEKHBET of El-Kab Khnum, Menhyt (see Khnum), Neith of Esna

(continued) 106 Nome gods

Continued

Ensign No. Location Title Important Deities

4 Armant and the Sceptre MONTU, AMUN, MUT, Theban area KHONSU, Sobek of Sumenu

5 Area around Koptos Two Falcons MIN of Koptos, Seth of Nubet

6 Most of the east to Crocodile Hathor west bend of the Nile

7 The Nile’s return to Sistrum BAT its south-north direction around Nag Hammadi 8 Area around Great Land Khentamentiu (see Abydos Osiris), Osiris, Onuris

9 Area around Min Min Akhmim

10 North of Qaw Cobra Seth of Tjebu, el-Kebir Mihos

11 Smallest Nome in Seth Seth Egypt on west Bank of Nile around Deir Rifa

12 East Bank of Nile Viper ANTI around Deir Mount el-Gebrawi opposite Asyut

13 West Bank of Nile Upper WEPWAWET, ANUBIS around Asyut Sycamore and Viper Nome gods 107

Continued

Ensign No. Location Title Important Deities

14 Vicinity of Meir and Lower A god taming two el-Qusiya (Cusae) Sycamore serpentine-necked and Viper quadrupeds, Hathor 15 Area around Hare Thoth of Hermopolis el-Ashmunein and OGDOAD, ATEN Antinoopolis, incorporating el-Amarna

16 From Beni Hasan Oryx to north of el-Minya

17 Vicinity of Samalut Jackal Anubis

18 East Bank of Nile Anti Anti including el-Hiba to opposite el-Lahun

19 West Bank of Nile Two Sceptres Seth, Mormyrus from el-Bahnasa fish (Oxyrhynchus) to Biba

20 West Bank of Nile Southern HERYSHAF around Beni Suef Sycamore

21 West Bank of Nile Northern Khnum, God-king around el-Wasta Sycamore Sneferu (Dynasty IV) and Meidum

22 Northernmost Knife Hathor Nome of Upper Egypt stretching along east Desert from Atfih towards Memphis 108 Nome gods

R. NILE MEMPHIS

Knife LAKE KARUN Northern Sycamore MAIDUM

Southern Sycamore HERAKLEOPOLIS

R e d S e a Anti Two Sceptres

Jackal

Oryx

BENI HASAN

HERMOPOLIS Hare

Lower Sycamore and Viper

Upper Sycamore and Viper ASYUT Viper Mount Seth

Cobra

Min AKHMIM

Great Land Crocodile DENDERA ABYDOS

KOPTOS Sistrum Two Falcons

Sceptre THEBES ARMANT

Shrine ESNA

HIERAKONPOLIS Throne of Horus EDFU

Two Falcons - Nome/Administrative District

Ta-Sety SCALE

0 100km ELEPHANTINE 0 50km ASWAN

The Nomes of Upper Egypt. Nun 109

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

LLUS RU DAMIETTA ROSETTA E BU LAK Behdet LAKE MANZALA

ALEXANDRIA BUTO LAKE IDKU KHEMMIS Mountain Bull Western Harpoon

Ibis LAKE MARIUT ISEUM Calf and Cow Foremost of the East SAÏS MENDES Fish TANIS SEBENNYTOS Northern Shield BUSIRIS Prince of the North

R. NILE KANTIR

West Andjety Ox-count LEONTOPOLIS Plumed Falcon of Sopedu PITHOM BUBASTIS Southern Shield WADI TUMILAT Prince of the South Eastern Harpoon ATHRIBIS

Black Ox Prospering Sceptre

Foreleg HELIOPOLIS LETOPOLIS

GIZA

White Wall - Nome/Administrative District White Wall ABUSIR MEMPHIS SAQQARA SCALE

0 1020304050km RED SEA

The Nomes of Lower Egypt.

Nun the primordial waters, enhancing their God personifying the practical function for priestly ablutions. primeval waters out of which emerged At Heliopolis when the Sudanese ruler the creator-god. Piye (Dynasty XXV) visited the temple Nun is called ‘father of the gods’ he claimed that like the sun-god Ra he but this emphasises only his unrivalled washed his face in the ‘river of Nun’. antiquity as an element of the Egyptian cosmos – in terms of importance he is superseded by the creator sun-god (see ATUM). Nun has a continual existence unaf- fected by mythology or events and plays no part in religious rituals, possessing no tem- ples or priesthood. When represented on tomb walls or in religious papyri, Nun’s arms thrust the sun at the twelfth hour of the night into the horizon to begin its jour- ney in the day-boat (see KHEPRI and RA). The sacred lakes in temple enclosures Nun raising solar boat. Papyrus of Anhai, (e.g. at Karnak or Dendera) symbolised Dyn. XX, British Museum. 110 Nut

Although not subject to cosmic order recognition of the growing popularity of (MAAT), the watery chaos of Nun is that cult. These children of Nut are OSIRIS, considered beneficial. Amenhotep III ISIS, SETH and NEPHTHYS. In Egyptian (Dynasty XVIII) constructed a pool at iconography the sexual union between Thebes in which the god Nun (i.e. the Nut and Geb is occasionally symbolised lake-water) delighted. Sometimes the god by the phallus of the prone earth-god can represent the Nile, as in the hymn to reaching towards the goddess’s body. KHNUM where it is said that mankind and However, Nut is more frequently depicted gods feast on the fishes of Nun. arching her body over the god, separated For Nun and Naunet, his consort, as from him by the air-god Shu – either creator divinities see OGDOAD. standing between the couple supporting the body of the goddess on his upraised Nut hands, or sailing between them in a boat. Although in Egyptian art it appears as if The sky-goddess. Nut is one of Nut is stretching her body with her arms the personifications of the cosmic ele- and legs tightly together, the actual con- ments evolved by the priests of Heliopolis cept of the sky-goddess is that her fingers to explain the physical universe. She is and her toes touch the four cardinal the daughter of SHU the air-god and points. This visualisation of Nut and Geb TEFNUT. The Egyptians visualised her as apart is the probable source of the Greek mainly as human in form but she can interpretation of the myth of the difficult appear as the Sky Cow. In an early text birth of the children of the sky-goddess, Nut is imagined as a bee wielding great as related by Plutarch (AD 40–120). power over the gods. Fearing an usurpation of his own power the sun-god (‘’) utters a curse on 1 Nut and GEB the pregnant sky-goddess (‘Rhea’) to pre- The sky-goddess united with her brother vent her giving birth on any day of the the earth-god and as a result gave birth then 360-day year. Only by the moon- to the gods and goddesses really belong- god’s (‘Hermes’) winning sufficient light ing to the Osirian cycle of myth, incorpo- for five extra days (the epagomenal days rated into the Heliopolitan pantheon in of the Egyptian calender considered as gods’ birthdays) was Nut able to go into labour and produce her children (with the addition in this version of the god HORUS, called ‘Apollo’).

Nut as sky-cow. Tomb of Sety I, Dyn. XIX. Greenfield Papyrus, Dyn. XXI, British Museum. Nut 111

Probably from the Egyptian idea that barge along the elongated body of Nut Nut swallowed the solar god and his until evening, when the disk of the sun entourage to give birth to them again at approaches the mouth of the sky-goddess dawn, the notion arose that the earth-god to be swallowed. The sun travels with the Geb became angry with the sky-goddess stars through the hours of night safely for eating her ‘children’. In the cenotaph inside the goddess’s body. At dawn, of Sety I at Abydos Nut’s swallowing of the red glow of which was called the celestial deities is likened to a sow ‘daughter of Nut’, the disk of the sun-god devouring her piglets. is seen emerging from the vulva of the sky-goddess. How Nut maintains the 2 Nut and the sun-god equilibrium of the sun’s course is not Naturally there is a close relationship investigated by the Egyptians but attrib- between the sky-goddess and the sun, the uted to inexplicable factors summed up by most important feature of the sky. For her epithet ‘shetayit’ or ‘mysterious one’. example, Nut is the ‘lady of Heliopolis’ (centre of sun worship) dwelling there in 3 Nut as a funerary deity the ‘lower mansion’. Although the priests In the Pyramid Texts the goddess is said interpreted the goddess as the creator to enfold the king in her ‘soul’ or to sun-god’s grandchild it is clear that the underlying concept of Nut is that of the ‘great who gives birth to the gods’. She keeps the forces of chaos from breaking through the sky and engulfing the world – her body is in fact the firma- ment dividing the cosmos, created by the sun-god and governed according to his vision of order (personified as MAAT), from the amorphous, primeval matter merging with which would be tantamount to non-existence. The thunder which must have seemed ominous as it echoed around the sky was euphemistically explained away as the laughter of Nut. The Egyptians painted the royal tombs at Thebes with two discrepant myths about the disappearance of the sun at night. The tomb walls in the Valley of the Kings show the sun’s journey through the Underworld. The ceilings, imitating the sky, reflect the belief that the sun-god was swallowed by Nut. A detailed repre- sentation can be found on the ceiling of the sarcophagus chamber of Ramesses VI (Dynasty XX). Nut is painted twice on a colossal scale, depicting the day and Coffin of Soter, second century AD, British the night sky. The sun-god sails in his Museum. 112 Nut uncover her arms for the monarch. These Egypt for his old age and so that he can are euphemisms for the pharaoh being receive proper burial rites – including lying placed in his coffin and buried. Death as in his coffin in a mummy-case of gold termination of life is denied and the king and lapis lazuli, with Nut the ‘mistress of is with Nut living in the sky. Elsewhere all’ above him for eternity. Nut as a deco- in the texts this sentiment is more fully ration on coffins survives into the Roman expressed: the king goes to Nut in her period. The coffin of the archon Soter name of ‘sarcophagus’ embraces her in (second century AD) from Thebes has a her name of ‘coffin’ and rests in her name painting of Nut in a red linen dress on of ‘tomb’. Royal stone sarcophagi some- which is a pattern representing the stars: times show Nut carved in high relief with the only innovations to traditional iconog- stars, in whose number is the soul of the raphy are in Nut’s Hellenistic hairstyle, king, at her head (e.g. the interior of the jewellery and dress, and in the addition of anthropoid lid on the sarcophagus used the signs of the classical zodiac down for the burial of King Psusennes (Dynasty either side of the goddess’s body. XXI) at Tanis). This notion extends to the In vignettes in the Book of the Dead and courtiers, as we can see from the image of Theban tomb paintings, the sky-goddess is Nut decorating the interior of mummy – shown in the Underworld as a lady rising cases symbolising the deceased protected from the trunk of the sycamore tree. In this by and linked with the sky-goddess. aspect she is the magical force behind Apposite to this aspect of Nut is the spell enabling the deceased to breathe a poignant passage in the Middle Kingdom air and never be without water in the narrative of the fortunes of Sinuhe, Afterlife. Nut pours water and proffers a palace official who spent his life in self- loaves indicating that there will always be imposed exile in the states of the Levant: an abundance of life-sustaining produce in the pharaoh invites him by letter to return to the Underworld. O

Ogdoad Eight deities representing the Onuris primeval chaos before the emergence of the sun-god. Warrior- and hunter-god The four gods are in the form of frog- originating at This near Abydos. headed beings and the four goddesses are Onuris is depicted as a bearded, snake-headed. When the sun-god is spear-carrying man wearing a crown of depicted coming into existence these four high plumes. In Egyptian his name is divinities can appear as baboons greeting and means ‘the one who leads the rising sun. The Ogdoad are: back the distant one’ – referring to the myth where the god journeyed to the God Goddess Nature south to bring back into Egypt the lioness who became his consort, Mekhit. In some NUN Naunet Primordial statues of the god the spear is replaced by HEH Hauhet Infinity Kauket Darkness a rope suggesting the capture of the lioness-goddess. AMUN AMAUNET Hidden power Onuris as a warrior-god with a crown of plumes easily assimilates to MONTU and The concept of these deities in pairs SOPEDU and also has a strong rapport with reveals the Egyptian view of the creative HORUS whose claims he vociferously principle as parthenogenetic. The Ogdoad advocates in the tribunal judging the are envisualised as entities of the cosmic rights to the Egyptian throne. His icono- matter in primeval time sufficiently force- graphy as ‘lord of the lance’ therefore ful to produce out of themselves the suggests a further link with Horus by mound upon which lay the egg containing symbolising the spearing of the god SETH. the young sun-god. The catalyst for this This extends to interpreting Onuris as the event is the permeating creative power hunter and slayer of all enemies of Egypt of the serpent Kem-Atef (see Amun in and the sun-god RA. section titled ‘Amun as creator’). The most frequent identification is Their main cult centre, where the sun- made between Onuris and the god SHU, god came into being on the ‘island of with the epithet of ‘son of Ra’. This flames’, was ‘Khemnu’ or ‘Eight town’ – amalgamation is enhanced by the fact still surviving in the modern name of this that the lioness Mekhit can symbolise site in Middle Egypt as el-Ashmunein. the vengeful Eye of the sun-god in the The supremacy of the god THOTH at tradition of other daughters of Ra such Khemnu led to the place being called as SAKHMET and especially TEFNUT. It is Thoth-town – in Greek, Hermopolis. The the latter goddess who, according to Ogdoad also had a sanctuary in the Small Heliopolitan mythology, was brought Temple (dating from Dynasty XVIII – back to Egypt by her brother–husband Roman period) at Medinet Habu in western Shu from Nubia where she was a raging Thebes. desert lioness. 114 Orion

Orion

The constella- tion of Orion, called in ancient Egypt, has close affinities with OSIRIS and the king. Orion is imagined as being swallowed at dawn by the Underworld but having the power to emerge again into the sky. In the Afterlife the king reaches the firmament as Orion who bestows on him the authority of a ‘great force’. In the identification of Osiris with Orion the underlying motif appears to be the link that the constellation has with the star (SOTHIS): the renewal of life via the Nile flood, announced by the of the Dog-star, emphasises the connection between Osiris and vegeta- tion. Another concomitant factor between the two gods is that Orion has freedom of movement striding across the sky in the same way that Osiris, according to the Coffin Texts, will not be hindered in his rule over Upper Egypt. In the New Kingdom funerary texts Onuris with his lioness-consort Mekhit. Late Period bronze dyad, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orion reaches his land by rowing towards Budapest. the stars, an image which is depicted on the ceilings of some tombs and temples (e.g. Esna) by a god in the pharaonic Onuris’s main cult centre in the later White Crown standing on a papyriform period of Egyptian civilisation was in the boat sailing across the sky. Delta at Samannud (ancient Sebennytos) where a temple to Onuris-Shu dated Osiris from the reign of Nectanebo II (Dynasty XXX). God whose domain is In the Ptolemaic period Onuris is seen Duat – the Egyptian Underworld. by Greeks as the Egyptian equivalent of He is depicted in human form, as in their war-god Ares. This martial deity his earliest appearance yet attested on continues into the Roman era where, for a block from the reign of King Djedkara example, the emperor Tiberius can be Izezi (Dynasty V) which shows the head seen carved on one of the column-shafts and part of the upper torso of a god, above before the hypostyle hall of the temple of whom are the hieroglyphic symbols of Kom-Ombo wearing the plumed crown of Osiris’s name. In fuller iconography his Onuris. body is portrayed as wrapped in mummy Osiris 115

corn-god bearing a Berber name which means the ‘old one’. His name has been split up by others to mean ‘he who occu- pies the throne’ or ‘he who copulates with ISIS’. It has even been suggested that behind Osiris there lurks an original mother-goddess whose name might be interpreted as ‘she who belongs to the womb’. However, the most likely expla- nation seems to be the simplest: Osiris’s name is connected with the word ‘woser’ which would give the sense of the ‘Mighty One’.

1 Osiris in the Pyramid Age

HIS ANCESTRY A genealogy for Osiris exists in the texts carved on the walls of the pyramids from the end of Dynasty V onwards. This pedi- gree is clearly an attempt by the priests of the sun-god at Heliopolis to incorporate Osiris into their theology, cleverly subor- dinating him by two generations to their Osiris ‘Foremost of the Westerners’.Tomb own principal deity: of Sety I, Dyn. XIX. ATUM SHU TEFNUT bandages from which his arms emerge to GEB NUT Osiris Isis SETH NEPHTHYS THOTH hold the sceptres of kingship – the crook and the flail. His distinctive crown known Osiris is described as the first born of the as the ‘Atef’ comprises a ram’s horns at children of Geb and Nut, his birthplace its base, and a tall conical centrepiece being given as Rosetau, located in the sporting a plume on each side. western Desert necropolis near Memphis, The writing of his name has attracted but really signifying the entrance into the much attention from scholars hoping to Underworld. discover an etymology behind it which could lead to conclusive proof concerning Osiris’s origins. Few theories have met HIS EPITHETS with even a quorum of acceptance and The titles used to describe Osiris are of most remain unconvincing. From the great value in trying to elucidate his symbols of the eye and the throne, Osiris nature although for the most part they has been given ‘roots’ both east and west seem to be drawn to Osiris from other of the Nile, e.g. in Mesopotamia as the deities. This is an indication of Osiris’s god Marduk, and in Libya as an alleged success story as a universal god, capable 116 Osiris of absorbing different divinities into his god of the Underworld being associated own personality: with the stench and corruption of death. In fact in one passage in the Foremost of the westerners (in Egyptian, Pyramid Texts it is explicitly stated Khentamentiu) This stresses the role of that in the next life the king will not Osiris as a protective funerary god. To tread on the ‘putrefaction of Osiris’. the west of the Nile is where the major- ‘He who has been put in the box’, ity of cemeteries are situated, the region namely the sarcophagus. This has where the sun set and descended into been taken as a reference to the way in Duat. Originally this title applied to which Osiris was murdered by Seth in an ancient jackal-god worshipped at the legend given by the Greek writer Abydos. Plutarch (AD 40–120). It seems highly He who dwells in Andjet This title unlikely that this is the case and the refers to Osiris’s centre of Busiris in the epithet is best regarded as extending Delta. Possibly the local god of this site, Osiris’s protection to the container of ANDJETY, was the source of the regalia in the corpse. the iconography of Osiris. ‘Put in the shrine’, i.e. the funerary He who dwells in Heliopolis By this shrines in the shape of ancient sanctu- description Osiris is related to the resident aries which were placed over the deities of the ancient centre of sun worship. sarcophagus as in the case of the four He who dwells in Orion with a season gilded shrines of Tutankhamun. in the sky and a season on earth This ‘Put in the cloth’, a reference to the formula connects Osiris with an important linen bandages which wrap up the constellation of stars and signifies an embalmed body for greater security. astral element in him which contrasts with the predominant chthonic aspect. The The emphasis from the above titles is imagery is probably attracted from one of on Osiris’s association with funerary the manifestations of the king in the procedures and burial, applicable only to Afterlife where he becomes a Star-god. the king to begin with but gradually He who dwells in the house of SERKET extending to the population in general. This brings Osiris into close proximity with the scorpion-goddess who has an OSIRIS AND THE KING important role in the mortuary cult as In the Old Kingdom there is a nexus of protectress of human remains. paramount importance between the He who is in the God’s tent Here the monarchy and Osiris. Once the ruler of booth where the embalmers turned the Egypt has died he becomes Osiris, King corpse into a mummified body is placed of Duat. The divinity of the pharaoh under Osiris’s protection. It seems proba- embodied in the form of HORUS on the ble that this role is borrowed from ANUBIS. throne of Egypt takes on a new manifes- The descriptions that accompany this title tation as monarch in the Underworld. however are particularly suitable for Osiris: Consequently, in the texts decorating the ‘He who is in the fumigation’, i.e. the burial chamber of the last pyramid built incense-burning that accompanied in Dynasty V and those constructed in the embalming ritual. This idea of an Dynasty VI, the dead king is sometimes aromatic atmosphere counteracts the referred to under the god’s name, e.g. fear which the Egyptians had of the Osiris Unas or Osiris Pepi. The belief that Osiris 117 the king has undergone a transformation instrument of vengeance, the god Horus) of state and has not on death reached more comprehensible. Certainly Osiris’s a termination of existence is further rule over Egypt is a shadowy concept in emphasised by graphic phraseology, such comparison to his full-blooded govern- as asserting that he has departed ‘alive’ to ment in the Underworld. We are told that sit on the throne of Osiris to give orders to the ‘Great One’, i.e. Osiris, fell on his the ‘living’. side (meaning that he collapsed dead In contrast to this correspondence through some outside agency) on the between the king and Osiris, sentiments river bank of Nedyet, identifiable as his can be found that reveal an apprehension cult centre Abydos. From the Middle or dread of the ruler of the Underworld. Kingdom Coffin Texts it is explicitly This reflects the underlying desire of the stated that it was Seth who attacked monarch to be with the sun-god in the sky Osiris in the land of Gahesty and killed as a visible phenomenon rather than to him on the bank of Nedyet. At no time in dwell in the unknown and forbidding ancient Egypt is Osiris’s murder at the regions of Duat. Therefore one text hands of Seth pictorially represented. informs us that RA will not hand over the The god seems to be resisting the state of king to Osiris while another orders the death for following an epithet, ‘he who is Underworld-god to leave the royal tomb in Nedyet’, are phrases asserting his free of his ‘evil’. Even later when the tute- detestation of sleep (ϭ dying coma) and lary role of Osiris extends beyond the his hatred of inertness (ϭ ‘rigor mor- sphere of royalty in the Middle Kingdom, tis’). There is also an allusion to the there exist in the Coffin Texts descrip- death of the god by drowning near tions of Osiris that conjure up a picture of Memphis. But this connection of Osiris a threatening demon. He glories in with water is only developed in the later slaughter, utters malignant spells against period when it seems to be regarded as a a dead person and runs a ‘mafia’ consist- blessed fate to drown in the Nile (see ing of executioners called ‘Osiris’s PETEESE and PIHOR). The devotion of his butcherers painful of fingers’ or ‘Osiris’s elder sister, the goddess Isis, which was fishermen’. However, this darker aspect to become a highly developed motif in of Osiris is never allowed to outweigh his later accounts, is already present in this role as the personification of dead early documentation of the myth. After a kingship. search she finds Osiris on the river bank and ‘gathers up his flesh’ which seeing THE FATE OF OSIRIS that no mention is made of any dismem- The inscriptions of the Pyramid Age berment of Osiris’s body, found in the provide an extremely ‘spartan’ account later tradition, probably means that she of the legend of Osiris’s rule over used her magical powers to arrest his Predynastic Egypt being brought to an decomposition. Onto the scene now come end by his assassination at the hands of the gods Thoth and Horus, who are to be his brother Seth. This earthly life attrib- found flanking the pharaoh in a number uted to the god seems an interpolation of royal rituals and are therefore into the Osiris cycle of myth, possibly admirably suited to assist the potential to make his paternal relationship to monarch of Duat. They raise Osiris up the Egyptian king (who of course is onto his side – a vivification reminiscent the manifestation of Osiris’s son and of the two gods pouring symbols of life 118 Osiris over a pharaoh depicted on numerous the New Kingdom we meet more and temple walls. The embalmment ritual is more with Osiris as ‘Lord of the Living’ then carried out at Abydos. To all intents (in this case clearly emphasising the and purposes Osiris now disappears from Egyptian denial of death since it refers to the struggle for the throne of Egypt – if those in the Underworld), ‘Lord of the ever he were originally involved in this Universe’ and ‘Ruler of Eternity’. legend – and becomes the Underworld Possibly the best illustration for the ruler, leaving his sister Isis and the gods diversification of Osiris can be found in Horus and Seth as the main protagonists. Spell 142 of the Book of the Dead which is concerned with listing all the numerous 2 Osiris in the Middle and names of the god that the deceased New Kingdoms might require journeying through the Although they were originally addressed Underworld. Here is a short selection to Anubis, in Dynasty IV, Osiris gradually describing Osiris as: finds a place in the funerary formulae Presiding over Rosetau, i.e. the necropolis found in courtiers’ tombs intended to as entrance to the Underworld ensure that food offerings, linen and Dwelling in the Lake of Buto alabaster jars of perfume will never be Dwelling in Memphis lacking for the deceased. This is done, The Ape however, only through the intervention of Lord of the Two Plumes the king. So Osiris had become a major The Terrible. protective deity of private burials by Dynasty V; it is not until long funerary Other titles mention Osiris Hemag texts become ‘de rigueur’ on the coffins connected with the palace at Sais and of officials in Dynasties XI–XII and elab- Osiris SEPA connected with Heliopolis. By orate papyri full of vignettes and spells now the former royal prerogative of iden- accompany the courtier’s body into the tification with Osiris ruler of Duat has tomb from Dynasty XVIII onwards that extended to officials so that their antici- the relationship between non-royal per- pation of unassailable status in the sonages and Osiris is documented in Afterlife is expressed by the prefix detail, and the different aspects of the ‘Osiris’ before their own names. god’s character are richly portrayed. OSIRIS WENEN-NOFER THE PLETHORA OF HIS EPITHETS There is every likelihood that the name A conscious attempt to reflect the univer- Wenen-nofer was borrowed from another sality of Osiris lies behind the massive divinity as a euphemism disguising the increase during this period in geographi- decay of death. It can be translated as ‘he cally descriptive and characterising titles. who is everlastingly in a fine condition’, For example, from the Middle Kingdom or it could also be taken to mean the texts Osiris is the ‘Great Inert’ or mum- ‘beneficent being’. This epithet can stand mified corpse brought together by Isis on its own and from it derives the Greek and Nephthys – presumably from the dis- equivalent of Onnophris. membered and scattered limbs following his murder. In his primary ‘raison d’être’ OSIRIS AND RA he is ‘king of those who are not’, namely It was the fear of the possible gloom the dead envisaged as ‘living’ in Duat. In pervading the Underworld that led the Osiris 119

Egyptians to interpret Osiris as a and the New Kingdom. The essence of counterpart of the sun-god below the this ritual originally seems to encourage earth. Consequently, Duat would always divine intervention to bring bumper have a share of the solar light; Osiris and harvests by the hoofs of calves threshing Ra embrace one another to become grain on a floor sacred to the god. the ‘Twin Souls’. In an effort to link the However, it was also interpreted as an sun-deity to the Osirian legend, Ra super- apotropaic rite where the calves, by vises Osiris’s funeral ceremonies. But trampling over the threshing-floor, now there is a rivalry between the two gods, symbolising the grave of Osiris, hid reflected in a short ‘public’ dialogue. the spot from the god’s enemies. Osiris stresses his own importance as an The most explicit evidence of Osiris agricultural deity in producing emmer as a grain-god is archaeological. In the wheat and barley which keep alive both New Kingdom wooden frames were gods and men. Ra’s only and rather placed in the burial chambers of some petulant reply is that the crops exist royal and private tombs which supported regardless of Osiris. Osiris gives the final an ‘Osiris-bed’. This was a model of the self-righteous rejoinder: Ra’s government god filled with silt in which barley had allows the unjust to thrive but in the been planted. The sproutinsig of the crop – domain of Osiris there are fearless mes- 8 in. high in an example from the tomb of sengers (‘weputiu’) to bring the hearts Yuya and Tuyu (the parents of Queen of the wicked to the Hall of Judgement Tiye, Dynasty XVIII) in the Valley of the for punishment. These agents respect no Kings – implied the resurrection of status so that both gods and humans are the deceased in the Underworld. The same under Osiris’s rule. symbolism is found in one of the late New Kingdom Mythological Papyri: OSIRIS AS A GOD OF GRAIN Osiris ‘he who is in the grain of the gods’ The role of the god in agriculture is lies ithyphallic on desert sand, indicating not a primal one but comes naturally his coming to life in the barren terrain through the association of the motif of which surrounds his tomb. The motif of the murdered Osiris emerging as the the continual cycle of crops and vegeta- dominant divine force in the Underworld, tion accounts for the colour of the pig- and the cycle of seedtime and harvest. ments used to represent the flesh of The earliest unambiguous reference to Osiris. His face and hands can be painted Osiris and corn occurs in the Dramatic black to evoke the Nile silt from which Ramesseum Papyrus (Dynasty XII), a the barley and emmer emerge; his flesh commentary on, or directory of, ritual. can appear green, the colour of living Osiris is the barley which is ‘beaten’ (i.e. vegetation and of the fields before the threshed) by the god Seth in the form of summer ripening of the crop. the ass. This is described as ‘hacking the god to pieces’. From other Middle OSIRIS AND THE IMPREGNATION OF ISIS Kingdom texts the identification of Osiris In the pharaonic period the span of years with barley extends to analogising spent by Osiris in Egypt is a prelude to the him with the grain-god NEPER. There is a universal acclamation of his son and heir ceremony found in the Ptolemaic period Horus as the rightful possessor of the called ‘driving the calves’ for which throne. The effectual transmission of the antecedents can be found in Dynasty V kingship from the murdered father via 120 Osiris

Osiris impregnating Isis as a kite. Temple of Sety I, Abydos, Dyn. XIX. the usurper-brother to the son is due to the composition tiles in the subterranean magic and guile of Isis, sister–wife of galleries of the Step Pyramid of King Osiris. Through her skills the dead god is Djoser (Dynasty III) at Saqqara. Its shape sufficiently vivified to have sexual inter- of a pillar with flattened terminals and course with her, leading to the conception four horizontal bars across its upper of his avenging son Horus. The vital length has given rise to numerous sugges- moments of this congress are carved on tions as to what it is. Could it be an altar the walls of the chapel of SOKAR in the from a Predynastic sanctuary? Or perhaps temple of Sety I at Abydos. In one relief four altars in a row but depicted as if Osiris prone on a couch manually superimposed, which would be quite in stimulates his phallus into an erection. On keeping with spatial rendering in the opposite wall Osiris’s phallus (now Egyptian art? What about it being a maliciously hacked out of the relief ) pen- bundle of reeds or an artist’s easel such as etrates Isis who hovers over it in the form the vizier Mereruka is shown using on the of a kite. The goddess in human form inner entrance wall of his tomb near the stands at one end of the couch and hawk- pyramid of Teti (Dynasty VI), his king? Is headed Horus the future son of this union it perhaps an attempt to visualise a con- at the other, completing the divine triad cept like the four regions of the Egyptian and leaving by this anticipatory carving world – Libya, Nubia, Middle East and no doubt as to the success of Osiris’s last Mediterranean? It is better to admit that at deed on earth. From Karnak there is an present its origins escape us and accept inscription calling Osiris ‘he who resides the later interpretations of the symbol that in the house of conception’ alluding to the the Egyptians themselves evolved when it impregnation of Isis and the consequent became inseparable from the cult of birth of Horus. Osiris. Thus in the Book of the Dead a ‘’ column of gold is called the ver- OSIRIS AND THE ‘DJED’ COLUMN tebrae or backbone of Osiris. There are Before the earliest attestation of Osiris’s papyri and temple reliefs showing the cult the symbol that was to become so ‘Djed’ surmounted by the Atef crown of representative of the god already existed. Osiris and given human arms which hold It is called the ‘Djed’ column, a word the . The ceremony of meaning ‘stability’ or ‘continuity of ‘erecting the “Djed” column’ is men- power’. It is found e.g. surmounting the tioned as part of the enthronement ritual design of a granary in one of the of Senwosret I in Dynasty XII. The ‘Djed’ decorations formed from blue glazed is involved in an important ritual of the Osiris 121

Museum belonging to a high-flying treasury official, Ikhernofret, who lived in the Middle Kingdom during the reign of Senwosret III (Dynasty XII), gives a tantalising glimpse of the ‘mysteries’ of the god. Ikhernofret was commissioned by the king to use Nubian gold to dec- orate the cult statue of Osiris at Abydos. He also constructed a new shrine for the god’s statue carved out of cedarwood and inlaid with gold, silver, bronze and lapis lazuli. For the ceremonial drama the shrine and statue were conveyed on sym- bolic boats carried on the shoulders of the priests. Ikhernofret supervised the construction of the god’s special boat known as the ‘’. The ritual of Isis and the Pharaoh raise the Djed-pillar. the festival is now all too succinctly Temple of Sety I, Abydos, Dyn. XIX. summarised.

Procession of WEPWAWET This ancient royal jubilee celebrations. In this festival, canine deity acts as the herald of the god which in essence is a ceremony of rejuve- Osiris, leading the ceremonial journey. nation for the pharaoh, a gilded wooden At this point Ikhernofret fends off an ‘Djed’ column is raised from a prone to attack on the ‘neshmet’ made by priests upright position by the king. It receives symbolising the god’s enemies. a ritual performed in a similar way to that Great procession Ikhernofret con- for a divine cult-image, being presented ducts this focal point of the drama where with offerings and linen garments. the shrine of Osiris is carried on another An official called Kheruef has depicted in boat in a funeral procession from his tem- his tomb at Thebes the ceremony of ple south-west to his symbolic tomb in erecting the ‘Djed’ carried out by King a region called ‘Peqer’. On this journey a Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye in major struggle against the god’s foes is Dynasty XVIII. The location is Memphis enacted in which Ikhernofret protects or Busiris (see Sanctuaries of Osiris). Osiris (called here Wenen-nofer). The By incorporating the ‘Djed’ into the shore of Nedyet is given as the name of monarch’s jubilee the strength and stability this place where Osiris’s opponents are of the kingship of Egypt becomes analo- destroyed – the very place where the god gous to the unshakeable jurisdiction of was slain by Seth. Osiris in Duat. Return to the temple Ikhernofret organises the shrine and the ceremonial FESTIVAL OF OSIRIS boats to be taken onto the ‘great barque’ Pharaonic sources are discreet to the point and conveyed along the Nile back to the of irritation in unveiling the legend of Abydos temple into which the god is Osiris as it was enacted in an annual carried on his ‘neshmet’ for the final festival drama at Abydos. A stela in Berlin purification ceremonies. 122 Osiris

OSIRIS AS JUDGE OF THE DEAD a New Kingdom cattle overseer, enumer- The ruler of the Underworld naturally ates a number of sites where the god is ensures that the souls of the wicked and worshipped: undesirable do not survive to live in his The Delta sites of Letopolis and realm. In the law court Osiris sits on his Heliopolis throne holding his sceptres and super- Memphis the capital city vises the judgement of the new applicants Herakleopolis, where the local priests for Paradise. Osiris in a judicial connec- boasted that the tomb of Osiris tion, or at least as upholder of honesty was situated, over which grew a sacred and upright behaviour, is attested as early tree Hermopolis. as the Pyramid Era where he is called ‘lord of MAAT’, i.e. the goddess of cosmic However, one site in Lower Egypt and order who later represents the ‘truth’ one in the south possessed the sanctuaries against which all answers must be most sacred to Osiris. weighed in the aggressive interrogation of DJEDU the dead person’s soul. This association with the goddess persists into the Late The hieroglyphs spelling out the name of Period, for at Karnak Temple inscriptions this town in the mid-Delta employ two from an edifice built by the Divine ‘Djed’ columns. It is often referred to by its Adoratrice of Amun, Ankhnesneferibra Greek name Busiris (first coined in the (Dynasty XXVI), in honour of Osiris fifth century BC by Herodotus) which Pameres describes the god as ‘united with derives from the Egyptian ‘house of Osiris’ Maat’. In the iconography of Osiris, the meaning the god’s temple. The antiquity of god is frequently depicted standing on the sanctuary to Osiris is proved by its men- a plinth tapering to a point which is the tion in invocation formulae found in Old hieroglyph for ‘truth’. In royal tombs Kingdom courtiers’ tombs. a mummiform figure, on whom rests a IBDJU pole-beam balance, stands before Osiris. Nearby is a boat in which a monkey bran- This most important and oldest sanctuary dishes a stick above a pig – a reference to of the god, situated in Upper Egypt not too the humiliation of Seth, brother–enemy of far from modern Balliana, was rendered Osiris. His nine agents will cut to pieces into Greek as Abydos, the name by which the souls of criminals. In private funerary the site is generally known today. Part of papyri the examination of souls and the impressive mudbrick enclosure of the condemnation of those unfit for an Old Kingdom temple of Osiris is still Afterlife in Duat is carried out on Osiris’s extant. The tomb of Osiris was claimed to behalf by the ASSESSOR GODS. Successful be near the desert escarpment – a reinter- candidates are then led into the presence of pretation by the Ancient Egyptians of enthroned Osiris by his son Horus. a monument constructed in the First Dynasty for King . However, the 3 Sanctuaries of Osiris fullest evidence of the hallowed regard for Since the god is universal his cult places the Osiris cult at Abydos comes from the are not confined to any one district of magnificent temple reliefs carved during Egypt but are found throughout the Nile the reign of Sety I of Dynasty XIX. Every Valley. The hymn to Osiris inscribed on stage of the daily ritual is portrayed as the Louvre Museum stela of Amenemose, being performed by the king – unbolting Osiris 123 the god’s shrine, dressing and adorning the linked to the festival of the goddess on the statue inside and providing incense and neighbouring island whose statue was nourishment. Behind this temple a monu- brought to the Abaton (the holiest sanctu- ment known as the Osireion contained ary equatable with the Egyptian term a symbolic tomb of the god and a repre- ‘pure mound’) on Biga to be with Osiris. sentation in architecture of the primeval This sacred spot, however, cannot now mound. Abydos had a distinctive emblem, be located and there are very few remains implying Osiris, of a pole supporting of even the latest archaeologically attested a ‘beehive’ shape from which emanate two sanctuary on the island built under tall plumes. This symbol became inter- Ptolemy XII. preted as a reliquary containing the god’s head – an attempt to explain each of the 4 The Osiris legend according to cult centres of Osiris as a place where Plutarch a part of his corpse was buried. The Greek writer Plutarch (AD 40–120) has left an account of the god’s myth in OSIRIS AT KARNAK a work ‘Peri Isidos kai Osiridos’ – With the exception of the temple of PTAH i.e. ‘About Isis and Osiris’. In it there are all the area north of the temple of Amun perceptive comments on the god, heavily up to the boundary wall of the precinct intermingled with Greek speculations. was sacred to Osiris. He is particularly in evidence in the chapels built by the OSIRIS’S DEATH Divine Adoratrices of Amun, e.g. under Osiris and Isis ruled over an Egypt which Amenirdis and Shepenwapet in Dynasty he personally had transformed from XXV Osiris is mentioned in conjunction barbarism into a civilised state of growing with the sacred persea tree and in the next crops, observing laws and honouring the dynasty under Ankhnesneferibra a chapel gods. This was done by the power of his was dedicated to Osiris Wenen-nofer songs, not weapons, leading to an identi- ‘lord of offerings’. fication in the Greek mind with their god On a monument of Ptolemy XII which Dionysus. His brother Seth (called also bears the cartouche of Tiberius Osiris Typhon by Plutarch) enlisted the help of is called ‘he of Koptos who presides over seventy-two conspirators and a Nubian the mansion of gold’, placing the god in queen to overthrow Osiris. An exquisite the role of protector of the gold mined chest was made exactly to Osiris’s in the eastern Desert and brought to the measurements and light-heartedly offered Theban treasuries. at a banquet as a gift to whomever fitted inside it. Once Osiris took his turn the OSIRIS AT BIGA plotters slammed the lid down, covered The island of Biga, known as Senmet in the chest with molten lead and threw it Egyptian, south of Aswan and immediately into the Tanitic mouth of the Nile to be west of the temple of Isis on Philae, was at carried out into the Mediterranean Sea. some date regarded as possessing the tomb of Osiris (statues and inscriptions indicate OSIRIS AND BYBLOS worship here from at least Dynasty XVIII). The chest was eventually washed up on Osiris’s body was brought here to the ‘high the shores of the Lebanon at Byblos and hill...twice hidden, twice secret’ on the enfolded in the trunk of a heath-tree. The back of a crocodile. The god’s ritual was king of Byblos cut the tree for use as 124 Osiris a column in a temple. Isis rescued the across one. According to Plutarch this chest containing the body of her husband, explains the location of Osiris’s tomb leaving the wood of the heath-tree to be being claimed by many temples. venerated in her temple at Byblos. There Ptolemaic temples such as Dendera and is no trace of the Byblos episode in the Edfu provide texts mentioning fourteen, pharaonic myth but Plutarch has been sixteen and forty-two parts – the latter held by some to reflect a lost tradition of enabling a part of the god’s body to rest in the origins of Osiris lying in the Lebanon. every nome or administrative district of This suggestion is not at all likely and the Egypt. Sites claiming pieces of Osiris probable source for the Byblos setting is include: remembrance of the extensive trade in timber (especially cedars) that Egypt had Sebennytos upper and lower leg with the Lebanon, certainly on preferen- Herakleopolis thigh, head, two sides tial terms, from the Pyramid Age to the and two legs New Kingdom. Athribis heart THE DISMEMBERMENT OF OSIRIS Abydos head Plutarch’s source for the separate burial of Edfu leg parts of the god’s body is a late feature of Biga Island left leg the myth in Egypt, not found prior to the New Kingdom. Isis brings the chest to the A problem arose for Isis in that Osiris’s Delta, then neglects it while she goes to phallus, thrown into the Nile by Seth, had Buto to her child Horus, already born in been eaten piecemeal by the lepidotus, this version of the legend. Seth, hunting phragus and oxyrhyncus fish. The goddess by moonlight, discovers the chest. He cuts manufactured an artificial organ for Osiris’s body into fourteen parts and the god around which the Egyptians scatters them throughout the Nile Valley. established a cult and festival. In the Isis pursues each severed part, holding pharaonic tradition, however, the phallus a burial ceremony wherever she comes is preserved intact and buried at Memphis. P

Pakhet Pyramid Texts as the ‘mother of the king’, a role which in religious documents can only be ascribed to a goddess. In A lioness-goddess worshipped non-royal funerary papyri the Pelican has particularly at the entrance of a wadi in the power of prophesying a safe passage the eastern desert near Beni Hasan. for a dead person in the Underworld. The Her name is very evocative of her open beak of the Pelican is also associated nature, meaning ‘she who snatches’ or with the ability of the deceased to leave the ‘tearer’. In the Coffin Texts Pakhet the the burial chamber and go out into the rays Great is described as a night-huntress of the sun, possibly an analogy made with sharp claws. between the long cavernous beak of the It is easy to see Greek settlers seeing pelican and the tomb shaft. in Pakhet characteristics of Artemis, goddess of the chase. Peteese and Pihor Two deified broth- (cave of Artemis) became the common ers, sons of Kuper, who seem to have designation of Pakhet’s rock-chapel near lived in the vicinity of Dendur in Lower Beni Hasan, carved out of the limestone Nubia about Dynasty XXVI. The reason in Dynasty XVIII under Hatshepsut and for their elevation to minor gods is not Thutmose III. stated, but quite possibly they met their Panebtawy A youthful god who is the death in the Nile, a fate having connota- divine child of Haroeris (see HORUS section tions with OSIRIS. Establishing ‘laissez- on ‘The struggle for the throne of Egypt’), faire’ guide lines for Roman policy and TASENETNOFRET in the western sanctu- towards Egyptian religion, Augustus built ary of Kom-Ombo temple. As ‘the lord of a modest temple in honour of the brothers the Two Lands’ he represents the idea of on the west bank at Dendur. In some the pharaoh as son of the god Haroeris, instances the reliefs show Peteese and hence the legitimate ruler of Egypt. Pihor as ‘upstart’ deities making offerings to their superior, the goddess ISIS. Pelican The Pelican (Henet in Egyptian), (Dendur temple, dismantled to avoid found in livestock scenes on the walls of being permanently covered by the lake courtiers’ tombs, figures in royal funerary created by the completion of the High texts from the Pyramid Age as a protective Dam at Aswan in 1971, is now part of the symbol against snakes. The description of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.) the Pelican falling into the Nile seems con- nected with the idea of scooping up in its Pharaoh Kingship in ancient Egypt is prominent beak hostile elements under the set apart from coeval Near Eastern guise of fish – a concept comparable to the by virtue of its holder being dragnets and bird nets used for trapping regarded as the ‘perfect god’. The major sinners in the Underworld. features of the cult of the divine ruler, That the Pelican is a divinity must be called in the Pyramid Age ‘essence of all assumed from the reference to it in the the gods’, can be summarised as follows. 126 Pharaoh

1 King ϭ HORUS The earliest title carried by the pharaoh is that equating him with the hawk-god legit- imately awarded the throne of Egypt by a tribunal of deities – hence the Horus Narmer (Dynasty I). Another element in the royal titulary calls the pharaoh ‘Horus of gold’, the metal (‘flesh of RA’) enhancing his divinity as well as the title-device itself being capable of a secondary interpreta- tion as the triumph of Horus over SETH.

2 King ϭ son of RA The link between the monarch and the most important of all Egyptian deities is vital. A papyrus relates how the wife of a high priest of Ra made pregnant by the sun-god gives birth to three future pharaohs. These are the kings of early Dynasty V – the period that first witnesses the great influ- ence of the sun-cult – and from now on The pharaoh Ramesses III Dyn. XX, Great the pre-coronation name of the king in the Harris Papyrus, British Museum. royal protocol is introduced by the title ‘Son of Ra’. (For the emphasis of a divine parent for the king, see AMUN section titled ‘The Theban theogamy’.)

3 King ϭ ward of NEKHBET and WADJET Although the kingdom of united Egypt came into being (c.3000 BC), there is always the underlying concept that the state is really ‘Two Lands’. The pharaoh is protected therefore by those goddesses of North and South Egypt that had been taken as national emblems by the Predynastic rulers, i.e. before the unification. Thus, one of the royal titles means ‘the Two Mistresses’ stressing that the pharaoh is defended by the vulture-goddess of Upper Egypt and cobra-goddess of the Delta. Another title of one of his five ‘great names’ taken on accession to the throne Pharaoh as Horus spearing Seth. Statuette emphasises the king’s attachment to each from the Tomb of Tutankhamun, Dyn. XVIII, of the original separate kingdoms by Cairo Museum. describing his divinity as including Pharaoh 127 their sacred emblems: ‘belonging to the Temple at Thebes is a statue of Ramesses II sedge-plant (ϭ south) and the bee put up during his reign (Dynasty XIX) and (ϭ north)’. It should be mentioned that a worshipped as ‘RA of the rulers’. different interpretation of these emblems ϭ gives the translation ‘Dual King’ relating 5 Dead king deified as royal to worldly and divine aspects of the ancestor pharaoh’s role. Also in the regalia the The god THOTH is seen in temple reliefs Lower Egyptian Red Crown and the Upper writing the name of the reigning pharaoh Egyptian White Crown can be visualised on the leaves of a sacred tree which bears as goddesses protecting the pharaoh. In a the names of all the king’s ancestors more aggressive way the Pyramid Texts recognised as legitimate holders of king- proclaim the pharaoh as indestructible ship. These ancestors are honoured by with power of life and death over the gods the ruling monarch who might order the of Upper and Lower Egypt. carving of a Kinglist where the car- touches of previous pharaohs receive ϭ 4 Living king deified through incense, sacred liquid and offerings from ritual the hands of the current occupier of the At his coronation the pharaoh is considered throne. Rulers condemned by subsequent to undergo purification by HORUS and pharaohs as unworthy to have governed – THOTH who pour signs of life and dominion e.g. Queen Hatshepsut or Akhenaten over him. The jubilee festival (‘Heb Sed’) is (Dynasty XVIII) – are absent from this a renewal of the king’s divinity and vitality. panorama of sacred kingship. The actions So strong is the king’s godhead that rituals of some kings remembered with pride are performed before statues of a living lead to their stepping out of the crowd of monarch which are viewed as independent ancestors to be awarded special deifica- deities – in the first courtyard of Luxor tion honours: Senwosret III (Dynasty XII) is held in high esteem for his domination of Nubia and honoured by Thutmose III (Dynasty XVIII) around 400 years later with a chapel (now in Turin) at el-Lessiya on the banks of the Nubian Nile. Similarly, Amenhotep I (Dynasty XVIII) is regarded as a patron deity by the work- ers on the royal tombs for making the first endowments founding their select community whose tombs and village ruins can be seen today at Deir el-Medina in western Thebes.

6 Deceased king ϭ OSIRIS This idea is first evident in the Pyramid Era where the king is seen in the Afterlife Pharaoh in ‘’ headcloth and ceremonial as having an existence correspondent beard protected by Wadjet. Statue of with the god. On death every pharaoh Thutmose III, Dyn. XVIII, Kunsthistorisches ceases to maintain the role of HORUS on Museum,Vienna. the throne of Egypt and transmutes to 128 Ptah a life incorporating both being in the boat of the sun-god and, as Osiris, taking up the kingship of the Underworld. The Old Kingdom gives us the first insight into how the divinity of the pharaoh is seen never to diminish as a result of physical death. The god–king is given the role of judge in the domain of RA and is suitably equated with SIA, personifying intellect. A cataclysm in Egypt will occur if the king is barred from becoming one of the company of sky-gods in the Hereafter. To emphasise a continu- ing possession of divinity the king (called ‘god older than the oldest’) is imagined to be imbued with sufficient magical force to hunt and eat the powers and intelligence of every other god. (See also AMUN section titled ‘Amun and the pharaoh’; ATEN; GEB; HATHOR section titled ‘Hathor and the pharaoh’; ISIS section titled ‘Mother of Horus’; Seth section titled ‘God of royalty’, SOULS OF PE AND NEKHEN, STAR-GODS.) Statuette from the Tomb of Tutankhamun, Ptah Dyn. XVIII, Cairo Museum.

Creator-god of Memphis. which combines at its upper terminal the The usual iconography of Ptah is ‘ankh’ sign (ϭ life) and the ‘djed’ column already established in embryo by Dynasty I (ϭ stability). From the Middle Kingdom on a calcite bowl from Tarkhan: the onwards Ptah is given a straight beard. anthropomorphic god is smooth-headed, The name of the god (strangely not dressed in a high-collared garment with written with a distinguishing emblem or a tassel, and stands in an open kiosk hold- normal hieroglyphic determinative of ing a sceptre of dominion. Throughout ‘divinity’ until the New Kingdom) has Egyptian civilisation Ptah, deviating given rise to suggestions of foreign origins hardly at all from his earliest appearance, in the west, but its most probable etymol- is unmistakable on tomb or temple walls: ogy is the root-word of later verbs meaning his head enveloped in a tightly fitting skull ‘to sculpture’ (his role as craftsman-deity?). cap, that leaves only his face and ears to The god’s name was continually being hon- view, and his forearms emerging from the oured by incorporation in the names of linen wrap that moulds itself closely to his kings and officials, e.g. in Dynasty XIX form, permitting no differentiation of his Merneptah (beloved of Ptah), (son limbs. The tassel from his collar is shown of Ptah) and Ptahmose (Ptah is born). in profile, sometimes taking the form of In the early mortuary literature carved the counterpoise of a necklace. His hands on the walls of Old Kingdom pyramids, hold the ‘was’ – sceptre of dominion, Ptah scarcely gets a mention – and then Ptah 129 only in connection with Werkaf, the butler brought the cosmos into being survives – of HORUS who happened also to be an miraculously – on a basalt slab in the ‘elder of the palace of Ptah’. This might British Museum that was used as a be explained by jealousy on the part of millstone in post-pharaonic Egypt. It is the priestly formulators of the inscriptions usually referred to as the Shabaqo Stone who were the main adherents of the Sun- after the Sudanese king (Dynasty XXV) Cult of RA at Heliopolis. On the other who ordered it to be inscribed and set up in hand, it does not seem that Ptah had much the temple of Ptah at Memphis. It is a copy of a role to play in the funerary cult or in of a patently much older document whose the Underworld. It was the composite origins (on linguistic evidence) lay in the deity Ptah-SOKAR who had more promi- Pyramid Age. The hieroglyphs give an nence in the Afterlife (see SOKAR). account of creation formulated by Ptah’s However, in the life-restoring ceremony priesthood, doubtless in an attempt to of ‘opening the mouth’ performed on the eclipse intellectually the cosmogonical mummified corpse and statues of the beliefs surrounding the sun-god creator deceased, it is the god Ptah (represented ATUM of nearby Heliopolis. Ptah ‘father of at the tomb side by his setem-priest) who the gods’ gives birth to the sun-god and his is conceived as having hallowed the ritual ENNEAD thereby subordinating them by enacting it upon the mouths of the genealogically to himself. In the Memphite gods when he created them and their theology Ptah, self-created, thinks about statues. He uses a metal chisel for the rite, the cosmos and speaks it into existence: suggesting his role as craftsman–god. Atum and the Ennead are conceived as the Although associated pre-eminently with teeth and lips of Ptah, created by his heart Memphis, Ptah is a universal deity found (ϭ seat of intellect) and his tongue on all major sites in Egypt and Nubia. At (ϭ command to action). In this cosmology Thebes he had a presence in the precinct of Ptah is compounded with the god NUN, AMUN at Karnak since at least the Middle primeval matter, to become Ptah-Nun the Kingdom, more or less as that god’s equiv- ‘father who begot Atum’; in the Ptolemaic alent in Northern Egypt. The pharaoh period he is explained as self-generated out Thutmose III (Dynasty XVIII) found the of Nun. He is, at the same time, a bisexual wooden and brick built sanctuary of Ptah at creative being in the form of Ptah-Naunet, Karnak in a dilapidated condition and took the ‘mother who bore Atum’. According to pride in renewing it in sandstone. It was the Memphite doctrine life comes to continually embellished into the Graeco- everything from Ptah’s heart and tongue – Roman period and, although its main gods are born, towns are founded with female deity was HATHOR, it preserves one shrines containing images of wood, clay of the finest representations in black gran- and stone as bodies for the spirit (or ‘’) ite of Ptah’s consort SAKHMET. Beyond of every god to enter. the first cataract of the Nile Ptah was worshipped in particular at Gerf Husein 2 Ptah at Memphis and in the Great Temple of Ramesses II The founding of the ‘white walls’ or (Dynasty XIX) at Abu Simbel. Memphis, administrative capital of Egypt, took place at or shortly after the unification 1 Ptah and creation of the northern and southern kingdoms, A remarkably metaphysical concept of c.3000 BC. If Ptah ‘lord of Ankhtawy’ was how the god (coalescing with TATENEN) not by that time already the pre-eminent 130 Ptah deity in the district, it was not long before Another title of Ptah was ‘khery bakef’ he had assumed all rival cults into his own or ‘he who is under his moringa tree’. being, after which only Ptah’s epithets This refers to an original Memphite tree- possibly witness another god’s original god absorbed into Ptah by the time that independence. Two titles of Ptah, how- the epithet becomes current in the Middle ever, seem to be specifically descriptive Kingdom. The moringa tree, of which of him alone. one in particular must have been tended in the temple precinct, grows extensively ϭ PTAH ‘RES INEBEF’ PTAH WHO IS in Egypt producing nuts for ben oil. SOUTH OF HIS WALL In the temple of the god at Memphis This must be a reference to the boundary resided the sacred bull which was the wall enclosing the precinct in the temple intermediary between Ptah and mankind of Ptah at Memphis. Hints of earlier struc- (see APIS). Also at Memphis and Thebes tures are archaeologically attested at Ptah’s consort was the lioness SAKHMET. Memphis (modern Mit Rahina) where Completing the sacred triad was the god current excavations are also gradually pre- NEFERTUM, son of Sakhmet, but there is no senting a fuller picture of the site, but the direct evidence to link him with Ptah. temple of Ptah is mainly known at present A son of Ptah, however, existed as the from the colossal statuary set up in it dur- deified architect of King Djoser, IMHOTEP. ing the reign of Ramesses (Dynasty XIX). It was, in fact, Ptah’s inseparable connec- 3 Ptah god of craftsmen tion with the capital city that led to the The god was thought to have created modern European word for the whole skills in design and sculpture. In the Old country being ‘Egypt’: one of his temples Kingdom the high priest of Ptah had was called ‘Hut-ka-Ptah’ or ‘mansion of a title which conveyed the notion of a the spirit of Ptah’ and was clearly the deity who was the smith and sculptor of centre of a thriving community. Greeks mankind and the arts: ‘wer kherep hemut’ coming into contact with the capital took or ‘supreme leader of craftsmanship’. this term to apply to the whole city, ren- How the god attracted this speciality is not dering it as ‘Aiguptos’, a word then certain but it may be to do with the vicin- applied both to the river Nile, as in Homer’s ity of the Turah limestone quarries to his Odyssey, and to the land of Egypt. sanctuary at Memphis, producing the raw material for the artisans to carve. ϭ PTAH ‘NEFER-HER’ PTAH BEAUTIFUL Ptah was seen as a craftsman fashion- OF FACE ing royalty. He moulds the body of This epithet explains the idea of the Ramesses II (Dynasty XIX) out of elec- splendour of Ptah’s divinity in the only trum, and his limbs out of copper and area of his anatomy, other than his fore- iron. On the human level skilled artisans arms, to be recognisable outside his took Ptah as their patron god. There is garments. His flesh was envisaged as con- interesting evidence of this from the com- sisting of gold. This becomes a frequent munity of workmen at Deir el-Medina in title of Ptah in temple inscriptions, such western Thebes, responsible for cutting as in his chapel at Abydos, and occurs also out and decorating the tombs in the Valley in love songs where the god is requested of the Kings. Their patron deity is also to bring the company of the desired lady seen as a god who ordains their individual to her admirer for the night. destiny. Stelae carved by these craftsmen Ptah 131 show Ptah seated in a kiosk being dwarves who figure in workshop scenes addressed by the dedicant – the god is normally as jewellers in Old Kingdom encouraged to take notice of their prayers mastaba-tombs at Saqqara which over- by the representation of human ears on looked the god’s capital from the desert the stela. In fact, one of Ptah’s titles at escarpment. In the Late Period it seems Thebes is ‘mesedjer sedjem’ or the ‘ear that it was Ptah who was considered to be which hears’. The role of Ptah as ‘lord of represented in figurines and on magical truth’ comes across clearly on one of these stelae called ‘cippi’ as a big-bellied dwarf, stelae dedicated by Neferabu who – we probably deriving this form from the lack full details – at one time made a false association with the craftsmen-dwarves. oath in Ptah’s name. As a result Ptah Supplementary evidence comes from caused Neferabu to ‘see darkness by day’, the Greek historian Herodotus (fifth i.e. made him blind, and he now seeks the century BC) who mentions that on his visit god’s forgiveness, an unusually frank to Memphis he saw statues in the temple admission of guilt on the part of an of Hephaistos (i.e. the Greek smith-god Ancient Egyptian (see also MERETSEGER). identified with Ptah) in the shape of One particular group of craftsmen ‘pataeci’. These, he goes on to explain, are appear to symbolise physically the god the pygmy-like figures which decorate Ptah as divine artisan. These are the Phoenician triremes. Q

Qadesh displayed by Qadesh naturally led to an identification between her and HATHOR the Egyptian goddess of Love. Middle Eastern goddess of sacred ecstasy and sexual pleasure, adopted in the New Kingdom by the Egyptians into a triad with the gods MIN and RESHEP. Her name, probably meaning the ‘holy’, gives no clue to her origins but she seems to be a manifestation of the sensuousness inherent in the goddesses ASTARTE and ANAT. Qadesh rides naked on the back of a lion and holds out symbols of eroticism and fertility to her companions – lotuses for Min and snakes or papyrus plants for Reshep. In the Levant the cult of Qadesh, like that of ASTARTE, involved her acolytes simulating the sacred marriage of the Qadesh on lion flanked by Min and Reshep. goddess with Reshep. This sexuality Stela of Kaha, Dyn. XIX, British Museum. R

Ra properties, ‘ram in charge of his harem’. In literature the sun-god is occasionally Creator sun-god of described as an ageing king whose flesh Heliopolis. is gold, whose bones are silver and whose Ra is the quintessence of all manifesta- hair is lapis lazuli. tions of the sun-god, permeating the three Inscriptional evidence for the cult of realms of the sky, earth and Underworld. the sun-god is found in the name of the Hence many deities enhance their own first pharaoh of Dynasty II – ‘Raneb’ or divinity by coalescing with this aspect of ‘Ra is lord’. Architectural symbolism in the form of both the stepped and true the sun-god, e.g. KHNUM-Ra, AMUN-Ra. His main cult centre was at Heliopolis pyramid – stairway to the sun-god and (Greek for ‘sun-city’), now all but disap- image of the ‘high sand’ at Heliopolis on peared through depredations or below the which the creator-god stood to form the suburbs of modern Cairo. The sun-temple cosmos – provides continuing evidence of area was called ‘Iunu’ by the Ancient sun worship during Dynasties III and IV. Egyptians (‘On’ in biblical literature) and Courtiers of Dynasty IV proclaim their was written by a hieroglyph representing office of ‘great seer’ or high priest of a column, clearly the ancient cult image Heliopolis. on the site. 1 Ra and the monarchy The physical manifestation of Ra is most commonly a falcon wearing the The real burgeoning of Ra’s cult comes fiery disk of the sun on its head. The disk with the ruling family of Dynasty V who, is surrounded by the body of the cobra- as the Westcar Papyrus relates, were sons goddess, ‘coiled one’, symbolising the of Ra himself begotten of the wife of the god’s power of delivering instant death. In high priest of Heliopolis. An element of the Underworld his form is that of a the royal titulary is now introduced by the ram-headed god. He is called ‘sacred ram hieroglyph of a pintail duck and a sun disk, in the west’ or, indicating his life-giving meaning ‘son of Ra’. The name of the sun- god now continually occurs in the names of kings – Sahura (Dynasty V), Menkheperra (Dynasty XVIII), Ramesses (Dynasty XIX) – and also in private names, e.g. Rekhmira (or ‘wise like Ra’). In Dynasty V the kings devoted a large proportion of the state’s resources to build- ing sun-temples – structures, open to the rays of the sun, surrounding the solar emblem of the ‘benben’, the first place of creation and prototype of the more slender Ra in the Underworld.Tomb of Sety I, obelisk. The king is said to belong to the Dyn. XIX. two obelisks of Ra on earth, and fulfils this 134 Ra symbolism architecturally by erecting two obelisks before the pylon of a temple, e.g. as originally before Luxor temple in the reign of Ramesses II (Dynasty XIX) – the western obelisk now being in Paris. The Pyramid Texts which were first carved on the burial chamber of King Unas, last ruler of Dynasty V, provide a panorama, of the Hereafter as imagined by the Heliopolitan priesthood. The monarch ascends to the sky to join the entourage of his father the sun-god on a stairway of sun- shine. Ra’s supremacy was the basis of the pharaoh’s own security and power, govern- ing Egypt in accordance with the universal order created by Ra. Deviation from the sun-god’s dictates rendered a monarch unworthy of the divine kingship. However, Ra as creator-god emerges from primeval such condemnation could only be posthu- lotus. Statue from the Tomb of Tutankhamun, Dyn. XVIII, Cairo Museum. mous as when Queen Hatshepsut (Dynasty XVIII) in the Speos Artemidos, a rock-cut chapel in Middle Egypt, calls the foreign inundation of the Nile which he had Hyksos kings rulers ‘without Ra’. instituted. The Book of the Dead has a pas- sage of extreme interest concerning the 2 Ra as creator self-mutilation of Ra: the sun-god ‘cuts’ Emphasis is placed on Ra’s coming into his phallus (possibly meaning circumci- being at the beginning of time. The god sion) from which drops of blood fall to emerges out of the primeval waters on the form two intellectual personifications, mound called the ‘benben’. This imagery ‘HU’ and ‘SIA’, or ‘authority’ and ‘mind’. is that of ‘Ra of Bakhu’ – the eastern mountains above which the sun rises at 3 Ra in the Underworld dawn. Ra is also visualised as a child The Egyptians gradually evolved a concept rising out of the primordial lotus flower. of synthesis between the chthonic god For the acts of creation he coalesces with OSIRIS and the solar deity Ra. The compo- his other forms ATUM and KHEPRI (see also sition known as the ‘Litany of Ra’, found BENU). Hence in the Pyramid Texts we on the walls of Theban royal tombs, find Ra-Atum as father of the king and describes how Ra visits his own forms in in the Book of the Dead we meet the caverns in the Underworld (seventy- Ra-HARAKHTI-Atum-HORUS-Khepri. Ra is four figures of the sun-god can be sometimes called the ‘weeper’ which counted in the tomb of Thutmose III). refers to his creation of mankind, explained Underlying this complexity, however, is by means of a play on words: the sun-god the statement, made unequivocally, that wept and from the tear (Egyptian ‘remy’) there is only one divinity involved, ‘Ra in that fell to earth, there sprang man Osiris, Osiris in Ra’. So Ra becomes (Egyptian ‘remet’). He also ordered the ‘ruler of the Underworld’ or ‘lord of life cycle of the three seasons of the Egyptian in the western horizon’, i.e. the entrance year revolving around the annual into the Netherworld, in the mountain of Renenutet 135

Hawk-headed sun-god Ra-Harakhti. Stela of Djed-Khonsu-Iufankh, Dyn. XXI, Louvre Museum. Renenutet receives papyrus plants from Manu. As he passes Underworld deities Thutmose IV. Stela from Deir el-Medina, he illuminates their caverns and coffins, Dyn. XIX. bringing them into full existence for the moment. They then return into the ‘state of death’ described in hymns to Ra as The iconography of Renenutet, found existing at night in Egypt when the sun on walls or in statue form from the New has entered the Underworld. All rebels Kingdom onwards, can be the hooded against his authority are executed and his cobra rising up in anger or, anthropomor- arch-enemy defeated (see APOPHIS). To phically, an enthroned goddess. Her name travel in the Underworld Ra sails in the suggests the idea of ‘nursing’ or ‘raising’ night boat called ‘mesektet’: he is in the a child. Emphasising this role as the form of a ram-headed god, ‘flesh of Ra’, embodiment of divine motherhood, and encircled by MEHEN. His morning Renenutet can be represented as a woman boat to sail across the sky above Egypt is (or a female with a cobra head) suckling called ‘mandjet’. The concept of the sun a child. In the Pyramid Age it is requiring a boat for its celestial journeys Renenutet’s protection of the ruler that is goes back to the Old Kingdom where Ra paramount. Her tutelary nature is referred is dubbed ‘great reed-floater’. to when the king ascends to the sky in the For Ra-HARAKHTI see under HORUS Hereafter to claim his heritage as a pow- section titled ‘Horus as sun-god’; for Eye erful monarch: Renenutet coalesces with of Ra see under HATHOR and SAKHMET. his Uraeus (see WADJET) to provide the invincible flame that leaps from the Renenutet cobra’s mouth. Renenutet as a snake also has a gaze which vanquishes all enemies; Cobra-goddess, but it can be a beneficial force, nurturing guardian of the pharaoh. the crops and providing the fruits of the 136 Renenutet harvest to the Egyptians. Under this month of the winter-spring season (called aspect she can be associated with the god Peret) when all the seed had been sown, OSIRIS in his form of the agricultural deity and in the first month of the spring- NEPER and this, by extension, links her to summer season (Shemu) when the rich the pharaoh’s responsibility for the cycle harvest began to ripen. of good harvests. Some tombs on the west bank at Renenutet represents the magical Thebes (for instance, the tomb of Nakht, power inherent in the linen garment worn Dynasty XVIII) show scenes of harvest- by the king – in the Afterlife even the ing, winnowing and threshing where an gods are said to fear this woven material. emblem is displayed over the crop. This Other connections between Renenutet might be interpreted as the crescent of the and linen can be found in texts from new moon and as symbolising the offer- the temples of Dendera, where she is ing of the first fruits of the harvest to described as furnishing mummy bandages, Renenutet at the beginning of the month and of Edfu, where she is called ‘mistress in which her festival fell. The possibility of the robes’. cannot be discounted, however, that the In later Egyptian thought Renenutet emblem is a device for warding off pests becomes a goddess controlling human which might devour the grain. Renenutet destiny. Renenutet looks into time and is called ‘mistress of the threshing floor’, apportions the length of a man’s life. a practical role ascribed to her, in addition Together with the goddess MESKHENET she to the overall task of ensuring the con- urges forward the unborn child into birth tinual fruitfulness of the Egyptian soil, and fosters the will to live. She personi- and is drawn from the imagery of the fies also the prosperity than can result snake eating mice and rats which threaten from the experiences and chance of life the crops. itself, a role not unlike that of the god In the Graeco-Roman period the name SHAY. Another side to Renenutet is her Renenutet is modified in Egyptian identification with MAAT, the goddess of giving rise to the name of the goddess cosmic order and truth – e.g. in the Litany rendered in Greek texts as Thermouthis or of RA found on the walls of some tombs in Hermouthis. It is now that Renenutet the Valley of the Kings a mummiform assimilates into ISIS – an identification Renenutet with a cobra head is labelled made easier by the close similarity of the the ‘Lady of Justification’. two goddesses in pharaonic tradition, e.g. There is evidence of a cult to Renenutet the association with Osiris and the existing from the Middle Kingdom iconography of a nursing mother. Also in onwards in the Faiyum – a region of an exceptional reference in the Book of immense fertility which could fittingly be the Dead Renenutet has a liaison with associated with this goddess. Here she is ATUM in primeval time and is then cred- closely allied to the Faiyum’s divine pro- ited with giving birth to HORUS who is tector, the crocodile-god SOBEK. Village pre-eminently the son of Isis. A number chapels in the Faiyum illustrate the point of hymns from the Faiyum written in the that the worship of Renenutet had taken first century BC exemplify the merging of hold in the hearts of agricultural workers Renenutet and Isis, an amalgamation in who were for the most part excluded from keeping with the Graeco-Roman concept the ceremonies in the temples. Festivals in of universal fertility goddesses such as honour of Renenutet were held in the last Panthea or Bona Fortuna. Reshep 137

The following tabulation illustrates Reshep has the greatest affinity. His how in the last centuries of Ancient martial temperament makes him an ideal Egyptian religion Renenutet and the asso- royal deity, especially in an era boasting ciated deities that make the sacred triad of the military and sporting prowess of complete are equated with divinities its monarchs. A good example of this whose cults are of more widespread comes from the stela of Amenhotep II appeal: (Dynasty XVIII) set up near the Sphinx at

Greek name in Egyptian Equivalent Manifestation of Faiyumic Hymns mother ϭ Hermouthis Renenutet Isis father ϭ Sekonopis Sobek Osiris son ϭ Ankhoes Horus Horus

Reshep Giza where Reshep and the goddess ASTARTE are described as rejoicing at A war-god whose origins the crown prince’s diligence in looking are Syrian, brought into the Egyptian pan- after his horses. Perhaps not too much theon in Dynasty XVIII. stress should be placed on some of the Reshep’s characteristic stance is bran- Egyptian epithets which he receives, such dishing a mace or axe over his head. His as ‘Lord of the Sky’ or ‘Lord of Eternity’, beard is Syrian in style and he normally but his status in the New Kingdom was wears the Upper Egyptian crown adorned high – a region on the east bank of the with a gazelle head in front and a ribbon Nile even being named the ‘Valley of behind. The gazelle connects Reshep Reshep’. He appears on Theban stelae alongside the Egyptian god MIN and the iconographically with the god SETH but it Syrian goddess QADESH. is the Theban war-god MONTU with whom Reshep becomes (possibly because of Syrian enclaves among the Egyptian population) an approachable deity who can grant success to those praying to him. Also his force for destruction of royal enemies in battle can be turned against diseases affecting ordinary people. For instance, Reshep and his wife Itum are called upon in a magical spell to over- power the ‘akha’ demon causing abdomi- nal pains. As a deity combining the polarities of life and death, he is known Stela of Amenemopet from Bethshan, both in Egypt and the Near East as c.1300 BC. Reshep-Shulman. S

Sakhmet Memphis, where she subsumed (certainly by the New Kingdom) local cults as ‘mis- tress of Ankhtawy’ (ϭ ‘life of the Two Lioness-goddess of Lands’, a name for Memphis). One of Memphis. these cults seems to have led to her title, Her name simply means the ‘power- found on a stela in the Serapeum at ful’ and is extremely in view of the Saqqara, ‘lady of the Acacia’. Since there destructive aspect of her character. She is was a degree of correspondence between shown with the body of a lady and the Sakhmet and BASTET, her son was taken to head of a lioness. Sometimes the linen be the same as that of the cat-goddess; dress she wears exhibits a rosette pattern namely, NEFERTUM the lotus-god. over each nipple, an ancient leonine motif A superbly carved limestone fragment that can be traced to observation of the from the valley temple of Sneferu (Dynasty shoulder-knot hairs on lions. IV) at Dahshur shows the monarch’s head She is a daughter of the sun-god RA and closely juxtaposed to the muzzle of a became regarded as the consort of PTAH of lioness-deity (presumably Sakhmet) as if to symbolise Sneferu breathing in the divine life-force emanating from the goddess’s mouth. This would be in line with a state- ment in the Pyramid Texts to the effect that Sakhmet conceived the king. Certainly, under Sahura of Dynasty V the goddess received a shrine at Abusir. A corresponding relationship was made between Sakhmet of Memphis and the goddess MUT, wife of AMUN at Thebes, a fusion facilitated by the fact that both goddesses could manifest themselves under leonine forms. Hundreds of statues of Sakhmet were set up in the reign of Amenhotep III (Dynasty XVIII) in the precinct of Mut’s temple (known as ‘Isheru’) south of the Great Temple of Amun at Karnak. Their quantity is attribut- able to their ritual purpose in receiving offerings as part of the Litany of Ra, each statue being so honoured on one particular day of the year. Sakhmet’s black granite statues either show her seated holding the Gilded wooden statue, Dyn. XVIII, Cairo sign of life (‘ankh’) in her hand or standing Museum. with a sceptre in the shape of the papyrus, Sarapis 139 heraldic plant of North Egypt. Inscriptions deserts where they fled, she transforms on these statues emphasise her warlike into the ‘powerful’. During the night the aspect, e.g. ‘smiter of the Nubians’. god Ra, trying to avert a total massacre of the human race by the goddess who 1 The savagery of Sakhmet clearly has become unstoppable in her The goddess is adopted by the pharaohs bloodlust, orders his high priest at as a symbol of their own unvanquishable Heliopolis to obtain red ochre from heroism in battle. She breathes fire Elephantine and grind it with beer against the king’s enemies, such as in the mash. Seven thousand jars of red beer Battle of Kadesh when she is visualised are spread over the land of Egypt. In on the horses of Ramesses II (Dynasty the morning Sakhmet returns to finish XIX), her flames scorching the bodies of her task of destroying the human race, enemy soldiers. The wrath of the pharaoh drinks what she assumes is blood and towards those who rebel against his rule is goes away intoxicated, unable to complete compared by a Middle Kingdom treatise her slaughter. on kingship to the rage of Sakhmet. In a passage intended to flatter the pharaoh in 2 Sakhmet as healer the , it is said that the fear Spells exist that regard plagues as brought of the king pervades foreign countries by the ‘messengers’ of Sakhmet. On the like Sakhmet in a year of pestilence. Her assumption that the goddess could ward title ‘lady of bright red linen’, which on off pestilence as well as bring it, the the surface is a reference to the colour of Egyptians adopted Sakhmet ‘lady of life’ her homeland of Lower Egypt, carries, as a beneficial force in their attempts to from her warlike nature, the secondary counteract illness. Her priesthood seems force of meaning the blood-soaked to have had a prophylactic role in medi- garments of her enemies. cine. The priest (‘waeb Sakhmet’) being One myth in particular reveals the present to recite prayers to the goddess bloodthirsty side of Sakhmet. It is found was as integral a part of the treatment as in a number of versions in royal tombs the practicalities performed by the physi- at Thebes and on the outer gilded cian (the ‘sunu’). In the Old Kingdom shrine which covered the sarcophagus the priests of Sakhmet are an organised of Tutankhamun (Dynasty XVIII). It phyle and from a slightly later date in its involves also the goddess HATHOR in her extant copy the Ebers Papyrus attributes vengeful aspect. The two goddesses are to these priests a detailed knowledge of both ‘Eyes of RA’, agents of his punish- the heart. ment. There was a temple to Sakhmet- Hathor at Kom el-Hisn in the western Sarapis Anthropomorphic god of Delta, and in his temple at Abydos Sety I combined Egyptian and Hellenistic attrib- (Dynasty XIX) is suckled by Hathor utes created during the early Ptolemaic whose title is ‘mistress of the mansion of period. Sakhmet’. In this myth the sun-god Ra Although there is an account by the fears that mankind plots against him. The Roman historian Tacitus (AD 55–120) gods urge him to call down retribution on propounding that Sarapis’s origins lay men by sending his avenging Eye down to in Asia Minor, the land of Egypt itself Egypt as Hathor. As the goddess slays probably provided the essential ingredients men, leaving them in pools of blood in the of this hybrid deity. 140 Satis

Dionysos fertility in nature and from and Asklepios links with the Afterlife and healing. The major cult centre of Sarapis was at Alexandria but like his given consort ISIS, temples to Sarapis were widespread in the Mediterranean world in the Graeco-Roman era. Satis

Goddess guarding the southern frontier and Lower Nubia, killing enemies of the king by her arrows. She is a lady wearing the conical white crown of Bronze bust from Arsinoë, c. AD 200, Berlin Upper Egypt adorned with antelope horns Museum. or plumes. Her name in Egyptian, Satjit, later The Egyptian roots of the god can be Satet, is found on jars from the subterranean summarised as:

OSIRIS ϩ APIS ϭ Osorapis ϭ Sarapis The cult of Osorapis, i.e. the sacred bull of Memphis worshipped in this form after its death, existed prior to Ptolemy I Soter’s coming to the throne. The nature of Osorapis, involving the concepts of life after death and agricultural fecundity, seems to have attracted the early Ptolemies as being the quintessence of the myriad of Egyptian deities, and as the aspects most easily fused with Greek gods. The Hellenistic elements in Sarapis predominate in his nature and iconogra- phy. The following Greek deities all contribute to the god’s ‘personality’:

Zeus

Helios Sarapis Dionysos

Hades Asklepios From Zeus and Helios he draws the aspects of sovereignty and sun-god, from Ptolemaic relief. Serket 141 galleries of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara head of a donkey or as a mummiform (Dynasty III), and she is described in deity sporting two short horns. the Pyramid Texts as cleansing the king Serket by means of four unguent jars from Elephantine. This early writing of her name uses the hieroglyph of a shoulder- Scorpion-goddess. knot tie in a linen garment, but from the Her name – also rendered as Selkis – Middle Kingdom the sign is that of an is an abbreviation of the phrase ‘Serket animal skin pierced by an arrow. hetyt’ meaning ‘she who causes the throat She is associated with the annual Nile to breathe’, clearly euphemistic inasmuch inundation and as ‘Mistress of Elephantine’ as the scorpion can be a threat to life. is the consort of KHNUM and, by inference, For magical reasons her name until the mother of ANUKIS. An early liaison between New Kingdom is not followed by the Satis and Theban MONTU is known. hieroglyphic determinative of a full scorpion. Sebiumeker Anthropomorphic god of procreation in the Meroitic pantheon. His main centre of worship is in the temple complex at Musawwarat el-Sufra in the desert east of the sixth cataract of the Nile (see APEDEMAK).

Sefkhet-Abwy

Goddess of writing and temple libraries. Her name means the seven-horned and she wears on her head the symbol of a seven-pointed star below an indented arc which could represent a bow. She first appears during the reign of Thutmose III (Dynasty XVIII) and seems little more than a version of . Her role is to be present at the temple foundation ceremony of ‘stretching the cord’ where the monarch measures out the extent of the precinct. The goddess also figures among the deities responsible for writing the name of the pharaoh on the leaves of the sacred tree.

Sepa

Centipede-god from Heliopolis with powers to prevent snake bites. He can also be represented with the Tomb of Nefertari, Dyn. XIX. 142 Seshat

Serket is usually represented as a lady Serket’, there is evidence that Serket was whose head is surmounted by a scorpion patroness of ‘magician-medics’ dealing with its tail raised ready to sting. The with poisonous bites. earliest reference to her entry into the Egyptian pantheon occurs in Dynasty I on Seshat the stela of Merika from Saqqara. In the Pyramid Age she has a protec- tive role around the throne of the king. Senior goddess of Contemporaneously she is called the writing, ‘foremost in the library’. Her emblem which emanates from mother of NEHEBU-KAU. However, her a headband is obscure: a seven-pointed most important role seems to be con- star or rosette above which is a bow-like nected with the funerary cult. Her epithet, symbol. She wears a long panther-skin ‘lady of the beautiful house’ refers to her robe. association with the embalmer’s tent. She As early as Dynasty II she assists the is one of the tutelary goddesses on each monarch Khasekhemwy in hammering side of the containing the boundary poles into the ground for mummified viscera of the deceased, in the ceremony of ‘stretching the cord’. four jars. Her responsibility is to protect This is a crucial part of a temple founda- , god guarding the intestines tion ritual involving measuring out its (see SONS OF HORUS). Serket’s help is ground plan. required in the Underworld where, according to the Middle Kingdom coffin composition known as the Book of the Two Ways, she watches over a dangerous twist in the pathway. She is also credited with binding the hostile snake APOPHIS. It was possible (although rarely found) for the destructive power of Serket to be visualised in a form other than the scorpion: in a Dynasty XXI Mythological Papyrus the goddess called ‘Serket the great, the divine mother’ is represented as female-bodied, armed with knives, having a lioness-head plus a crocodile- head projecting from her back. Similarly, in royal tomb Underworld scenes she can be shown as a rearing serpent. Serket has powers that can be used among the living for healing venomous bites although she is strangely absent from the majority of spells concerned with scorpion stings (see ISIS). From the titles ‘kherep Serket’ (first found in Dynasty I) which means ‘sceptre of Serket’ and ‘sa Serket’ (first occurrence Dynasty V) meaning ‘protection of Temple of Dendera, Ptolemaic period. Seth 143

In the Old Kingdom Seshat has the responsibility of recording herds of cattle, sheep, goats and donkeys seized as booty by King Sahura (Dynasty V) from Libyan tribes. This scene at Abusir becomes a prototype, since we find Seshat recording names and tribute of foreign captives in the temple of Senwosret I (Dynasty XII) at el-Lisht. In New Kingdom temples such as Karnak or Abydos Seshat records the royal jubilees. She holds a notched palm branch (the sign for ‘years’) which termi- nates in a tadpole (the number 100,000) sitting on the symbol for eternity. It is by this incalculably large number that one must multiply the jubilee festivals represented by the ritual pavilions sus- pended on the tip of the branch, to give the Seth holding the heraldic plant of Upper number to be celebrated by the monarch Egypt. Statue of Senwosret I, Dyn. XII, Cairo Museum. whose name she commemorates on the leaves of the persea tree – an infinity of kingship. his birth was the Ombos–Naqada region where his major southern sanctuary was Seth built. In the Pyramid Texts the strength of the pharaoh is called ‘Seth of Nubet’ the God of chaotic forces who ancient name for the site of his Upper commands both veneration and hostility. . The similarity of this The complicated character of Seth is name to the Egyptian word for ‘gold’ not solved by an acceptable etymology of led to the reinterpretation of part of the his name, rendered in hieroglyphs as pharaoh’s titulary from ‘golden HORUS’ ‘Setekh’, ‘Setesh’, ‘Suty’ or ‘Sutekh’. into ‘Horus over the one of Nubet’, i.e. The creature of Seth, probably a Seth. His birthday was always regarded as heraldic composite animal, is a quadruped an ominous event and unlucky day in the with a gently curving muzzle, two appen- . As a god associated dages jutting out from the top of its head with foreign countries, he has consorts and an erect tail terminating in a short coming from the Semitic pantheon – bifurcation. It appears on the macehead of ASTARTE and ANAT. The Egyptian goddess King Scorpion at the end of the Predynastic linked with him is his sister NEPHTHYS. Era. The god himself can take on the com- plete form of this creature or be shown in human form but with the animal’s head. 1 God of royalty An early tradition of the violence asso- Despite the ‘bad press’ usually accruing to ciated with Seth is in the emphasis that at Seth in Egyptian texts, it is clear that his his birth in Upper Egypt he tore himself cult was always held in high esteem in the savagely from his mother NUT. The site of north-east Delta and in Upper Egypt 144 Seth around the district of Ombos–Naqada. His 2 Seth as an enemy adherents also came from the upper levels From the time of the Pyramid Texts the of Egyptian society. In Dynasty II the ruler legend of Seth as OSIRIS’s murderer and cult, centred around HORUS since the unifi- HORUS’s antagonist was common currency. cation of Egypt in 3000 BC, underwent a References to the viciousness of the drastic transformation during the reign of struggle for the throne of Egypt mention Peribsen. Instead of surmounting the how Seth’s foreleg and testicles are torn ‘serekh’ proclaiming his throne name off by Horus. The god is condemned to with the hawk-god, Peribsen chose to be carry Osiris on his shoulders eternally heralded by the creature of Seth. His suc- and the heads of Seth’s followers are cessor Khasekhemwy combined the two offered to the king. However, in the deities on the ‘serekh’ perhaps to symbol- papyrus documenting the culmination of ise a reconciliation between the rival cults. the contest between Horus and Seth it is However, in the same reign Seth loses even clear that initially Seth has very powerful this shared honour and never regains it. supporters: the sun-god prefers the claim Nevertheless the name and cult of Seth are of Seth because Seth is the elder. Seth’s vigorously brought to the fore with royal violent temper shows through when the support on a number of occasions: gods become sympathetic to the case Dynasty XII presented by ISIS – he threatens to slay Side panels on the thrones of statues of one god a day with his sceptre (4,500 lbs Senwosret I show Seth opposite Horus, in weight) if the goddess is not barred separated by the emblem of the from the proceedings. Eventually Seth unification. loses his right to the throne of Egypt but remains in favour with the sun-god. (For Dynasty XVIII Seth the killer, see Osiris; for the details Thutmose III calls himself ‘beloved of of the fighting and trial, see Isis and Seth’. Horus.) Because of the upheaval and con- Dynasty XIX fusion Seth can cause he was identified This ruling family had its ancestral home by the Greeks with their rebel-god in the Delta where Seth worship was Typhon. prominent. Two of its kings have the 3 Seth in the solar boat and in name ‘Sety’ or ‘Sethite’. Ramesses II the Underworld fights at Kadesh on the river Orontes After the tribunal of gods awarded the like Seth who is ‘BAAL on the battle- field’. In the same reign Seth is throne of Egypt to HORUS, the sun-god RA equated with another foreign god in the announced that Seth would live with him treaty which the pharaoh made with as his son to speak out as thunder from his former enemies the Hittites: the the sky. In the Book of the Dead Seth document is sealed on a silver tablet ‘lord of the northern sky’ is held respon- engraved with an image of Seth ‘lord sible for storms and cloudiness, a notion of the sky’ ϭ storm-god of Hatti. which we also find in a historical docu- ment: having concluded a diplomatic Dynasty XX marriage with the daughter of the Hittite The pharaoh Setnakht (‘Seth is mighty’) king, Ramesses II (Dynasty XIX) appeals is called KHEPRI-Seth, vanquisher of to Seth to remove the obstacles of rain, rebels against royal authority. cold and snow which are delaying the Shay 145 princess in Lebanon en route to Egypt. can be a destructive phenomenon leaving Seth makes the clear and the in its wake upturned papyrus skiffs and weather warm. trampled stalks of barley. As such it is There is a point of peril for the Seth and has to be slaughtered. The royal sun-god Ra as he sinks into the western hippopotamus hunt, symbolising the vic- horizon. APOPHIS the snake attempts to tory of Horus over Seth, is found already swallow the sun but Seth in the prow of occurring in Dynasty I. Mastaba-tombs the sun-boat fetters and spears the coiled of courtiers in the Old Kingdom use serpent. This imagery is borrowed by the the theme of hunting hippopotamuses on pharaoh Ramesses III (Dynasty XX) to their walls to recreate life for the describe his destruction of the Sea deceased as he would have remembered Peoples commemorated on the northern it, but even in this depiction of a ‘sport’ wall of his mortuary temple at Medinet there would still be Sethian undertones. Habu in western Thebes. Because Seth On the walls of Edfu temple the priests prevails over the sun-god’s arch-enemy he had Seth’s annihilation as a hippopotamus receives the title ‘great of strength in the carved, and would symbolically eat a hip- barque of millions’. popotamus cake to leave no doubt of his For the Underworld of the private non-existence (see Horus). Egyptian Seth was a terror to be avoided. Other symbols of Seth include the In the Middle and New Kingdom funerary crocodile into which the god had been literature Seth is said to seize the transformed by GEB after the murder deceased’s soul, swallow putrefaction and of Osiris. From the last centuries generally inhabit dark and gloomy quar- of Egyptian civilisation the Papyrus ters. His coterie are goats which were Jumilhac gives an aetiological myth on slaughtered in OSIRIS’s town of Busiris in how the panther received its markings: the Delta so that their blood would ANUBIS branded Seth, who had changed fertilise the earth. into a panther, with iron. From the Middle Kingdom a creature called the ‘hiu’ is 4 Animals linked to Seth also a manifestation of Seth: it is a bray- Certain creatures became symbolically ing donkey or a snake with an ass’s head. sacrificed in temples as an act of triumph In Ptolemaic hieroglyphs the donkey is over Seth. One such animal, the desert oryx, shown as killed by a knife in its back. The is frequently represented with the pharaoh ritual of strangling a goose is also taken to about to cut its throat. In the earliest litera- be the symbol of Seth’s destruction: a ture the red ox, standing for Seth, is offered master butcher called Khenmu, living in up as a sacrifice. Conversely the pig the Pyramid Age, has some mysterious becomes an abomination and not admitted phrases among his titles which seem as part of the sacrificial ritual in the cult of to refer to this rite when he describes HORUS: in the Book of the Dead the sun-god himself as opening the ‘darkness’ by instructs Horus to look at a black boar throttling the ‘desert bird’. (ϭ Seth), which causes such a violent Shay sensation in the god that he loses con- sciousness. The pig remained taboo in his cult from that time on. God personifying destiny. The hippopotamus which has a benign Shay exists both as a concept and as a role in Egyptian religion (see TAWERET) divinity. In the New Kingdom funerary 146 Shed papyrus of the royal scribe Ani, Shay Shed was extremely popular in the appears in the Weighing of the Heart New Kingdom, especially among the scene (see ASSESSOR GODS) as anthropo- community of artisans at Deir el-Medina. morphic. In the New Kingdom book of moral and religious precepts known as the Shesmetet A leonine goddess, probably Instructions of Amenemopet, one passage a manifestation of SAKHMET. Shesmetet stresses the futility of pursuing riches by gives birth to the king according to the pointing out that no one can ignore Shay, Pyramid Texts and with the ‘democratisa- i.e. what is fated. The god, as a personifi- tion’ of Egyptian belief becomes the cation of the span of years, and prosperity mother of the deceased in funerary that a person can expect to enjoy, comes papyri. In a spell to be recited on the last out clearly in inscriptions from the reign day of the year the name of Shesmetet is of Akhenaten (Dynasty XVIII) where invoked as a magical force against either the king or the god ATEN is demons of slaughter. There is a clue to described as ‘the Shay who gives life’. the exotic origins of this goddess in her The god frequently appears mentioned epithet ‘Lady of Punt’, i.e. the incense- beside goddesses who have some affinity region near the coast of modern Eritrea. with his role – RENENUTET, MESKHENET Shezmu and Shepset, a benign minor goddess favoured at Memphis. Shay coalesces in the Graeco-Roman period with Bloodthirsty god Agathodaimon, the popular serpent-god of wine and unguent-oil presses. of fortune at Alexandria. Shezmu is a deity with a dual person- ality who can both exhibit cruelty and Shed provide benefits. These contrasts are apparent as early as the Pyramid Era and A god whose name is coexist down to the Roman period. He is conventionally translated as ‘saviour’ and normally envisaged as anthropomorphic whose role is that of a protector of but in the later period of Egyptian civili- mankind against dangerous desert animals. sation a lion-iconography of this god Close scrutiny of the context in which becomes more popular. Shed’s name appears on New Kingdom In the spell in the Old Kingdom pyra- stelae and papyri as well as a Ptolemaic mids where the king absorbs extra divine cippus (see HARPOKRATES) indicates that strength by eating certain deities and the name had the meaning of ‘Reciter’ powerful beings, it is Shezmu as butcher with the magical sense of ‘Enchanter’. who cuts them up and cooks them for the Shed is shown as a youth wearing a side monarch on the evening hearth stones. lock, holding some of the creatures he dom- Also in the Pyramid Texts he brings the inates such as snakes and oryx and standing king grape juice for wine production. on the backs of crocodiles, his power as a There is evidence from a bowl found near hunter defined by the quiver on his back. the Step Pyramid that at this time Shezmu Sometimes he is depicted in a chariot already had a priesthood. By the Middle pulled by griffons. He is closely associated Kingdom his cult had become well with HORUS particularly under that god’s established in the Faiyum. form of Harpokrates who offers similar From the Coffin Texts there is the amuletic protection against wild beasts. vivid image of an Underworld demon Sia 147 who squeezes out heads like grapes and His birth, like that of his sister–wife who lassoes sinners for the slaughter- TEFNUT, was from the semen of Atum; as block. A Mythological Papyrus (Dynasty an alternative explanation involving a XXI) depicts this vengeful aspect of the play on words, Shu originated from the wine-press god by showing two hawk mucus which Atum sneezed from his deities twisting the net of the wine press nostrils. which contains three human heads In the Pyramid Texts the bones of Shu, instead of grapes and explains to the probably the clouds in the sky, are used by Egyptian mind the red glow of the sky the king in his ascent to heaven. The lakes after sunset. of Shu (perhaps the mist that gathers over There is a definite preference from the the Nile) purify the monarch. New Kingdom to concentrate on the ben- Shu as a god of sunshine is first eficial role of Shezmu as producer of fra- attested in the Old Kingdom where he is grant oils and perfumes. Hieroglyphs on responsible for bringing RA and the king the sarcophagus of Ankhnesneferibra into life every day. The pharaoh Akhenaten (Dynasty XXVI), the Divine Adoratrice over a thousand years later emphasises of AMUN, in the British Museum describe this theme by describing Shu as dwelling the god as manufacturer of prize quality in the sun’s disk (see ATEN). oil of RA. Temples like Edfu and Dendera, The role of Shu as air-god gives rise to where architecturally we can still see the his identification with some head-rests production and storage rooms for cult which then provide the user with a unguents, emphasise Shezmu as ‘master circulating oxygen supply forever. of the perfumery’. In the Underworld Shu is a dangerous god leading a band of torturers and exe- Shu cutioners and whose slaughtering-block is a great peril for the deceased. But he can The god of sunlight and air. also be a protection against the annihilat- Shu takes a human form wearing a ing snake-god APOPHIS. In a similar way plume (the hieroglyph of his name) on his on earth, the power of the poisons of Shu head and with his arms raised supporting are conjured up in magical spells to ward the sky-goddess NUT whom he holds apart off the threat to a person’s internal organs from her consort the earth-god GEB. from Akhu or Samana (malevolent He is one of the first two deities cre- demons of Middle Eastern origin). ated by ATUM the sun-god of Heliopolis. Sia

The god personi- fying the perceptive mind. Sia was created from blood dripping from the phallus of RA, the sun-god. In the Old Kingdom Sia is visualised at the right side of Ra and responsible for carrying the sacred papyrus whose contents embody intellectual achievement. On the Headrest from the Tomb of Tutankhamun, walls of tombs in the Valley of the Kings Dyn. XVIII, Cairo Museum. Sia travels in the boat of the sun-god. 148 Sobek

Probably Sia is equatable with the of the horizon where he is alleged to have intellectual energies of the heart of PTAH a temple made of carnelian. His temples in the Memphite theology, resulting in in Egypt were widespread. The Faiyum the creative command of Ptah’s tongue was particularly sacred to him and he was (see HU). linked to specific sites in it, e.g. Sobek of Shedet. The Greek communities contin- Sobek ued to venerate him, sometimes as Sobek, sometimes as ‘Suchos’, calling one town Crocodile-god symbolic of ‘Crocodilopolis’ in his honour. In Upper pharaonic might. Egypt the last temple before Aswan at Sobek makes his debut in Old Kom-Ombo was sacred in its eastern Kingdom religious texts where he is sector to Sobek, his consort HATHOR and called ‘Rager’ and is said to be the son of their child KHONSU. NEITH. Sokar He can be completely crocodile in shape with a crown of plumes, or partly anthropomorphic. The adroitness of the Hawk-god of the Memphite crocodile to snatch and destroy made it an necropolis. admirable manifestation of royal prowess. The essential iconography of Sokar is A fine dyad statue dating to the reign of a low mound above which the head of the Amenhotep III (Dynasty XVIII) in Luxor sparrow-hawk rests on a boat. The god Museum from Sobek’s sanctuary at can also be pictured in human form with ‘Sumenu’ illustrates the close relationship the hawk’s head, often in an elaborate between the god and the monarch. crown of two horns, two cobras, a conical The haunts of crocodiles, swamps and ‘atef’ centre and a sun disk. river banks, became employed in titles of One of the Pyramid Texts possibly Sobek. He is also ‘lord of Bakhu’, mountain gives the etymology of the god’s name: OSIRIS said – as a cry of help – to his wife

Sokar holding ‘sign of life’ and sceptre of Bronze statuette, c.200 BC, British Museum. dominion.Temple of Sety I, Abydos, Dyn. XIX. Sons of Horus 149 and sister, ‘Sy-k-ri’ or ‘hurry to me’, the idea of moulding objects as an artisan becoming the name of the god Sokar with Sokar becomes associated with the mix- whom he has funerary affinities. From the ing of aromatic substances to provide the Old Kingdom it seems that Sokar was seen unguents so important in Egyptian ritual. as a manifestation of Osiris slain by SETH His craftsman image made the identifica- in Nedyet (ϭ Abydos, thus extending the tion with Ptah, also a god of artisans, god’s presence from an environment cen- occur as a smooth transition. tred around Memphis into Upper Egypt). His funerary aspect, however, is of Equally possible, however, is an explana- extreme importance. As Sokar of ‘Rosetau’ tion of the god’s name connecting him with or ‘mouth of the passages’ (i.e. into the a ritual of the fertility of the earth: SESHAT Underworld) he was the patron deity of in the temple of Sety I at Abydos calls the necropolis to the west of Memphis. Sokar ‘cutter’, from his holding the mat- He is ‘lord of the mysterious region’ and tock to break into the first clod of Nile silt. is prominent in the decoration of Theban In the Old Kingdom Sokar amalga- royal tombs, e.g. Amenhotep II (Dynasty mates with PTAH – this fusion as Ptah- XVIII) where Sokar’s head emerges from Sokar (always in that order) is mentioned a pyramidial mound as ‘he who is on his in the sixth-dynasty autobiography on the sand’. This emphasises him, like Osiris, façade of the tomb of Harkhuf at Aswan. as a resurrected god of the dead, of unre- As a result Sokar takes SAKHMET as his stricted movement and power as his epi- consort. It is not until the New Kingdom, thet ‘great god with his two wings however, that Ptah-Sokar is visually opened’ indicates. The ultimate statement represented – normally hawk-headed. In of Sokar as a funerary deity is the addition, by the Middle Kingdom, prayers superbly wrought silver coffin in the form are addressed to the tripartite deity of the god, discovered among the royal Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. burials at Tanis (Dynasty XXII). Sokar’s funerary role seems only to The festival of Sokar was celebrated develop as a result of his connection with on a considerable scale especially in Osiris. It is suggested that his own per- western Thebes where reliefs on the walls sonality was originally a god of craftsmen of the mortuary temple of Ramesses III rather than of the necropolis. In the (Dynasty XX) at Medinet Habu show that Pyramid Age Sokar is manufacturer of it almost rivalled the New Year Festival of the royal bones and in the Book of the Opet. The essence of the Sokar Festival Dead he fashions the silver bowls for was the continuity of the cult of the divine the deceased to use as foot-basins. From king bound up with the resurrection of the god. Sokar was conveyed in an elaborate boat known as the ‘henu’, united with his other forms of Osiris, Wenen-nofer and Ptah.

Sons of Horus The four gods respon- sible for protecting the embalmed internal organs of the deceased. During the mummification process at Sokar ‘lord of the mysterious region.’Tomb least as early as Dynasty IV, the viscera of Thutmose III, Dyn. XVIII. were removed, dried out in natron and 150 Sons of Horus

Canopic jars of the lady Neskhons, Dyn. XXI, British Museum. wrapped in linen packages. The organs The iconography of the jar stoppers were placed in containers – known mod- then developed into one human and ernly for a completely unrelated reason three animal-headed deities. In two- (i.e. the resemblance to a late local god dimensional representations these gods of Canopus in the Delta) as Canopic are shown mummiform to the shoulders, jars. The stoppers for the jars were in e.g. in the vignette in the Book of the the shape of the deceased’s own head Dead which shows them standing on a until the end of Dynasty XVIII, e.g. blue lotus before OSIRIS in the Hall of the the wooden stopper of King Nebhepetre Two Truths. Each Son of Horus was pro- Mentuhotep (Dynasty XI), the calcite tected in turn on the outside of the chest ones of Tutankhamun and the limestone into which the jars were placed by a ones of Horemheb (Dynasty XVIII). greater power in the form of a goddess:

Son of Horus Form Tutelary Goddess Organ Imsety Human ISIS Liver

Hapy Baboon NEPHTHYS Lungs

Duamutef Jackal NEITH Stomach

Qebehsenuef Hawk SERKET Intestines Sothis 151

The earliest textual references to these gods can be found in the Pyramid Texts where they are called the ‘friends of the King’. They assist the monarch with rope and wooden ladders for his ascension into the eastern sky. The connection of the deities with HORUS goes back to the Old Kingdom in these texts where they are described not only as his ‘children’ but also his ‘souls’. In the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts the role of each god towards the deceased is given in terms of a play on words of their names, e.g. (literally ‘he who praises his mother’) is told by Horus to ‘worship’ the deceased, while Qebehsenuef (‘he who cools his brother’) ‘refreshes’ the dead person. They also have a cosmic association in that they bring the king his name as a star Gilded wooden standard from the Tomb of in the sky. Later in the New Kingdom Tutankhamun, Dyn. XVIII, Cairo Museum. they are found in the northern sky beyond the Great Bear as members of the Council (the ‘seven blessed ones’) set up by ANUBIS The eastern desert is part of Sopedu’s as a magical protection around the coffin domain and he also protects Egyptian of Osiris. interests in the turquoise mines of the Sinai peninsula where inscriptions Sopedu bear witness to his worship at Serabit el-Khadim. A border-patrol god in his His main cult centre is in the north-east role of ‘lord of the east’, depicted either Delta at Saft el-Henna. as a crouching falcon or Bedouin warrier Sothis wearing a crown of tall plumes. However, in the Pyramid Texts it is the astral nature of Sopedu which is stressed. Goddess personifying The king impregnates the goddess ISIS in the star Sirius (Dog-star), herald of the her aspect of the star Sirius (SOTHIS), annual Nile inundation by its bright herald of the Nile inundation. The result appearance in the dawn sky in July of this union is HORUS-Sopedu, a natural (‘Heliacal rising’). coalescence of two hawk deities. More The Egyptian name of this goddess is evidence of Sopedu as a stellar deity ‘Sopdet’ from which derives the Greek ver- occurs in the equation of the god with the sion Sothis, normally used in . teeth of the king when the latter has She is visualised as a lady with a star on become a STAR-GOD. This notion emphasies her head. the king’s invincibility since Sopedu is Perhaps as early as Dynasty I Sothis is ‘sharp of teeth’ himself, a vivid epithet of called ‘bringer of the New Year and the a bird of prey. Nile flood’ – the agricultural calender 152 Souls of Pe and Nekhen

the following equation possible:

Sothis Orion ISIS OSIRIS =

SOPEDU HORUS

In the Lamentations of Isis and NEPHTHYS (a fourth century BC papyrus) Isis asserts that she is Sothis who will unswervingly follow Osiris in his mani- festation as Orion in heaven. In the Late Period the cult of Isis-Sothis results in less autonomy for the star-goddess and Hellenistic interpretations of this dual-deity – such as the iconography of a goddess riding upon the back of a dog – alienate Sothis even further from her pharaonic origins. Souls of Pe and Nekhen

Gods sym- bolising the Predynastic rulers of the northern and southern kingdoms of Egypt, regarded as protective ancestors of the living monarch. Late Period bronze statuette, British Museum. The ‘Bau’ (souls) of Pe have the heads of falcons began with the rise of the river Nile. Pe or Buto ϭ the capital of the Delta Sothis therefore became associated – like kingdom the constellation ORION – with the pros- The ‘Bau’ of Nekhen have the heads perity resulting from the fertile silt left by of jackals Nekhen or Hierakonpolis ϭ the receding waters. ancient capital of Upper Egypt. In the Pyramid Texts, where there is strong evidence of an early Egyptian The gods are upholders of the divine astral cult, the king unites with his sister kingship rightfully inherited by the ruler Sothis who gives birth to the Morning- in his manifestation as the god HORUS. In star. She is also the king’s guide in the the Pyramid Texts the ‘Bau’ of Pe show celestial Field of Rushes. In later funerary their outrage at the murder of OSIRIS, texts of deceased courtiers Sothis has symbolically the pharaoh’s father, by become ‘mother’ and ‘nurse’. tearing their flesh and tugging at their Because Sothis and Orion are astral sidelocks. They feed the flames of the symbols that augur abundant crops, the royal anger at the killing by urging aspects of fecundity and agriculture that the vengeance of Horus against Osiris’s exists in the Osirian cycle of myth made slayer. The ascent of the king into the sky is Star-gods 153

Star-gods Deities called the ‘Imper- ishable Ones’ who personify the ever- visible circumpolar stars in the north of the sky. In the Old Kingdom the evidence of an early astral cult is encapsulated in state- ments regarding the king’s diverse role in the Hereafter. As the Morning-star the pharaoh is assigned by ATUM to the ‘wise’ Imperishable Ones. The king accompanies these deities in the role of a guide. They prepare the fire for the cauldrons of those gods whose magic the king acquires by consuming them (see PHARAOH section titled Deceased king ϭ OSIRIS). A clear attempt is made to combine the ideas of a stellar existence for the monarch with the dominant solar theology. The sun-god travels across the celestial ocean Tomb of Sety I, Dyn. XIX. with the Imperishable Ones (including the king) in his boat. In a New Kingdom royal facilitated by the provison of a gold ladder tomb, a painting of Gate 10 of the from the ‘Bau’ of Pe and Nekhen. Underworld shows twelve oar-carrying The link between the monarch and the gods who are Imperishable Ones described ‘Bau’ of Pe seems to be the strongest, per- as coming out of the primeval waters with haps because the town of Pe was given to RA. Likewise, the growth of the Under- Horus (i.e. the king) by the sun-god RA as world cult is responsible for the stars being a recompense for the injury sustained to labelled ‘followers of Osiris’. his eye in the struggle for the throne. A more elaborate conceptualisation of Temple reliefs of rituals include the the night sky evolved with its division the shrine of the god being carried on into ‘’ – thirty-six star-gods or poles which rest on the shoulders of the constellations moving by boat in 10-day ‘Bau’ of Pe and Nekhen. In scenes which periods across the firmament. Also emphasise the renewal of royal power the the ceilings of royal tombs give the gods escort the king into the temple. whole vista of the night sky visualised To a lesser extent they figure in as groups of star-gods. Some constella- funerary practices. It has been shown tions appear, e.g. as a falcon-headed deity that the ‘dance of the Muu’ performed driving along a bull and others are headed at the tombside conjures up the presence by a combined hippopotamus and croco- of the ‘Bau’ of Pe. In the Valley of the dile goddess. But beyond the identifica- Kings the iconography of the ‘Bau’ shows tion of SOTHIS (Sirius), ORION and the four them on one knee with one arm raised in ‘spirits of the north’ who comprise the the air, usually quite close to a depiction ‘foreleg of SETH’ (i.e. our Great Bear), of the monarch himself, an attitude there is immense uncertainty in identify- indicative of their readiness to hammer ing the Egyptian constellations by their their lawful descendant’s enemies. equivalent modern names. T

Ta-Bitjet is the subject of a number of speculations: (a) Tatenen is the counterpart at Memphis Scorpion- of the notion of the ‘high sand’ or goddess called wife of HORUS in a number primeval mound or ‘benben’ put for- of magico-medical spells against poiso- ward by the priests of Heliopolis. nous bites. The power of the spell stems (b) Tatenen is the arable land reclaimed from the conjuration of the blood that at Memphis from papyrus swamps flowed when Horus took her virginity through irrigation projects. upon an ebony bed. (c) The god is a specific stretch of land at Memphis, submerged by the annual Tasenetnofret A goddess whose name flood and then rising out of the Nile. means ‘the good (or beautiful) sister’, con- (d) Tatenen is a personification of Egypt sort of Haroeris (see HORUS section titled and an aspect of the earth-god GEB. ‘The struggle for the throne of Egypt’) and mother of PANEBTAWY in the western The god as creator receives the title sanctuary of Kom-Ombo temple. ‘father of the gods’ and can be regarded as She is only a colourless manifestation a bisexual deity – a papyrus in Berlin of HATHOR in the role of divine wife. Museum calls him ‘fashioner and mother who gave birth to all the gods’. He has a Tatenen protective role towards the royal dead, guarding their path through the God sym- Underworld – Ramesses III (Dynasty bolising the emergence of the fertile Nile XX) is shown on the walls of the tomb of sil from the receding waters of the inun- his young son Amunhirkhopshef in the dation. Valley of the Queens inviting the god to His name means ‘exalted earth’ and look after the dead prince. he was originally an independent deity at Memphis. Tatenen is represented anthro- Taweret pomorphically with a distinct crown com- prised of two plumes upon rams’ horns. Hippopotamus- As a chthonic god of vegetation he can be goddess, protectress of women in painted with a green face and limbs. childbirth. However, by the Old Kingdom he has Her name means ‘the great one’, ren- become amalgamated with the god PTAH dered into Greek as Thoueris. According and is viewed as a manifestation of Ptah to Plutarch (AD 40–120) Taweret was the as creator-god. In this role of primordial concubine of the god SETH but deserted deity he is found in the important credo of him for HORUS’S side in the dispute over the creation of the world according to the the Egyptian throne. This episode perhaps Memphitie theologians as formulated on reflected the differentiation between the the Shabaqo Stone (see Ptah). How he beneficent Taweret and the male hip- came to represent the idea of cosmogony popotamus as a manifestation of Seth, Tayet 155

fulsome belly. Vases moulded into the form of the goddess had a perforation at one of her nipples so that milk, magically endowed by being in the effigy of Taweret, could be poured out to accompany a spell. In magical texts the goddess can be referred to as the ‘reret’ or ‘sow’, benign and protective towards the child Horus, and so invoked on behalf of children poisoned by scorpion stings. Her antecedents can be traced back to the Pyramid Era in the form of IPY. Her popularity throughout the Middle and New Kingdoms is not restricted to com- moners: she is shown in graffiti on pylon VIII of Karnak temple at Thebes, an area from which the general populace were excluded. There are also fine statues dedicated to her by high officials such as Pabes, high steward of Nitokris, Divine Adoratrice of AMUN (Dynasty XXVI). Taweret becomes a cosmic goddess in her title ‘mistress of the horizon’ which emphasises her as the pharaonic constel- Late Period glazed composition amulet, lation of the Hippopotamus, placed by the British Museum. Egyptians in the northern hemisphere of the sky. An excellent painting of the a destructive force for boats on the Nile, goddess in this astronomical role is on and in the corn fields adjoining its habitat the ceiling of the sarcophagus chamber in of the Nile marshes. the tomb of Sety I (Dynasty XIX) in the Her iconography is composite: the Valley of the Kings. head of a hippopotamus, the legs and Tayet arms of a lion, the tail of a crocodile and human breasts. This ferocious appearance deters malevolent forces from harming Goddess of women at the time of labour and child- weaving. birth. Taweret often rests one arm on the The most crucial role that Tayet plays ‘sa’-amulet which indicates ‘protection’. is provider of woven cloth for embalming. Her well-disposed nature made Taweret In the letter which the pharaoh Senwosret I a great favourite with ordinary Egyptians. (Dynasty XII) sends to Sinuhe, an Charms of glazed composition in the ex-harem official, inviting him back to shape of the goddess, with suspension Egypt after a long sojourn abroad, there is loops, were manufactured on a large scale a fine passage evoking the rituals of the to be worn by pregnant women. In these funerary cult: after Sinuhe’s death there figurines her association with childbirth will be a night of unguents and ‘wrappings is emphasised by the goddess’s own from the hand of Tayet’. This refers to the 156 Tefnut mummy bandages of the embalmers that There are indications that Tefnut has keep the corpse intact. In the Old Kingdom an important role to play in relation to the a prayer was addressed to the goddess to king but references to her Old Kingdom guard the king’s head and gather his inscriptions are rare. However, it is possi- bones. Tayet also weaves the curtain ble to glean that she is responsible for the (embroidered by the god PTAH) which pharaoh’s Delta residence and constructs hangs in the tent of purification where the a pool for him. ritual of embalmment is carried out. Her relationship with her father Ra In daily life, linen bandages were used was at one time hostile, as a Demotic sparingly for medical complaints. One papyrus relates. The goddess quarrelled spell that has come down to us had to be with the sun-god and went to Nubia. The recited over threads of fabric: it was to god THOTH was sent after her as a media- prevent a haemorrhage and its consequent tor and flattered her into returning to defilement of the purity of the ‘land of Egypt. This framework is used by the Tayet’, i.e. the bandages. author of the document as an opportunity to write fables told by Thoth to entertain Tefnut Tefnut on her journey back.

Thoth Primeval goddess per- sonifying moisture. Tefnut is the female partner of the first Moon-god presiding over scribes and knowledge. couple to be created by the sun-god ATUM. He ‘spat out’ the goddess and her name, Thoth – ‘Djeheuty’ in Ancient onomatopoeically, represents this expec- Egyptian – can be represented under two toration. On the walls of Ptolemaic tem- forms: ples Tefnut’s name can be written by the (a) Sacred ibis symbol of a pair of lips spitting. Her The ibis that becomes associated with connection with moisture is tenuously Thoth appears perched on a standard established from her position among on slate palettes of the late Predynastic deities representing cosmic elements and period. Certainly by the Old Kingdom hints in inscriptions such as in the passage the association between the bird and from the Pyramid Texts where the god- the god had been made: in the next life dess creates pure water for the king’s feet the wing of Thoth will carry the king from her vagina (ϭ the morning dew?). over the celestial river if the ferryman Her brother–consort is the air-god SHU is reluctant. Further, the king can and their offspring are GEB and NUT. transform into a bird whose wing As an ‘Eye of RA’ she appears lioness- feathers are those of Thoth ‘mightiest headed. Shu can also take leonine form of the gods’. The ibis symbol also and the couple were worshipped as a pair appears early on in courtiers’ tomb of lions in the Delta at Leontopolis. inscriptions, in reference to offerings Tefnut also had a sanctuary at Heliopolis, being regularly left for the deceased on cult centre of her father Ra-Atum, called the Festival of Thoth. the Lower Menset. In addition, a refer- (b) Baboon (Papio Cynocephalus) ence in the Pyramid Texts describes her By Dynasty I the baboon in its for- iconography as a serpent rearing up on mal squatting posture which was to a sceptre. become the symbol of Thoth had Thoth 157

greeting to the rising sun by creatures of the moon-god. Certainly the baboon is, shown in Egyptian art, in such an attitude of deferential greeting, e.g. in the vignette accompanying the hymn to the sun-god. At the beginning of the Book of the Dead baboons stand on their hind legs with front paws raised in honour of RA, or, above the colossal statues of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel (Dynasty XIX), a frieze of baboons is carved to face the rising sun. It is also possible – but not provable – that the Egyptians had noticed that the hierarchy of a baboon pack mirrored to a certain extent their own society – dominant aloof male ϭ pharaoh, select female baboons ϭ royal harem – and therefore this animal exhibited a wisdom worthy of the god Thoth in his role as sacred reposi- tory of knowledge. In typical Egyptian fashion scribes did not concern themselves with the historical or logical development that might have led to the adoption of these creatures as sacred to Thoth but explained their association with the god by a series of puns – e.g. Thoth as the ibis (ϭ ‘hib’) Late Period glazed composition statuette, treads on (ϭ ‘hab’) his enemies. Louvre Museum. The god’s birth was, according to one legend, unnatural in that he sprang from made its appearance in glazed com- the head of SETH. Elsewhere, such as in position figurines from Abydos. the inscription of the statue of Horemheb Thoth can be depicted as the ibis or (Dynasty XVIII) as a scribe in the baboon appear in nature or, in the case of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the ibis, anthropomorphic with the bird’s Thoth is called the son of Ra. head superimposed on his shoulders. In There is a clear concept of Thoth as each instance the god wears a crown repre- a conciliator among the deities because, senting the crescent moon supporting the as one text puts it, the ‘peace of the gods’ full moon disk. Both his sacred creatures is in him. The skill of his words brings can be interpreted in terms of lunar sym- order to warring factions in Egypt itself. bolism. Thoth as moon-god could manifest However, as early as his appearance in the himself as the sacred ibis whose long Pyramid Texts there are hints that Thoth curved beak hints at the crescent new could be merciless to enemies of truth, moon and whose black and white feather- decapitating them and cutting out their ing could be seen as indicating the waxing hearts. He is a staunch advocate of HORUS and waning of the moon. Baboons make and is seen opposite him on temple walls agitated chattering sounds at dawn and in the ritual of pouring signs of life over consequently this could be understood as a the monarch between them. 158 Thoth

1 God of Scribes 2 Thoth in the Underworld Thoth as ‘lord of the sacred words’ gave The god is himself the scribe of the to the Egyptians the knowledge of how to ENNEAD, responsible for writing letters on write by picture symbols, hence hiero- all important decisions or disputes. His glyphs could always possess a magical impartiality and integrity are beyond force. Scribes regarded themselves as question – hence a common assertion ‘followers of Thoth’. They were a privi- made by an official about his life was that leged professional class and, according to he had been ‘straight and true’ like Thoth. one hymn to Thoth, the eye of the baboon It is Thoth’s duty to record all the souls watched out for scribes who abused their entering ‘Duat’ or the Underworld. In the skill by applying it to illicit self-gain. Hall of the Two Truths the god is in The palette which contained their red charge of the balance, an Ancient and black ink and their pens became the Egyptian equivalent of the lie detector. In symbol of their expertise. The close rela- vignettes from the most elaborate Books tionship between the scribe and Thoth is of the Dead (especially those of Ani or evidenced in two New Kingdom stat- Hunefer, royal scribes, or Anhai, a priest- uettes. One, in the Ashmolean Museum at ess, in the British Museum) Thoth, ibis- Oxford, shows the official supporting the headed, appears in front of the scales in baboon of Thoth on his shoulders and the which the heart of the deceased is other, in the Louvre Museum, is of weighed against the feather of Truth (see Nebmertuwef seated cross-legged on the ASSESSOR GODS). He holds his reed brush ground with his papyrus roll stretched and palette ready to write down the result across his knees listening to the dictates of the examination of the heart. Frequently, of the baboon on an altar beside him. in his shape of a baboon he sits on top Thoth represented to the Egyptians of the balance. He has the vital task of the embodiment of all scientific and liter- announcing to OSIRIS, ruler of the ary attainments, being in command of Underworld, that the deceased has led all ‘the sacred books in the house of life’. a blameless life and is ‘true of voice’. The ‘house of life’ (or ‘per ankh’) was a revered resource centre accessible only 3 Temples of Thoth to scribes, containing a wealth of knowl- His major cult centre was in Middle Egypt edge on papyri – all under the protection at modern el-Ashmunein. Greek visitors of Thoth – e.g. medical manuals, mathe- called it ‘Hermopolis’ (‘Hermes-town’) matical problems and instructional docu- after the god in their pantheon most closely ments on social etiquette. The idea of resembling Thoth. The full identification Thoth transmitting wisdom, too secret was with Hermes ‘trismegistos’ ϭ three- for profane eyes, to a few initiates (notably times-great, a description evolving it to scribes in charge of temple libraries) seems from one of Thoth’s epithets found comes across in the Middle Kingdom in the temple of Esna: ‘Djeheuty pa aa, pa story set centuries before in the reign aa, pa aa’ ϭ ‘Thoth the great, the great, the of King Khufu (Dynasty IV) about a great’. To the Ancient Egyptians it was magician called Djedi: Djedi knows the ‘Khemnu’ or ‘eight-town’, a name refer- number of the secret chambers in ring to four pairs of primeval deities who the sanctuary of Thoth, powerful knowl- were eclipsed in importance by the arrival edge not even possessed by the pharaoh of Thoth ‘lord of the city of the eight’. himself. The consort of Thoth ‘bull of Khemnu’ is Tutu 159

Ibis headed god Thoth from the Papyrus of Anhai, Dyn. XIX, British Museum. a rarely documented goddess called Tutu A leonine god protecting individ- Nehmataway. The site itself has only been uals against diseases. In Greek texts his sporadically explored in previous years but name is Tithoes. is now undergoing systematic excavation. His iconography is hybrid consisting Despite its ruined state it was a major tem- of the body of a striding, winged lion, ple under the pharaohs – Amenhotep III the head of a human, other heads of (Dynasty XVIII) set up a number of 30-ton hawks and crocodiles projecting from baboons carved out of quartzite in honour the body, and the tail of a serpent. Such of Thoth. Much later in the fourth century complex forms seem to be the attempts BC Petosiris, the high priest of Thoth, fol- in Graeco-Roman Egypt to compre- lowing the turmoil of the Persian invasion hend divine power in all its possible of Egypt, renovated the temple monuments manifestations. Modern labels for the and relaid the park for the sacred baboons image of Tutu include ‘pantheistic’ or and ibises – thousands of these mummi- ‘paniconic’. fied creatures were buried in a vast cata- As well as a festival in his honour held at comb not too far from the tomb of Petosiris the Temple of Esna, Tutu appears outside of himself at Tuna el-Gebel. The most impor- the actual Nile Valley in a mud brick shrine, tant event, however, that his autobiograph- dated to the second century AD, in the tem- ical inscription mentions is that part of the ple complex of Ismant el-Kharab (ancient shell of the sacred cosmic egg ( probably Kellis) in in the western envisaged as an ibis egg) from which the desert. He is accompanied by the goddess sun-god emerged at the beginning of time NEITH, considered to be Tutu’s mother, his still existed at Hermopolis. mother and a local goddess called Tapsais. Thoth had temples in Nubia and in the He is also carved on the ceiling slab show- Dakhla oasis in the western desert. He is ing constellations of the sky in the temple at also an important deity in Sinai, control- Deir el-Hagar in Dakhla Oasis. ling the mining of turquoise – Ramesses His popular appeal can be seen in the VI (Dynasty XX) is shown praying to Roman town of Karanis in the Faiyum, Thoth of Mesdyt in the temple at Serabit where he is among deities painted on the el-Khadim. walls of private houses. U

Underworld deities The Egyptian overall categories – following the imagination evolved a myriad of gods and Egyptian practice of dividing the royal goddesses dwelling in the Netherworld. tombs’ walls, decorated with images of These cover the walls of tombs in the the sun-god’s journey through the Valley of the Kings (741 can be counted Netherworld, into distinct compositions on the walls of the antechamber of the such as the ‘Amduat’ (Book of ‘that which tomb of Thutmose III, Dynasty XVIII), or is in the Underworld’), Litany of RA, and form vignettes in the funerary papyri Book of Gates. known as the ‘Book of the Dead’. The The following are the major complexity of names and epithets does Underworld divinities discussed in this not in most cases lead to an understanding dictionary: AKER, APOPHIS, ASSESSOR GODS, of the deities’ origins. Consequently, they CAVERN DEITIES, GATE DEITIES, HOURS, remain mysterious but can be divided into OSIRIS. W

Wadjet In the legend of the upbringing of the young HORUS in Khemmis in the Delta it is Wadjet who is his nurse leading to Cobra-goddess of a later identification with ISIS. Along with Buto (Tell el-Farain) in the Nile Delta, several other leonine deities she is given preserver of royal authority over Northern the relatively undistinguished role of Egypt. mother to the god NEFERTUM. Wadjet is represented as a cobra rear- ing up to strike with lethal force any The royal Uraeus enemy of the king. She can also appear as The symbol of sovereignty backed up by a lioness in her role as ‘Eye of RA’ (com- a superhuman force of destruction is pare SAKHMET and TEFNUT). the cobra worn on the royal head-dress Her name (also found in Egyptological or crown. According to a Pyramid Text literature as Edjo or Uto) means ‘green the god GEB awarded the cobra to the one’, a reference both to a serpent’s colour king as legitimate holder of the throne and to the Delta’s papyrus swamps which, of Egypt. This emblem is Wadjet rising according to one of the Pyramid Texts, she up in anger about to spit flames in created. defence of the monarch. The imagery She is the tutelary goddess of Lower (‘’ in Egyptian) lies behind the Greek Egypt and is symbolised as such by a title word for ‘serpent’, normally used in its in the royal protocol (see PHARAOH). The Latinised form of Uraeus. In war the major Delta shrine, the ‘Per-’, is under Uraeus on the king’s brow destroys his her protection. Wadjet is in harmony with enemies with her fiery breath as in the her southern counterpart NEKHBET – in inscriptions, e.g. describing Thutmose III temples or tombs she can frequently be (Dynasty XVIII) at the battle of Megiddo seen with the full body or just the wings and Ramesses II (Dynasty XVIII) at of the vulture-goddess of Upper Egypt. Kadesh. The sun-god RA also wears the Uraeus which envelops his solar disk within its coils, here Wadjet is Ra’s agent of annihi- lation, especially of the hostile snakes of the Underworld which might threaten the sun-god on his nightly journey. So closely is the Uraeus identified with kingship that when Akhenaten (Dynasty XVIII) adopted the device that reduced the iconography of the sun-god to abstract essentials, the cobra- goddess was retained on the solar disk, Wadjet as royal cobra. Gold coffin of emphasising the god ATEN to be overall Tutankhamun, Dyn. XVIII, Cairo Museum. sovereign. 162 Wadj Wer

Wadj Wer Fertility-god personifying under this name (which means Great Green) either the Mediterranean sea off the north coast of Egypt or the major lagoons of the Nile Delta itself, i.e. Lake Mariut, Idku, Burullus and Mazala. As early as the Old Kingdom this deity is shown in a relief from the pyramid site of Abusir. He proceeds among the fecundity figures, carrying an offering-loaf on a mat and with symbols of life (the ‘ankh’ sign) suspended from his arm. Under his androgynous form with an emphasised breast and a belly indicative of pregnancy, Wadj Wer is clearly associated with pro- creation and prosperity. Water signs are carved across his body suggesting the rich fishing in the Delta lakes.

Temple of Sety I, Abydos, Dyn. XIX. Weneg

Egypt, c.3000 BC. However, by the Old A son of the sun-god RA Kingdom Wepwawet is seen as a god of found in Old Kingdom texts. He seems to Lower Egypt as well – indeed a pyramid represent the cosmic order, rather like inscription locates his place of birth as in Ra’s daughter MAAT, by supporting the sky the ‘Per-nu’, the shrine of the northern and so keeping the forces of chaos from goddess WADJET. Elsewhere he is described crashing down onto the earth. He is also a as ‘emerging from a tamarisk bush’. judge of other gods, probably administer- In front of Wepwawet ‘who is on his ing the cosmic laws of Ra. standard’ is a symbol called the ‘shed- shed’ which is a bolster-like protruber- Wepwawet ance. According to the Pyramid Texts it is on this mysterious emblem that the Jackal-god of Upper monarch ascends to the sky. It has been Egypt, champion of the monarch. suggested that the ‘shedshed’ sign repre- His name means ‘opener of the ways’, sents the royal placenta and that applicable both in a secular context in asso- Wepwawet stands for the king himself as ciation with royal conquests and as a funer- the legitimate first-born heir – the ‘opener ary concept referring to the Underworld. of the ways’ from the womb. The archaeological evidence of slate On the Shabaqo Stone in the British palettes suggests that his origins lie in the Museum, a Dynasty XXV copy of an orig- south of Egypt among the rulers of the inal papyrus dating to the Pyramid Age, late Predynastic period. He is represented Wepwawet is unequivocably identified on one of the four standards preceding the with HORUS. This link extends naturally to conquering monarch on the monument of the pharaoh himself. On a fragment of a Narmer, the uniter of Upper and Lower relief from Sinai, Wepwawet’s ‘shedshed’ Weret-Hekau 163 symbol leads King (Dynasty III) Her name means ‘Great of Magic’ – as he crushes all opponents threatening which as an epithet frequently follows the the routes to the turquoise mines of Wadi names of major goddesses such as HATHOR, Maghara. Here Wepwawet is ‘opener ISIS, MUT, PAKHET or SAKHMET. In the of the ways’ in a strategic sense. He is Pyramid Texts, the title ‘Great of Magic’ prominent in royal rituals symbolising the is also given to the Crowns of Upper and unification of the Egyptian state. In the Lower Egypt. pharaoh Nyuserra’s jubilee festival As an independent deity, Weret-Hekau celebrations (Dynasty V), carved in his occurs in reliefs and inscriptions of sun-temple at Abu Gurob, Wepwawet’s the New Kingdom. On the Eighth Pylon shrine is entered by the king in the ritual of the Temple of AMUN at Karnak, Weret- of dedicating the ‘field’, i.e. the land of Hekau with the head of a lioness Egypt. accompanies the pharaoh Thutmose III In a funerary context it is the adze of (Dynasty XVIII) in the procession of Wepwawet that is used to ‘split open’ the the sacred boat carried on the priests’ king’s mouth in the ceremony of vivifica- shoulders. The most beautiful representa- tion performed at the time of burial. In tions of the lioness goddess are on the non-royal mortuary texts Wepwawet is interior northern wall of the Great ‘opener of the ways’ in the sense of guid- Hypostyle Hall at Karnak where she pre- ing the deceased onto a good path in the sents the pharaoh Sety I (Dynasty XIX) Underworld. At Abydos, as we learn from with the symbol of the jubilee festival the Middle Kingdom stela of Ikhernofret, (see PHARAOH section titled ‘Living there was a ‘procession of Wepwawet’ king ϭ deified through ritual’). On the that began the mysteries of his ‘father’ small Golden shrine discovered in the OSIRIS. Wepwawet, in the enactment of the tomb of Tutankhamun (Dynasty XVIII) ritual drama, warded off the enemy the name of the pharaoh, and that of his attacks upon the ‘neshmet’-boat of the queen , is often linked to god. Very rarely Wepwawet is seen as the Weret-Hekau, sometimes called ‘Mistress sun-god. In the Pyramid Texts he is called of the Palace’. In the shrine itself was an RA who has ‘gone up from his horizon’, amulet showing Weret-Hekau as a possibly with the idea of being the cobra-goddess, with a human head and ‘opener’ of the sky to the light of dawn. arms, suckling Tutankhamun. Her close- Also, according to the thankful dedicator ness to royalty is particularly stressed on of a stela in the Ramesside period, it is the inscription on the dyad statue of the Wepwawet-Ra ‘lord of awe’ who saved pharaoh Horemheb (Dynasty XVIII) him from being devoured by a crocodile. and his queen Mutnodjmet, now in Turin Wepwawet as ‘lord of Zauty’ had Museum. The inscription describes ancient connections with the region of how during Horemheb’s coronation cere- Assiut. The later Greek interpretation of mony in the Temple of Karnak, Weret- Wepwawet as a wolf led to his sacred town Hekau embraces the new pharaoh and being named ‘Lycopolis’ or ‘Wolf-City’. establishes herself as the Uraeus on his brow. In the Graeco-Roman Era Weret- Weret-Hekau Hekau participates in the mourning ritu- als depicted on the walls of the OSIRIS Cobra or lioness chapel on the roof of the Temple of Goddess, guardian of the pharaoh. Philae. 164

Wosret she was the earliest consort of AMUN at Karnak, preceding MUT. Certainly Middle Kingdom pharaohs of Theban origins Goddess of Thebes whose take her name as an element in their own – name means ‘the powerful’. Possibly Sen-Wosret or ‘man belonging to Wosret’. Y

Yamm Tyrannical god of the sea, seems to hint that his exorbitant demands who occurs as an enemy of BAAL in for tribute from the other deities were cuneiform texts from Ugarit in Syria, eventually thwarted by the goddess found in a fragmentary papyrus which ASTARTE. Select further reading

General interpretations of deities Wilkinson, R.H. (2003) The Complete and religion Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson: London. Assmann, J. (2001) The Search for God in Ancient Egypt, Cornell University Press: Special studies on Egyptian deities Ithaca, NY and London. Dunand, F. and Zivie-Coche, C. (2004) Allen, J.P. (1988) Genesis in Egypt: the Gods and Men in Egypt 3000 BCE to Philosophy of Ancient Egyptian 395 CE, Cornell University Press: Ithaca, Creation Accounts, Yale University: NY and London. New Haven, CT. Hart, G. (2003) Egyptian Myths, The Assmann, J. (1995) Egyptian Solar British Museum Press: London. Religion in the New Kingdom: Re, Amun Hornung, E. (1983) Conceptions of God and the Crisis of Polytheism, Kegan in Ancient Egypt, Routledge & Kegan Paul International: London. Paul: London. Gwyn Griffiths, J. (1960) The Conflict of Meeks, D. and Favard-Meeks, C. (1997) Horus and Seth, Liverpool University Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods, John Press: Liverpool. Murray: London. —— (1980) The Origins of Osiris and his O’Connor, D. and Silverman, D.P. (eds) Cult, E.J. Brill: Leiden. (1995) Ancient Egyptian Kingship, Hornung, E. (1999) The Ancient Egyptian E.J. Brill: Leiden. Books of the Afterlife, Cornell University Quirke, S. (1992) Ancient Egyptian Press: Ithaca, NY and London. Religion, The British Museum Press: —— (2001) Akhenaten and the Religion London. of Light, Cornell University Press: Robins, G. (1993) Women in Ancient Egypt, Ithaca, NY and London. The British Museum Press: London. Otto, E. (1968) Egyptian Art and the Cults Sauneron, S. (2000) The Priests of Ancient of Osiris and Amun, Thames & Hudson: Egypt, Cornell University Press: Ithaca, London. NY and London. Quirke, S. (2001) The Cult of Ra: Sun Shafer, B.E. (ed.) (1991) Religion in Ancient Worship in Ancient Egypt, Thames & Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Hudson: London. Practice, Routledge: London. —— (1998) Temples of Ancient Egypt, Translations of Ancient I.B. Tauris: London and New York. Egyptian Texts Taylor, J.H. (2001) Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, The British Museum Allen, T.G. (1974) The Book of the Dead, Press: London. University of Chicago Press: Chicago. Select further reading 167

Borghouts, J.F. (1978) Ancient Egyptian Translations of Classical Magical Texts, E.J. Brill: Leiden. Authors Fairman, H.W. (1974) The Triumph of Horus, B.T. Batsford: London. Gwyn Griffiths, J. (1970) Plutarch’s De Faulkner, R.O. (1969) The Ancient Egyptian Iside et Osiride, University of Wales Pyramid Texts, Oxford University Press: Press: Swansea. Oxford. —— (1975) Apuleius of Madauros: the —— (1973) The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI), Texts I: Spells 1–354, Aris & Phillips: E.J. Brill: Leiden. Warminster. Murphy, E. (1990) The Antiquities of Egypt: —— (1977) The Ancient Egyptian Coffin a Translation with Notes of Book I of Texts II: Spells 355–787, Aris & the Library of History of Diodorus Phillips: Warminster. Siculus, Transaction Publishers: New —— (1978) The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Brunswick, NJ and London. Texts III: Spells 788–1185, Aris & Waterfield, R. (1998) Herodotus: the Phillips: Warminster. Histories, Oxford University Press: Foster, J.L. (1995) Hymns, Prayers, and Oxford. Songs: an Anthology of Ancient Egyptian Lyric Poetry, Scholars Press: Ancient Egyptian Deities and Atlanta, GA. Later Perceptions Lichteim, M. (1973) Ancient Egyptian Assmann, J. (1999) Moses the Egyptian: Literature I: Old and Middle the Memory of Egypt in Western Kingdoms, University of California Monotheism, Harvard University Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA Press: Cambridge, MA and London. and London. Fowden, G. (1993) The Egyptian Hermes: —— (1976) Ancient Egyptian Literature a Historical Approach to the Late Pagan II: the New Kingdom, University Mind, Princeton University Press: of California Press: Berkeley and Princeton, NJ. Los Angeles, CA and London. Hornung, E. (2001) The Secret Lore of —— (1980) Ancient Egyptian Literature Egypt and its Impact on the West, III: the Late Period, University of Cornell University Press: Ithaca, NY California Press: Berkeley and Los and London. Angeles, CA and London. Iversen, E. (1993) The Myth of Egypt Murnane, W.J. (1995) Texts from the and its Hieroglyphs in European in Egypt, Scholars Tradition, Princeton University Press: Press: Atlanta, GA. Princeton, NJ. Parkinson, R.B. (1997) The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems Historical, Geographical, Social and 1940–1640 BC, Oxford University Artistic Background Press: Oxford. Piankoff, A. (1954) The Tomb of Ramesses Assmann, J. (2002) The Mind of Egypt: VI, Pantheon Books: New York. History and Meaning in the Time of the Simpson, W.K. (ed.) (2003) The Pharaohs, Harvard University Press: Literature of Ancient Egypt, Yale Cambridge, MA and London. University Press: New Haven, CT and Baines, J. and Malek, J. (1980) Atlas of London. Ancient Egypt, Phaidon: Oxford. 168 Select further reading

Donadoni, D. (ed.) (1997) The Egyptians, Schulz, R. and Seidel, M. (eds) (1998) University of Chicago Press: Chicago, Egypt: the World of the Pharaohs, IL and London. Konemann: Cologne. Hornung, E. (1999) History of Ancient Shaw, I. (ed.) (2000) The Oxford History Egypt, Edinburgh University Press: of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Edinburgh. Press: Oxford. Robins, G. (1997) The Art of Ancient Siliotti, A. (1994) Egypt: Splendours of Egypt, British Museum Press: an Ancient Civilization, Thames & London. Hudson: London. Concordance of divine names

Amonrasonther see ‘Amun-Ra, King of the Hermes, Greek god see THOTH gods’ under AMUN Anhur see ONURIS Imouthes see IMHOTEP see APOPHIS Imsety see SONS OF HORUS Aphrodite, Greek goddess see ‘Goddess Kamutef see ‘Amun as creator’under AMUN of love, music and dance’ under HATHOR Kauket see OGDOAD Apollo, Greek god see HORUS Kek see OGDOAD Arsaphes see HERYSHAF Kematef see ‘Amun as creator’under AMUN Artemis, Greek goddess see BASTET, PAKHET Khentamentiu see OSIRIS, ANUBIS Athene, Greek goddess see NEITH Kneph see ‘Amun as creator’ under AMUN Buchis see MONTU Menhyt see KHNUM Duamutef see SONS OF HORUS Naunet see OGDOAD Dunanwy/Dunawy see ANTI Nemty see ANTI Edjo see WADJET Onnophris see ‘Osiris in the Middle and Ernutet see RENENUTET New Kingdoms’ under OSIRIS Great Green see WADJ WER Osorapis see APIS, SARAPIS Great Honker see GENGEN WER Pan, Greek god see MIN Hapy see SONS OF HORUS Phoenix see BENU Harakhti see under HORUS Harendotes see under HORUS Quebehsenuef see SONS OF HORUS Harmachis see under HORUS Raettawy see MONTU Haroeris see ‘The struggle for the throne Rhea, Greek goddess see NUT of Egypt’ under HORUS Ruty ‘The Twin Lions’ i.e. SHU and TEFNUT Harpokrates see under HORUS Harsiese see ‘Horus the son of Isis: Selkis see SERKET Harsiese’ under HORUS Sopdet see SOTHIS Harsomtus see under HORUS Sphinx at Giza see HARMACHIS, HAURUN Hauhet see OGDOAD Suchos see SOBEK Helios, Greek god see RA Sutekh see SETH Hephaistos, Greek god see PTAH Herakles, Greek god see HERYSHAF Thermouthis see RENENUTET 170 Concordance of divine names

Thoueris see TAWERET Yun-Mutef see ‘Horus and the King’ under Tithoes see TUTU HORUS Typhon, Greek god see SETH Wenen-Nofer see ‘Osiris in the Middle and Uraeus see WADJET New Kingdoms’ under OSIRIS