Geb was the Egyptiangod of the Earth[1] and a mythological member of the Ennead of Heliopolis. He could also be considered a father of snakes. It was believed in ancient Egypt that Geb's laughter created earthquakes[2] and that he allowed crops to grow.
The oldest representation in a fragmentary relief of the god was as an anthropomorphic bearded being accompanied by his name, and dating from king Djoser's reign, during the Third Dynasty, and was found in Heliopolis.[citation needed] However, the god never received a temple of his own. In later times he could also be depicted as a ram, a bull or a crocodile (the latter in a vignette of the Book of the Dead of the lady Heryweben in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo).[citation needed]
Geb was frequently feared as father of snakes (one of the names for snake was s3-t3 – "son of the earth"). In one of the Coffin Text spells Geb was described as father of the mythological snake Nehebkau of primeval times.[citation needed] Geb also often occurs as a primeval divine king of Egypt from whom his son Osiris and his grandson Horus inherited the land after many conflicts with the disruptive god Set, brother and killer of Osiris. Geb could also be regarded as personified fertile earth and barren desert, the latter containing the dead or setting them free from their tombs, metaphorically described as "Geb opening his jaws", or imprisoning those there not worthy to go to the fertile North-Eastern heavenly Field of Reeds. In the latter case, one of his otherworldly attributes was an ominous jackal-headed stave (called wsr.tMighty One') rising from the ground onto which enemies could be bound.[citation needed]
In the Heliopolitan Ennead (a group of nine gods created in the beginning by the one god Atum or Ra), Geb is the husband of Nut, the sky or visible daytime and nightly firmament, the son of the earlier primordial elementsTefnut (moisture) and Shu ("emptiness"), and the father to the four lesser gods of the system – Osiris, Seth, Isis and Nephthys. In this context, Geb was believed to have originally been engaged with Nut and had to be separated from her by Shu, god of the air.[4] Consequently, in mythological depictions, Geb was shown as a man reclining, sometimes with his phallus still pointed towards Nut. Geb and Nut together formed the permanent boundary between the primeval waters and the newly created world. [5]
As time progressed, the deity became more associated with the habitable land of Egypt and also as one of its early rulers. As a chthonic deity[6] he (like Min) became naturally associated with the underworld, fresh waters and with vegetation – barley being said to grow upon his ribs – and was depicted with plants and other green patches on his body.[7]
His association with vegetation, healing[7] and sometimes with the underworld and royalty brought Geb the occasional interpretation that he was the husband of Renenutet, a minor goddess of the harvest and also mythological caretaker (the meaning of her name is "nursing snake") of the young king in the shape of a cobra, who herself could also be regarded as the mother of Nehebkau, a primeval snake god associated with the underworld. He is also equated by classical authors as the GreekTitanCronus.[citation needed]
Ptah and Ra, creator deities, usually begin the list of divine ancestors. There is speculation between Shu and Geb and who was the first god-king of Egypt. The story of how Shu, Geb, and Nut were separated in order to create the cosmos is now being interpreted in more human terms; exposing the hostility and sexual jealousy. Between the father-son jealousy and Shu rebelling against the divine order, Geb challenges Shu's leadership. Geb takes Shu's wife, Tefnut, as his chief queen, separating Shu from his sister-wife. Just as Shu had previously done to him. In the Book of the Heavenly Cow, it is implied that Geb is the heir of the departing sun god. After Geb passed on the throne to Osiris, his son, he then took on a role of a judge in the Divine Tribunal of the gods.[8]
Some Egyptologists (specifically Jan Bergman, Terence Duquesne or Richard H. Wilkinson) have stated that Geb was associated with a mythological divine creator goose who had laid a world egg from which the sun and/or the world had sprung. This theory is assumed to be incorrect and to be a result of confusing the divine name "Geb" with that of a Whitefronted Goose (Anser albifrons), also called originally gb(b): "lame one, stumbler".[9]
This bird-sign is used only as a phonogram in order to spell the name of the god (H.te Velde, in: Lexikon der Aegyptologie II, lemma: Geb). An alternative ancient name for this goose species was trp meaning similarly 'walk like a drunk', 'stumbler'. The Whitefronted Goose is never found as a cultic symbol or holy bird of Geb. The mythological creator 'goose' referred to above, was called Ngg wr "Great Honker" and always depicted as a Nile Goose/Fox Goose or Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus) who ornithologically belongs to a separate genus and whose usual Egyptian name was smn, Coptic smon. A coloured vignette irrefutably depicts a Nile Goose with an opened beak (Ngg wr!) in a context of solar creation on a mythological papyrus dating from the 21st Dynasty.[10]
Similar images of this divine bird are to be found on temple walls (Karnak, Deir el-Bahari), showing a scene of the king standing on a papyrus raft and ritually plucking papyrus for the Theban god Amun-Re-Kamutef. The latter Theban creator god could be embodied in a Nile goose, but never in a Whitefronted Goose. In Underworld Books a diacritic goose-sign (most probably denoting then an Anser albifrons) was sometimes depicted on top of the head of a standing anonymous male anthropomorphic deity, pointing to Geb's identity. Geb himself was never depicted as a Nile Goose, as later was Amun, called on some New Kingdom stelae explicitly: "Amun, the beautiful smn- goose" (Nile Goose).[10]
The only clear pictorial confusion between the hieroglyphs of a Whitefronted Goose (in the normal hieroglyphic spelling of the name Geb, often followed by the additional -b-sign) and a Nile Goose in the spelling of the name Geb occurs in the rock cut tomb of the provincial governor Sarenput II (12th Dynasty, Middle Kingdom) on the Qubba el-Hawa desert-ridge (opposite Aswan), namely on the left (southern) wall near the open doorway, in the first line of the brightly painted funerary offering formula. This confusion is to be compared with the frequent hacking out by Akhenaten's agents of the sign of the Pintail Duck (meaning 'son') in the royal title 'Son of Re', especially in Theban temples, where they confused the duck sign with that of a Nile Goose regarded as a form of the then forbidden god Amon.[10]
Nut (goddess)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the Egyptian sky goddess. For the goddess in the cosmology of Thelema, see Nuit.
Nut
The goddess Nut, wearing the water-pot sign (nw) that identifies her.
The pronunciation of ancient Egyptian is uncertain because vowels were long omitted from its writing, although her name often includes the unpronounced determinativehieroglyph for "sky". Her name Nwt, itself also meaning "Sky",[5] is usually transcribed as "Nut" but also sometimes appears in older sources as Nunut, Nent, and Nuit.[6]
She also appears in the hieroglyphic record by a number of epithets, not all of which are understood.
Nut is a daughter of Shu and Tefnut. Her brother and husband is Geb. She had four children – Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys – to which is added Horus in a Graeco-Egyptian version of the myth of Nut and Geb.[7] She is considered one of the oldest deities among the Egyptian pantheon,[8] with her origin being found on the creation story of Heliopolis. She was originally the goddess of the nighttimesky, but eventually became referred to as simply the sky goddess. Her headdress was the hieroglyph of part of her name, a pot, which may also symbolize the uterus. Mostly depicted in nude human form, Nut was also sometimes depicted in the form of a cow whose great body formed the sky and heavens, a sycamore tree, or as a giant sow, suckling many piglets (representing the stars).
Some scholars suggested that the Egyptians may have seen the Milky Way as a celestial depiction of Nut.[9]
Properties
Atomic
The shapes of the five orbitals occupied in nitrogen. The two colours show the phase or sign of the wave function in each region. From left to right: 1s, 2s (cutaway to show internal structure), 2px, 2py, 2pz.
A nitrogen atom has seven electrons. In the ground state, they are arranged in the electron configuration 1s2 2s2 2p1 x2p1 y2p1 z. It, therefore, has five valence electrons in the 2s and 2p orbitals, three of which (the p-electrons) are unpaired. It has one of the highest electronegativities among the elements (3.04 on the Pauling scale), exceeded only by chlorine (3.16), oxygen (3.44), and fluorine (3.98). (The light noble gases, helium, neon, and argon, would presumably also be more electronegative, and in fact are on the Allen scale.)[24] Following periodic trends, its single-bond covalent radius of 71 pm is smaller than those of boron (84 pm) and carbon (76 pm), while it is larger than those of oxygen (66 pm) and fluorine (57 pm). The nitride anion, N3−, is much larger at 146 pm, similar to that of the oxide (O2−: 140 pm) and fluoride (F−: 133 pm) anions.[24] The first three ionisation energies of nitrogen are 1.402, 2.856, and 4.577 MJ·mol−1, and the sum of the fourth and fifth is 16.920 MJ·mol−1. Due to these very high figures, nitrogen has no simple cationic chemistry.[25] The lack of radial nodes in the 2p subshell is directly responsible for many of the anomalous properties of the first row of the p-block, especially in nitrogen, oxygen, and fluorine. The 2p subshell is very small and has a very similar radius to the 2s shell, facilitating orbital hybridisation. It also results in very large electrostatic forces of attraction between the nucleus and the valence electrons in the 2s and 2p shells, resulting in very high electronegativities. Hypervalency is almost unknown in the 2p elements for the same reason, because the high electronegativity makes it difficult for a small nitrogen atom to be a central atom in an electron-rich three-center four-electron bond since it would tend to attract the electrons strongly to itself. Thus, despite nitrogen's position at the head of group 15 in the periodic table, its chemistry shows huge differences from that of its heavier congeners phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth.[26]
Nitrogen may be usefully compared to its horizontal neighbours' carbon and oxygen as well as its vertical neighbours in the pnictogen column, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth. Although each period 2 element from lithium to oxygen shows some similarities to the period 3 element in the next group (from magnesium to chlorine; these are known as diagonal relationships), their degree drops off abruptly past the boron–silicon pair. The similarities of nitrogen to sulfur are mostly limited to sulfur nitride ring compounds when both elements are the only ones present.[27]
Nitrogen does not share the proclivity of carbon for catenation. Like carbon, nitrogen tends to form ionic or metallic compounds with metals. Nitrogen forms an extensive series of nitrides with carbon, including those with chain-, graphitic-, and fullerenic-like structures.[28]
It resembles oxygen with its high electronegativity and concomitant capability for hydrogen bonding and the ability to form coordination complexes by donating its lone pairs of electrons. There are some parallels between the chemistry of ammonia NH3 and water H2O. For example, the capacity of both compounds to be protonated to give NH4+ and H3O+ or deprotonated to give NH2− and OH−, with all of these able to be isolated in solid compounds.[29]
Nitrogen shares with both its horizontal neighbours a preference for forming multiple bonds, typically with carbon, oxygen, or other nitrogen atoms, through pπ–pπ interactions.[27] Thus, for example, nitrogen occurs as diatomic molecules and therefore has very much lower melting (−210 °C) and boiling points (−196 °C) than the rest of its group, as the N2 molecules are only held together by weak van der Waals interactions and there are very few electrons available to create significant instantaneous dipoles. This is not possible for its vertical neighbours; thus, the nitrogen oxides, nitrites, nitrates, nitro-, nitroso-, azo-, and diazo-compounds, azides, cyanates, thiocyanates, and imino-derivatives find no echo with phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, or bismuth. By the same token, however, the complexity of the phosphorus oxoacids finds no echo with nitrogen.[27] Setting aside their differences, nitrogen and phosphorus form an extensive series of compounds with one another; these have chain, ring, and cage structures.[30]
Table of thermal and physical properties of nitrogen (N2) at atmospheric pressure:[31][32]
Nehebkau[pronunciation?] (also spelled Nehebu-Kau) was the primordial snake god in ancient Egyptian mythology. Although originally considered an evil spirit, he later functions as a funerary god associated with the afterlife. As one of the forty-two assessors of Ma’at, Nehebkau was believed to judge the deceased after death and provide their souls with ka – the part of the soul that distinguished the living from the dead.
Nehebkau was ultimately considered a powerful, benevolent and protective deity. In late mythology, he is described as a companion of the sun god Ra and an attendant of the deceased King. As he is so closely associated with the sun god, his name was evoked in magical spells for protection. His festival was widely celebrated throughout the Middle and New Kingdoms.
Nehebkau's name – also spelled Neheb-Kau[1] and Nhb-K3w[2] – has been translated in many ways by Egyptologists. These translations include: “that which gives Ka”;[2] “he who harnesses the spirits”;[1] the “overturner of doubles”;[3] “collector of souls”;[2] “provider of goods and foods”[2] and “bestower of dignities”.[4]
Nehebkau with a falcon-head presents an Eye of Horus to Min. Based on depictions in various hypocephali.
Nehebkau is the “original snake”[5] of Egyptian mythology, and was believed to be both an ancient and eternal god.[2] Although he is occasionally represented as a son of Serket, Renenutet or Geb, he is sometimes believed to have simply "emerged from the earth".[2] He was believed to have lived in the Great Temple of Heliopolis, which was also the centre of worship for Re and Atum.[2]
Nehebkau is a considerably powerful deity, which contemporary Egyptologist and author Richard Wilkinson credits to his demonic origins and snake-like qualities.[1] After he swallows seven cobras in a myth, Nehebkau cannot be harmed by any magic, fire or water.[1] In an early myth, he demonstrates an ability to breathe fire.[6] Nehebkau first appears in the Pyramid Texts,[1] and he is described as an evil, long and winding serpent who devoured human souls in the afterlife.[3] In this context, he is believed to be an enemy of the sun god,[4] and Re is said to have built his sun boats to be able to be pushed by the wind in order to escape Nehebkau's many coils.[2]
Nehebkau was later honoured[3] among other dangerous gods as one of the 42 judges in the Court of Maat,[4] judging the innocence of deceased souls.[1] Additionally, orientalist Professor Wilhelm Max Muller describes Nehebkau to have personally guarded the gates of the underworld.[3]
As a snake god, Nehebkau was also considered a dangerous, furious and fearsome demon.[6]
In the Coffin Texts, however, the ancient god Atum places his fingernail against a nerve in Nehebkau's spine, calming his chaotic and fearsome nature.[2]
Throughout and following the Coffin Texts, Nehebkau is considered a benevolent and helpful deity who may be befriended by gods and men and enlisted into service.[4] After this transformation, he appears as a servant and partner to the sun god Re,[2] and is said to provide food and assistance to the deceased King in the afterlife.[7] In this position, he became increasingly powerful and important, eventually assuming Re's role as a King of The Sky.[2]
It is in this peaceful form that he mostly appears in Egyptian mythologies,[4] and he was often evoked as a protective god in religious rituals, amulets and spells.[4]
When a deceased spirit enters the afterlife in Ancient Egyptian mythology, the most important stage is their trial in the Court of Maat,[1] also known as the Law-Court of Osiris[1] or the Dead Court.[4] This tribunal consisted of forty-two fearsome deities who represented all possible types of evil,[1] and to whom the deceased had to declare their innocence.[1]
Nehebkau had a specific role in examining the individual's purity and sinlessness, and he was specifically responsible for protecting the neck and throat of the deceased.[2]
Once the deceased is justified and found innocent by the Court, Nehebkau is believed to have absolved the soul of sin[2] and provided the deceased with food and drink.[2] He additionally nourishes the deceased with ka[broken anchor] - the 'life force' of the individual - allowing their spirit to endure in the afterlife.[9]
After he was subdued by Atum, Nehebkau was characterised as benevolent, beautiful and peaceful.[2] It is in this state that he became the servant and partner of the sun god Re. In later myths, he assists Re in his moving of the morning boat through the sky to the east[2] and throughout the flight of the day.[2] In the Book of The Dead, this passage is described as making all people happy, filling hearts with “joy and justice”.[2]
Additionally, Nehebkau is said to have served the dead Kings in this period: providing food,[7] transmitting messages[7] and intervening with other deities on their behalf.[1]
Nehebkau eventually assumed Re's role in the afterlife:[2] becoming “the King of Heaven and ruler of the Two Lands”[10] and bestowing crowns, ka and other desirable qualities upon the spirits of the deceased.[10] He acted as a mediator between the deceased and the gods,[2] and was additionally responsible for assigning the dead their positions in the afterlife.[4]
An Ancient Egyptian representation of Nehebkau, houses in the Walters Art Museum and produced in the Third Intermediate Period. This representation has a human body and serpent head and tail. The knees are flexed and the hands are at the mouth.
Nehebkau continuously appears alongside the sun god Re, as an assistant, companion and successor.[4]
As an assessor of Maat in the Court of Osiris, he was also associated with Osiris himself: the god of the dead, fertility and the afterlife.[1] Although not all of the 42 assessors have been identified by scholars, Wilkerson considers significant deities such as the ibis Thoth and crocodile Sobek to be included in the tribunal, and these gods can therefore be considered associates of Nehebkau.[1]
As a snake deity, he was associated with and likely modelled after the great snake Apep — the enemy of Ra and embodiment of chaos in Egyptian myth.[11]
Additionally, as a visiting god of Heliopolis and an ancient deity, Nehebkau was often associated with Atum: the creator god who calms his chaotic nature.[2]
Nehebkau was represented as a consort of the minor goddess Nehmtaway, who is also a known partner of the wisdom god Thoth.[1] She was depicted as a goddess holding an infant, with a distinguishing headdress shaped like a sistrum - an Ancient Egyptian musical instrument.[1]
He sometimes appeared as a consort to the scorpion goddess Serket,[4] who protected the deceased King and was often evoked to cure poison and scorpion stings.[1] Some myths also describe Nehebkau as Serket's son.[1]
Alternatively, he was believed to be the son of the earth god Geb. This is common with Egyptian snake gods and associated with the imagery of snakes crawling across the earth.[9] When Geb is represented as his father, Nehebkau's mother is considered to be the harvest goddess Renenutet:[1] the ‘good snake’ who ensured bountiful fields, harvests and kitchens for the living[7] and nourished the kas of the dead.[7]
The image of Nehebkau also appeared on depictions of the thrones of feline goddess Sekhmet and Bastet.[4] Wilkerson theorises that this iconography would have likely symbolised his protection over them.[1]
Nehebkau is most often represented in Ancient Egyptian art, carvings and statues[9] as an anthropomorphised snake: half human and half serpent.[12] He is also commonly depicted as a falcon headed snake with human arms and legs and an erect penis, depicted as such in multiple hypocephali.
However, early texts and mythologies usually represented Nehebkau as a full serpent[1] with a long body and multiple coils.[7] It is in this form that often appears on the sides of divine thrones, likely in reference to his protective qualities and powerful nature.[1]
In later periods, he appeared in a semi-anthropromophised form, as a man with the head and tail of a serpent[7] or a serpent with human arms or legs.[7] In this form he appears on amulets, small statues and plaques,[1] with his arms “raised to the mouth to proffer small vessels for food or drink,” reflecting his function in the afterlife.[4]
Nehebkau was occasionally shown as having two heads on two separate necks, and a third head on his tail supported by the figure of a man.[2] Egyptologist Magali Massiera suggests that the two heads could be a representation of his dual good and evil nature,[9] as well as his ability to simultaneously attack from two directions at once.[13] In one artifact from Heliopolis, he appears as an eight headed snake.[2]
These detailed descriptions of his appearance were common for guardians of the underworld, and were done so Nehekbau could be recognised by the deceased.[11] Occasionally, Nehebkau is represented with the features of other snake demons: such as multiple heads and wings.[11]
Although there was no specific priesthood associated with Nehebkau,[9] scholars including Wilkinson consider it likely that he was widely worshipped in popular religion.[1]
This worship was likely centred at his temple in Herakleopolis,[1] although its exact location is rarely mentioned in sources.[9] Nehebkau was also often associated with the Great Temple of Heliopolis, where he may have had a funerary chapel, as well as a statue that dates back to the reign of King Ramses II.[2]
Nehebkau was also depicted in many amulets from the New Kingdom's third intermediate period and later.[1] These amulets were often found in burials, which indicates a belief that Nehebkau would protect the deceased through their journey to the underworld.[12] Kalloniatis also associates these amulets with Nehebkau's ability to sustain ka in spirits and nourish the deceased with food and drink in the afterlife.[12]
His image also appears on amulets designed to protect against poison, snake-bites and scorpion venom.[8]
Anti-snake spells are incredibly common in Egyptian texts, appearing in the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts and The Book of the Dead, alongside other spells designed to repel dangerous animals.[11] Many magical objects are inscribed with scenes of benevolent deities protecting humanity from snakes.[7]
After becoming associated with Ra, Nehebkau's name was often evoked in magical spells to function as a magical protector.[12] His image was depicted as a protective deity on some ivory wands.[4
Tefnut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tefnut
The goddess Tefnut portrayed as a woman with the head of a lioness and a sun disc resting on her head.
The name Tefnut has no certain etymology but it may be an onomatopoeia of the sound of spitting, as Atum spits her out in some versions of the creation myth. Additionally, her name was written as a mouth spitting in late texts.[4]
Like most Egyptian deities, including her brother, Tefnut has no single ideograph or symbol. Her name in hieroglyphs consists of four single phonogram signs t-f-n-t. Although the n phonogram is a representation of waves on the surface of water, it was never used as an ideogram or determinative for the word water (mw), or for anything associated with water.[5]
A menat depicting Tefnut and her husband-brother Shu.
Tefnut is a daughter of the solar deityRa-Atum. Married to her twin brother Shu, she is mother of Nut, the sky and Geb, the earth. Tefnut's grandchildren were Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, and, in some versions, Horus the Elder. She was also the great-grandmother of Horus the Younger. Alongside her father, brother, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchild, she is a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis.
There are a number of variants to the myth of the creation of the twins Tefnut and Shu. In every version, Tefnut is the product of parthenogenesis, and all involve some variety of body fluid.
In the Heliopolitan creation myth, Atum sneezed to produce Tefnut and Shu.[6]Pyramid Text 527 says, "Atum was creative in that he proceeded to sneeze while in Heliopolis. And brother and sister were born - that is Shu and Tefnut."[7]
In some versions of this myth, Atum also spits out his saliva, which forms the act of procreation. This version contains a play on words, the tef sound which forms the first syllable of the name Tefnut also constitutes a word meaning "to spit" or "to expectorate".[7]
The Coffin Texts contain references to Shu being sneezed out by Atum from his nose, and Tefnut being spat out like saliva. The Bremner-Rind Papyrus and the Memphite Theology describe Atum as sneezing out saliva to form the twins.[8]
Tefnut is a leonine deity, and appears as human with a lioness head when depicted as part of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis. The other frequent depiction is as a lioness, but Tefnut can also be depicted as fully human. In her fully or semi anthropomorphic form, she is depicted wearing a wig, topped either with a uraeus serpent, or a uraeus and solar disk, and she is sometimes depicted as a lion headed serpent. Her face is sometimes used in a double headed form with that of her brother Shu on collar counterpoises.[9]
During the 18th and 19th Dynasties, particularly during the Amarna Period, Tefnut was depicted in human form wearing a low flat headdress, topped with sprouting plants. Akhenaten's mother, Tiye was depicted wearing a similar headdress, and identifying with Hathor-Tefnut. The iconic blue crown of Nefertiti is thought by archaeologist Joyce Tyldesley to be derived from Tiye's headdress, and may indicate that she was also identifying with Tefnut.[10]
Heliopolis and Leontopolis (now ell el-Muqdam) were the primary cult centres. At Heliopolis, Tefnut was one of the members of that city's great Ennead,[9] and is referred to in relation to the purification of the wabet (priest) as part of the temple rite. Here she had a sanctuary called the Lower Menset.[3]
I have ascended to you
with the Great One behind me and [my] purity before me: I have passed by Tefnut, even while Tefnut was purifying me,
and indeed I am a priest, the son of a priest in this temple."
Tefnut was connected with other leonine goddesses as the Eye of Ra.[14] As a lioness she could display a wrathful aspect and is said to have escaped to Nubia in a rage, jealous of her grandchildren's higher worship. Only after receiving the title "honorable" from Thoth, did she return.[4] In the earlier Pyramid Texts she is said to produce pure waters from her vagina.[15]
As Shu had forcibly separated his son Geb from his sister-wife Nut, Geb challenged his father Shu, causing the latter to withdraw from the world. Geb, who was in love with his mother Tefnut, takes her as his chief queen-consort.[16]
Shu (Egyptian god)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shu
The ancient Egyptian god Shu is represented as a human with feathers on his head, as he is associated with dry and warm air. This feather serves as the hieroglyphic sign for his name. Shu could also be represented as a lion, or with a more elaborate feathered headdress.[1]
Shu (Egyptianšw, "emptiness" or "he who rises up") was one of the primordial Egyptian gods, spouse and brother to the goddess Tefnut, and one of the nine deities of the Ennead of the Heliopolis cosmogony.[4] He was the god of peace, lions, air, and wind.[citation needed]
Headrest with Shu, on the base, supporting the sky
In Heliopolitan theology, Atum created the first couple of the Ennead, Shu and Tefnut by masturbating or by spitting. Shu was the father of Nut and Geb and grandfather of Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. His great-grandsons are Horus and Anubis.
As the air, Shu was considered to be a cooling, and thus calming, influence, and pacifier. Due to the association with dry air, calm, and thus Ma'at[5] (truth, justice, order, and balance), Shu was depicted as the dry air/atmosphere between the Earth and sky, separating the two realms after the event of the First Occasion.[6] Shu was also portrayed in art as wearing an ostrichfeather. Shu was seen with between one and four feathers. The ostrich feather was symbolic of lightness and emptiness. Fog and clouds were also Shu's elements and they were often called his bones. Because of his position between the sky and Earth, he was also known as the wind.[7]
In a much later myth, representing a terrible weather disaster at the end of the Old Kingdom, it's said that Tefnut and Shu once argued, and Tefnut left Egypt for Nubia (which was always more temperate). It was said that Shu quickly decided that he missed her, but she changed into a cat that destroyed any man or god that approached. Thoth, disguised, eventually succeeded in convincing her to return.
According to the Heliopolitan cosmology, Shu and Tefnut, the first pair of cosmic elements, created the sky goddess, Nut, and the Earth god, Geb. Shu separated Nut from Geb as they were in the act of love, creating duality in the manifest world: above and below, light and dark, good and evil. Prior to their separation, however, Nut had given birth to the gods Isis, Osiris, Nephthys (Horus) and Set.[7] The Egyptians believed that if Shu did not hold Nut (sky) and Geb (Earth) apart there would be no way for physically-manifest life to exist.
Shu is mostly represented as a man. Only in his function as a fighter and defender as the sun god and he sometimes receives a lion's head. He carries an ankh, the symbol of life.
Helium (from Greek: ἥλιος, romanized: helios, lit. 'sun') is a chemical element; it has symbolHe and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomicgas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table.[a] Its boiling point is the lowest among all the elements, and it does not have a melting point at standard pressures. It is the second-lightest and second most abundant element in the observable universe, after hydrogen. It is present at about 24% of the total elemental mass, which is more than 12 times the mass of all the heavier elements combined. Its abundance is similar to this in both the Sun and Jupiter, because of the very high nuclear binding energy (per nucleon) of helium-4, with respect to the next three elements after helium. This helium-4 binding energy also accounts for why it is a product of both nuclear fusion and radioactive decay. The most common isotope of helium in the universe is helium-4, the vast majority of which was formed during the Big Bang. Large amounts of new helium are created by nuclear fusion of hydrogen in stars.
Helium was first detected as an unknown, yellow spectral line signature in sunlight during a solar eclipse in 1868 by Georges Rayet,[14] Captain C. T. Haig,[15]Norman R. Pogson,[16] and Lieutenant John Herschel,[17] and was subsequently confirmed by French astronomer Jules Janssen.[18] Janssen is often jointly credited with detecting the element, along with Norman Lockyer. Janssen recorded the helium spectral line during the solar eclipse of 1868, while Lockyer observed it from Britain. However, only Lockyer proposed that the line was due to a new element, which he named after the Sun. The formal discovery of the element was made in 1895 by chemists Sir William Ramsay, Per Teodor Cleve, and Nils Abraham Langlet, who found helium emanating from the uranium ore cleveite, which is now not regarded as a separate mineral species, but as a variety of uraninite.[19][20] In 1903, large reserves of helium were found in natural gas fields in parts of the United States, by far the largest supplier of the gas today.
Liquid helium is used in cryogenics (its largest single use, consuming about a quarter of production), and in the cooling of superconducting magnets, with its main commercial application in MRI scanners. Helium's other industrial uses—as a pressurizing and purge gas, as a protective atmosphere for arc welding, and in processes such as growing crystals to make silicon wafers—account for half of the gas produced. A small but well-known use is as a lifting gas in balloons and airships.[21] As with any gas whose density differs from that of air, inhaling a small volume of helium temporarily changes the timbre and quality of the human voice. In scientific research, the behavior of the two fluid phases of helium-4 (helium I and helium II) is important to researchers studying quantum mechanics (in particular the property of superfluidity) and to those looking at the phenomena, such as superconductivity, produced in matter near absolute zero.
On Earth, it is relatively rare—5.2 ppm by volume in the atmosphere. Most terrestrial helium present today is created by the natural radioactive decay of heavy radioactive elements (thorium and uranium, although there are other examples), as the alpha particles emitted by such decays consist of helium-4 nuclei. This radiogenic helium is trapped with natural gas in concentrations as great as 7% by volume, from which it is extracted commercially by a low-temperature separation process called fractional distillation. Terrestrial helium is a non-renewable resource because once released into the atmosphere, it promptly escapes into space. Its supply is thought to be rapidly diminishing.[22][23] However, some studies suggest that helium produced deep in the Earth by radioactive decay can collect in natural gas reserves in larger-than-expected quantities,[24] in some cases having been released by volcanic activity.[25]
Maat or Maʽat (Egyptian: mꜣꜥt /ˈmuʀʕat/, Coptic: ⲙⲉⲓ)[1] comprised the ancient Egyptian concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. Ma'at was also the goddess who personified these concepts, and regulated the stars, seasons, and the actions of mortals and the deities who had brought order from chaos at the moment of creation. Her ideological opposite was Isfet (Egyptian jzft), meaning injustice, chaos, violence or to do evil.
Cuneiform texts indicate that the word m3ˤt was pronounced /múʔʕa/ during the New Kingdom of Egypt, having lost the feminine ending t.[3] Vowel assimilation of u to e later produced the Coptic word ⲙⲉⲉ/ⲙⲉ "truth, justice".[4]
The earliest surviving records indicating that Maat is the norm for nature and society, in this world and the next, were recorded during the Old Kingdom of Egypt, the earliest substantial surviving examples being found in the Pyramid Texts of Unas (ca. 2375 BCE and 2345 BCE).[5]
Later, when most goddesses were paired with a male aspect, her masculine counterpart was Thoth, as their attributes are similar. In other accounts, Thoth was paired off with Seshat, goddess of writing and measure, who is a lesser-known deity.
After her role in creation and continuously preventing the universe from returning to chaos, her primary role in ancient Egyptian religion dealt with the Weighing of the Heart that took place in the Duat.[6] Her feather was the measure that determined whether the souls (considered to reside in the heart) of the departed would reach the paradise of the afterlife successfully. In other versions, Maat was the feather as the personification of truth, justice, and harmony.[7]
Pharaohs are often depicted with the emblems of Maat to emphasise their roles in upholding the laws and righteousness.[8] From the Eighteenth Dynasty (c. 1550 – 1295 BC) Maat was described as the daughter of Ra, indicating that pharaohs were believed to rule through her authority.[7]
Maat was the goddess of harmony, justice, and truth represented as a young woman.[9] Sometimes she is depicted with wings on each arm or as a woman with an ostrich feather on her head.[2] The meaning of this emblem is uncertain, although the god Shu, who in some myths is Maat's brother, also wears it.[10] Depictions of Maat as a goddess are recorded from as early as the middle of the Old Kingdom (c. 2680 to 2190 BCE).[11]
The sun-god Ra came from the primaeval mound of creation only after he set his daughter Maat in place of isfet (chaos). Kings inherited the duty to ensure Maat remained in place, and they with Ra are said to "live on Maat", with Akhenaten (r. 1372–1355 BCE) in particular emphasising the concept to a degree that the king's contemporaries viewed as intolerance and fanaticism.[12][b] Some kings incorporated Maat into their names, being referred to as Lords of Maat,[13] or Meri-Maat (Beloved of Maat).
Maat had a central role in the ceremony of the Weighing of the Heart, where the decedent's heart was weighed against her feather.
Maat represents the ethical and moral principle that all Egyptian citizens were expected to follow throughout their daily lives. They were expected to act with honor and truth in matters that involve family, the community, the nation, the environment, and the gods.[14]
Maat as a principle was formed to meet the complex needs of the emergent Egyptian state that embraced diverse peoples with conflicting interests.[15] The development of such rules sought to avert chaos and it became the basis of Egyptian law. From an early period the king would describe himself as the "Lord of Maat" who decreed with his mouth the Maat he conceived in his heart.
The ancient Egyptians had a deep conviction of an underlying holiness and unity within the universe. Cosmic harmony was achieved by correct public and ritual life. Any disturbance in cosmic harmony could have consequences for the individual as well as the state. An impious king could bring about famine, and blasphemy could bring blindness to an individual.[16] In opposition to the right order expressed in the concept of Maat is the concept of Isfet: chaos, lies and violence.[17]
In addition, several other principles within ancient Egyptian law were essential, including an adherence to tradition as opposed to change, the importance of rhetorical skill and the significance of achieving impartiality and "righteous action". In one Middle Kingdom (2062 to c.1664 BCE) text, the creator declares "I made every man like his fellow". Maat called the rich to help the less fortunate rather than exploit them, echoed in tomb declarations: "I have given bread to the hungry and clothed the naked" and "I was a husband to the widow and father to the orphan".[18]
To the Egyptian mind, Maat bound all things together in an indestructible unity: the universe, the natural world, the state, and the individual were all seen as parts of the wider order generated by Maat.
A passage in the Instruction of Ptahhotep presents Maat as follows:
Maat is good and its worth is lasting. It has not been disturbed since the day of its creator, whereas he who transgresses its ordinances is punished. It lies as a path in front even of him who knows nothing. Wrongdoing has never yet brought its venture to port. It is true that evil may gain wealth but the strength of truth is that it lasts; a man can say: "It was the property of my father."[19]
Statue of Maat, adorned with the ostrich feather of truth
There is little surviving literature that describes the practice of ancient Egyptian law. Maat was the spirit in which justice was applied rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules. Maat represented the normal and basic values that formed the backdrop for the application of justice that had to be carried out in the spirit of truth and fairness. From the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2510–2370 BCE) onwards, the vizier responsible for justice was called the Priest of Maat and in later periods judges wore images of Maat.[20]
Later scholars and philosophers also would embody concepts from the Sebayt, a native wisdom literature. These spiritual texts dealt with common social or professional situations, and how each was best to be resolved or addressed in the spirit of Maat. It was very practical advice, and highly case-based, so few specific and general rules could be derived from them.[21]
During the Greek period in Egyptian history, Greek law existed alongside Egyptian law. The Egyptian law preserved the rights of women, who were allowed to act independently of men and own substantial personal property, and in time, this influenced the more restrictive conventions of the Greeks and Romans.[22] When the Romans took control of Egypt, the Roman legal system, which existed throughout the Roman Empire, was imposed in Egypt.
The ethical aspect of Maat gave rise to the social formation of groups of elite individuals called sesh referring to intellectuals, scribes, or bureaucrats.[23] Besides serving as the civil servant of the kingdom, the sesh had a central role in the society since the ethical and moral concepts of Maat were further formulated, promoted, and maintained by these individuals.[23]Scribes in particular held prestigious positions in ancient Egyptian society as they were a primary means for the transmission of religious, political, and commercial information.[24]
Although few were formally literate, writing was an important part of citizens' lives in Ancient Egypt, and scribes, for the large part, carried out literate functions for large masses of individuals. Since everyone was taxed, for example, their contributions were recorded by scribes. During periods of natural disasters, additionally, scribes worked on distant assignments, which were often in the form of letters. These letters were written and read by scribes for those who were not literate which enabled communication with superiors and families.[25]
Written texts were often read aloud in public by scribes, who also wrote most of the letters, regardless of the sender's writing ability. Thus, scribes were involved in both writing and reading the letters.[25] Since scribes read the letters out loud in public, they could not use the first person to present the king's voice. Thus, the texts were presented in the third person grammatical structure.[26] However, much of ancient Egyptian writing was symbolic and operated on a much deeper level than narratives might suggest.[27] Religious concerns, as well as the hierarchical structure of Ancient Egyptian society, created important distinctions between elite classes and everyone else. The political and ideological interests of the elite dominated and directed the majority of social and cultural life in Ancient Egypt.[23] Rhetoric has also been acknowledged as playing a role in the maintenance of social hierarchies, with its priorities of maintaining harmony and social order.[28]
Illiterate people had a priority to get scribes to their villages because this procedure allowed the government to limit excessive abuses by pointing out the importance of the complaints of the poor. Scribal instructional texts emphasize fair treatment of all peoples and how anyone who abuses their power is subject to punishment.[29] Although this procedure was regulated by the local government, it helped provide the poor with the feeling that their petitions were put before higher officials' requests.[30] Although the main responsibility of scribes was to compose the work, transfer it or communicate, some scribes added additional commentary. The scribe's role in judicial system should also be taken into consideration. Local and insignificant crimes were usually led by a scribe or a foreman during the trial.[30]
Thoth was the patron of scribes who is described as the one "who reveals Maat and reckons Maat; who loves Maat and gives Maat to the doer of Maat".[31] In texts such as the Instruction of Amenemope the scribe is urged to follow the precepts of Maat in his private life as well as his work.[32] The exhortations to live according to Maat are such that these kinds of instructional texts have been described as "Maat Literature".[33]
She was associated with mourning, the night/darkness, service (specifically temples), childbirth, the dead, protection, magic, health, embalming, and beer.
Nephthys is the Greek form of an epithet (transliterated as Nebet-hut, Nebet-het, Nebt-het, from Egyptiannbt-ḥwt). The origin of the goddess Nephthys is unclear but the literal translation of her name is usually given as Lady of the House or Lady of the Temple.
This title, which may be more of an epithet describing her function than a given name, probably indicates the association of Nephthys with one particular temple or some specific aspect of the Egyptian temple ritual.[citation needed] Along with her sister Isis, Nephthys represented the temple pylon or trapezoidal tower gateway entrance to the temple which also displayed the flagstaff. This entrance way symbolized the horizon or akhet.
At the time of the Fifth DynastyPyramid Texts, Nephthys appears as a goddess of the HeliopolitanEnnead. She is the sister of Isis and companion of the war-like deity, Set. As sister of Isis and especially Osiris, Nephthys is a protective goddess who symbolizes the death experience, just as Isis represented the birth experience. Nephthys was known in some ancient Egyptian temple theologies and cosmologies as the "Helpful Goddess" or the "Excellent Goddess".[5] These late ancient Egyptian temple texts describe a goddess who represented divine assistance and protective guardianship.
Nephthys is regarded as the mother of the funerary deity Anubis (Inpu) in some myths.[6][7] Alternatively Anubis appears as the son of Bastet[8] or Isis.[9] In Nubia, Nephthys was said to be the wife of Anubis.[10]
Though usually considered the aunt of Horus, she often appears as his mother. She is also seen as a wife of Horus.[11] As the primary "nursing mother" of the incarnate pharaonic god, Horus, Nephthys also was considered to be the nurse of the reigning pharaoh himself.[12] Though other goddesses could assume this role, Nephthys was most usually portrayed in this function. In contrast, Nephthys is sometimes featured as a rather ferocious and dangerous divinity, capable of incinerating the enemies of the pharaoh with her fiery breath.[13][14]
New Kingdom Ramesside Pharaohs, in particular, were enamored of Mother Nephthys as is attested in various stelae and a wealth of inscriptions at Karnak and Luxor, where Nephthys was a member of that great city's Ennead and her altars were present in the massive complex.[15]
Temple decoration at Dendera, depicting the goddesses Isis and Nephthys watching over the corpse of their brother Osiris
Nephthys was typically paired with her sister Isis in funerary rites[4] because of their role as protectors of the mummy and the god Osiris and as the sister-wife of Set. Less well understood than her sister Isis, Nephthys was no less important in Egyptian religion as confirmed by the work of E. Hornung[16] along with the work of several noted scholars.
Ascend and descend; descend with Nephthys, sink into darkness with the Night-bark. Ascend and descend; ascend with Isis, rise with the Day-bark. — Pyramid Text utterance 222, line 210[17]
Isis (left) and Nephthys (right) as kites near the bier of a mummy, thirteenth century BCE
In the funerary role, Nephthys often was depicted as a kite or as a woman with falcon wings, usually outstretched as a symbol of protection. Nephthys's association with the kite or the Egyptian hawk (and its piercing, mournful cries) evidently reminded the ancients of the lamentations usually offered for the dead by wailing women. In this capacity, it is easy to see how Nephthys could be associated with death and putrefaction in the Pyramid Texts. She was, almost without fail, depicted as crowned by the hieroglyphs signifying her name, which were a combination of signs for the sacred temple enclosure (ḥwt) along with the sign for nb or mistress (lady) on top of the enclosure sign.[18]
Nephthys was clearly viewed as a morbid-but-crucial force of heavenly transition, i.e., the pharaoh becomes strong for his journey to the afterlife through the intervention of Isis and Nephthys. The same divine power could be applied later to all of the dead, who were advised to consider Nephthys a necessary companion. According to the Pyramid Texts, Nephthys, along with Isis, was a force before whom demons trembled in fear and whose magical spells were necessary for navigating the various levels of Duat, as the region of the afterlife was termed.
Though it commonly has been assumed that Nephthys was married to Set and they have a son Anubis, recent Egyptological research has called this into question. Levai notes that while Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride mentions the deities' marriage, there is very little specifically linking Nephthys and Set in the original early Egyptian sources. She argues that the later evidence suggests that:
while Nephthys's marriage to Set was a part of Egyptian mythology, it was not a part of the myth of the murder and resurrection of Osiris. She was not paired with Set the villain, but with Set's other aspect, the benevolent figure who was the killer of Apophis. This was the aspect of Set worshiped in the western oases during the Roman period, where he is depicted with Nephthys as co-ruler.[19]
It is Nephthys who assists Isis in gathering and mourning the dismembered portions of the body of Osiris after his murder by the envious Set. Nephthys also serves as the nursemaid and watchful guardian of the infant Horus. The Pyramid Texts refer to Isis as the "birth-mother" and to Nephthys as the "nursing-mother" of Horus. Nephthys was attested as one of the four "Great Chiefs" ruling in the Osirian cult center of Busiris in the Delta[20] and she appears to have occupied an honorary position at the holy city of Abydos. No cult is attested for her there, though she certainly figured as a goddess of great importance in the annual rites conducted, wherein two chosen females or priestesses played the roles of Isis and Nephthys and performed the elaborate "Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys". There, at Abydos, Nephthys joined Isis as a mourner in the shrine known as the Osireion.[21] These "Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys" were ritual elements of many such Osirian rites in major ancient Egyptian cult centers.
As a mortuary goddess like Isis, Neith, and Serqet, Nephthys was one of the protectresses of the canopic jars of Hapi. Hapi, one of the sons of Horus, guarded the embalmed lungs. Thus we find Nephthys endowed with the epithet "Nephthys of the Bed of Life"[22] in direct reference to her regenerative priorities on the embalming table. In the city of Memphis, Nephthys was duly honored with the title "Queen of the Embalmer's Shop" and there associated with the jackal-headed god Anubis as patron.[23]
Detail, Funerary stele of Seba. Osiris is flanked by Isis and Nephthys. New Kingdom, c. 1250 BCE. From Memphis, Egypt. Neues Museum, Berlin
Nephthys was also considered a festive deity whose rites could mandate the liberal consumption of beer. In various reliefs at Edfu, Dendera, and Behbeit, Nephthys is depicted receiving lavish beer offerings from the pharaoh which she would "return" using her power as a beer goddess "that [the pharaoh] may have joy with no hangover". Elsewhere at Edfu, for example, Nephthys is a goddess who gives the pharaoh power to see "that which is hidden by moonlight". This fits well with more general textual themes that consider Nephthys to be a goddess whose unique domain was darkness or the perilous edges of the desert.
Nephthys could also appear as one of the goddesses who assists at childbirth. An ancient Egyptian myth preserved in the Papyrus Westcar recounts the story of Isis, Nephthys, Meskhenet, and Heqet as traveling dancers in disguise, assisting the wife of a priest of Amun-Re as she prepares to bring forth sons who are destined for fame and fortune.
Nephthys's healing skills and status as direct counterpart of Isis, steeped, as her sister in "words of power", are evidenced by the abundance of faience amulets carved in her likeness and by her presence in a variety of magical papyri that sought to summon her famously altruistic qualities to the aid of mortals.[2
Set (deity)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the Egyptian deity. For the third son of Adam and Eve, see Seth. For the figure from the works of Jane Roberts, see Seth Material. For other uses, see Set (disambiguation).
Set (/sɛt/; Egyptological: Sutekh - swtẖ ~ stẖ[a] or: Seth/sɛθ/) is a god of deserts, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion.[6]: 269 In Ancient Greek, the god's name is given as Sēth (Σήθ). Set had a positive role where he accompanies Ra on his barque to repel Apep (Apophis), the serpent of Chaos.[6]: 269 Set had a vital role as a reconciled combatant.[6]: 269 He was lord of the Red Land (desert), where he was the balance to Horus' role as lord of the Black Land (fertile land).[6]: 269
In the Osiris myth, the most important Egyptian myth, Set is portrayed as the usurper who murdered and mutilated his own brother, Osiris. Osiris's sister-wife, Isis, reassembled his corpse and resurrected her dead brother-husband with the help of the goddessNephthys. The resurrection lasted long enough to conceive his son and heir, Horus. Horus sought revenge upon Set, and many of the ancient Egyptian myths describe their conflicts.[7]
Set is the son of Geb, the Earth, and Nut, the Sky; his siblings are Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys. He married Nephthys and fathered Anubis and Wepwawet.[1] In some accounts, he had relationships with the foreign goddesses Anat and Astarte.[6]: 270 From these relationships is said to be born a crocodile deity called Maga.[8]
The meaning of the name Set is unknown, but it is thought to have been originally pronounced *sūtiẖ [ˈsuw.tixʲ] based on spellings of his name in Egyptian hieroglyphs as stẖ and swtẖ.[9] The Late Egyptian spelling stš reflects the palatalization of ẖ while the eventual loss of the final consonant is recorded in spellings like swtj.[10] The Coptic form of the name, ⲥⲏⲧSēt, is the basis for the English vocalization.[9][11]
In art, Set is usually depicted as an enigmatic creature referred to by Egyptologists as the Set animal, a beast not identified with any known animal, although it could be seen as resembling an aardvark, an African wild dog, a donkey, a hyena, a jackal, a pig, an antelope, a giraffe, or a fennec fox. The animal has a downward curving snout; long ears with squared-off ends; a thin, forked tail with sprouted fur tufts in an inverted arrow shape; and a slender canine body. Sometimes, Set is depicted as a human with the distinctive head. Some early Egyptologists proposed that it was a stylised representation of the giraffe, owing to the large flat-topped "horns" which correspond to a giraffe's ossicones. The Egyptians themselves, however, used distinct depictions for the giraffe and the Set animal. During the Late Period, Set is usually depicted as a donkey or as a man with the head of a donkey,[12] and in the Book of the Faiyum, Set is depicted with a flamingo head.[13]
The earliest representations of what might be the Set animal comes from a tomb dating to the Amratian culture ("Naqada I") of prehistoric Egypt (3790–3500 BCE), although this identification is uncertain. If these are ruled out, then the earliest Set animal appears on a ceremonial macehead of Scorpion II, a ruler of the Naqada III phase. The head and the forked tail of the Set animal are clearly present on the mace.[14]
An important element of Set's mythology was his conflict with his brother or nephew, Horus, for the throne of Egypt. The contest between them is often violent but is also described as a legal judgment before the Ennead, an assembled group of Egyptian deities, to decide who should inherit the kingship. The judge in this trial may be Geb, who, as the father of Osiris and Set, held the throne before they did, or it may be the creator gods Ra or Atum, the originators of kingship.[15] Other deities also take important roles: Thoth frequently acts as a conciliator in the dispute[16] or as an assistant to the divine judge, and in "Contendings", Isis uses her cunning and magical power to aid her son.[17]
The rivalry of Horus and Set is portrayed in two contrasting ways. Both perspectives appear as early as the Pyramid Texts, the earliest source of the myth. In some spells from these texts, Horus is the son of Osiris and nephew of Set, and the murder of Osiris is the major impetus for the conflict. The other tradition depicts Horus and Set as brothers.[18] This incongruity persists in many of the subsequent sources, where the two gods may be called brothers or uncle and nephew at different points in the same text.[19]
Horus spears Set, who appears in the form of a hippopotamus, as Isis looks on
The divine struggle involves many episodes. "Contendings" describes the two gods appealing to various other deities to arbitrate the dispute and competing in different types of contests, such as racing in boats or fighting each other in the form of hippopotami, to determine a victor. In this account, Horus repeatedly defeats Set and is supported by most of the other deities.[20] Yet the dispute drags on for eighty years, largely because the judge, the creator god, favors Set.[21] In late ritual texts, the conflict is characterized as a great battle involving the two deities' assembled followers.[22] The strife in the divine realm extends beyond the two combatants. At one point Isis attempts to harpoon Set as he is locked in combat with her son, but she strikes Horus instead, who then cuts off her head in a fit of rage.[23] Thoth replaces Isis's head with that of a cow; the story gives a mythical origin for the cow-horn headdress that Isis commonly wears.[24]
In a key episode in the conflict, Set sexually abuses Horus. Set's violation is partly meant to degrade his rival, but it also involves homosexual desire, in keeping with one of Set's major characteristics, his forceful, potent, and indiscriminate sexuality.[25] In the earliest account of this episode, in a fragmentary Middle Kingdom papyrus, the sexual encounter begins when Set asks to have sex with Horus, who agrees on the condition that Set will give Horus some of his strength.[26] The encounter puts Horus in danger, because in Egyptian tradition semen is a potent and dangerous substance, akin to poison. According to some texts, Set's semen enters Horus's body and makes him ill, but in "Contendings", Horus thwarts Set by catching Set's semen in his hands. Isis retaliates by putting Horus's semen on lettuce-leaves that Set eats. Set's defeat becomes apparent when this semen appears on his forehead as a golden disk. He has been impregnated with his rival's seed and as a result "gives birth" to the disk. In "Contendings", Thoth takes the disk and places it on his own head; in earlier accounts, it is Thoth who is produced by this anomalous birth.[27]
Another important episode concerns mutilations that the combatants inflict upon each other: Horus injures or steals Set's testicles and Set damages or tears out one, or occasionally both, of Horus's eyes. Sometimes the eye is torn into pieces.[28] Set's mutilation signifies a loss of virility and strength.[29] The removal of Horus's eye is even more important, for this stolen eye of Horus represents a wide variety of concepts in Egyptian religion. One of Horus's major roles is as a sky deity, and for this reason his right eye was said to be the sun and his left eye the moon. The theft or destruction of the eye of Horus is therefore equated with the darkening of the moon in the course of its cycle of phases, or during eclipses. Horus may take back his lost Eye, or other deities, including Isis, Thoth, and Hathor, may retrieve or heal it for him.[28] Egyptologist Herman te Velde argues that the tradition about the lost testicles is a late variation on Set's loss of semen to Horus, and that the moon-like disk that emerges from Set's head after his impregnation is the Eye of Horus. If so, the episodes of mutilation and sexual abuse would form a single story, in which Set assaults Horus and loses semen to him, Horus retaliates and impregnates Set, and Set comes into possession of Horus's eye, when it appears on Set's head. Because Thoth is a moon deity in addition to his other functions, it would make sense, according to te Velde, for Thoth to emerge in the form of the Eye and step in to mediate between the feuding deities.[30]
In any case, the restoration of the eye of Horus to wholeness represents the return of the moon to full brightness,[31] the return of the kingship to Horus,[32] and many other aspects of ma'at.[33] Sometimes the restoration of Horus's eye is accompanied by the restoration of Set's testicles, so that both gods are made whole near the conclusion of their feud.[34]
Horus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the ancient Egyptian deity. For the Roman poet, see Horace. For other uses, see Horus (disambiguation).
Horus
Horus was often the ancient Egyptians' national tutelary deity. He was usually depicted as a falcon-headed man wearing the pschent, or a red and white crown, as a symbol of kingship over the entire kingdom of Egypt.
Horus, also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor[5] in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history, and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists.[6] These various forms may be different manifestations of the same multi-layered deity in which certain attributes or syncretic relationships are emphasized, not necessarily in opposition but complementary to one another, consistent with how the Ancient Egyptians viewed the multiple facets of reality.[7] He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner falcon or peregrine falcon, or as a man with a falcon head.[8]
The earliest recorded form of Horus is the tutelary deity of Nekhen in Upper Egypt, who is the first known national god, specifically related to the ruling pharaoh who in time came to be regarded as a manifestation of Horus in life and Osiris in death.[6] The most commonly encountered family relationship describes Horus as the son of Isis and Osiris, and he plays a key role in the Osiris myth as Osiris's heir and the rival to Set, the murderer and brother of Osiris. In another tradition, Hathor is regarded as his mother and sometimes as his wife.[6]
Claudius Aelianus wrote that Egyptians called the god Apollo "Horus" in their own language.[9] However, Plutarch, elaborating further on the same tradition reported by the Greeks; specified that the one "Horus" whom the Egyptians equated with the Greek Apollo was in fact "Horus the Elder", who is distinct from Horus the son of Osiris and Isis (that would make him "the Younger").[10]
Etymology
Horus is recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs as ḥr.w "Falcon", 𓅃; the original pronunciation has been reconstructed as /ˈħaːɾuw/ in Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian, /ˈħaːɾəʔ/ in later Middle Egyptian, and /ˈħoːɾ(ə)/ in Late Egyptian. Additional meanings are thought to have been "the distant one" or "one who is above, over".[11] As the language changed over time, it appeared in Coptic varieties variously as /hoːɾ/ or /ħoːɾ/ (Ϩⲟⲣ) and was adopted into ancient Greek as ὯροςHōros (pronounced at the time as /hɔ̂ːros/). It also survives in Late Egyptian and Coptic theophoric name forms such as Siese "son of Isis" and Harsiese "Horus, Son of Isis".
Horus and the pharaoh
Horus offers life to the pharaoh, Ramesses II. Painted limestone. c. 1275 BCE, 19th dynasty. From the small temple built by Ramses II in Abydos, Louvre museum, Paris, France.
The pharaoh was associated with many specific deities. He was identified directly with Horus, who represented kingship itself and was seen as a protector of the pharaoh,[12] and he was seen as the son of Ra, who ruled and regulated nature as the pharaoh ruled and regulated society.
The Pyramid Texts (c. 2400–2300 BCE) describe the nature of the pharaoh in different characters as both Horus and Osiris. The pharaoh as Horus in life became the pharaoh as Osiris in death, where he was united with the other gods. New incarnations of Horus succeeded the deceased pharaoh on earth in the form of new pharaohs.[13]
The lineage of Horus, the eventual product of unions between the children of Atum, may have been a means to explain and justify pharaonic power. The gods produced by Atum were all representative of cosmic and terrestrial forces in Egyptian life. By identifying Horus as the offspring of these forces, then identifying him with Atum himself, and finally identifying the Pharaoh with Horus, the Pharaoh theologically had dominion over all the world.
Origin mythology
In one tale, Horus is born to the goddess Isis after she retrieved all the dismembered body parts of her murdered husband Osiris, except his penis, which was thrown into the Nile and eaten by a catfish/Medjed,[14][15] or sometimes depicted as instead by a crab, and according to Plutarch's account used her magic powers to resurrect Osiris and fashion a phallus[16] to conceive her son (older Egyptian accounts have the penis of Osiris surviving).
After becoming pregnant with Horus, Isis fled to the Nile Deltamarshlands to hide from her brother Set, who jealously killed Osiris and who she knew would want to kill their son.[17] There Isis bore a divine son, Horus. As birth, death and rebirth are recurrent themes in Egyptian lore and cosmology, it is not particularly strange that Horus also is the brother of Osiris and Isis, by Nut and Geb, together with Nephthys and Set.[tone] This elder Horus is called Hrw-wr - Hourou'Ur - as opposed to Hrw-P-Khrd - the younger Horus, at some point adopted by the Greeks as Harpocrates.[citation needed]
Osiris is depicted on a lapis lazuli pillar in the center, flanked by Horus on the left and Isis on the right in this Twenty-second Dynasty statuette
Osiris was at times considered the eldest son of the earth god Geb[8] and the sky goddess Nut, as well as being brother and husband of Isis, and brother of Set, Nephthys, and Horus the Elder, with Horus the Younger being considered his posthumously begotten son.[8][9] Through syncretism with Iah, he was also a god of the Moon.[10]
Osiris was the judge and lord of the dead and the underworld, the "Lord of Silence"[11] and Khenti-Amentiu, meaning "Foremost of the Westerners".[12] In the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) the pharaoh was considered a son of the sun god Ra who, after his death, ascended to join Ra in the sky. After the spread of the Osiris cult, however, the kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death – as Osiris rose from the dead, they would unite with him and inherit eternal life through imitative magic.[13][14]
Through the hope of new life after death, Osiris began to be associated with the cycles in nature, in particular the sprouting of vegetation and the annual flooding of the Nile River, as well as the heliacal rising of Orion and Sirius at the start of the new year.[15] He became the sovereign that granted all life, "He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful".[15]
Some Egyptologists believe the Osiris mythos may have originated in a former living ruler—possibly a shepherd who lived in Predynastic times (5500–3100 BC) in the Nile Delta, whose beneficial rule led to him being revered as a god. The accoutrements of the shepherd, the crook and the flail – once insignia of the Delta god Andjety, with whom Osiris was associated – support this theory.[13]
Osiris is a Latintransliteration of the Ancient GreekὌσιριςIPA:[ó.siː.ris], which in turn is the Greek adaptation of the original name in the Egyptian language. In Egyptian hieroglyphs the name appears as wsjr, which some Egyptologists instead choose to transliterate as ꜣsjr or jsjrj. Since hieroglyphic writing lacks vowels, Egyptologists have vocalized the name in various ways, such as Asar, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, Usir, or Usire.
Several proposals have been made for the etymology and meaning of the original name; as Egyptologist Mark J. Smith notes, none are fully convincing.[19] Most take wsjr as the accepted transliteration, following Adolf Erman:
John Gwyn Griffiths (1980), "bearing in mind Erman's emphasis on the fact that the name must begin with an [sic] w", proposes a derivation from wsr with an original meaning of "The Mighty One".[20]
Kurt Sethe (1930) proposes a compound st-jrt, meaning "seat of the eye", in a hypothetical earlier form *wst-jrt; this is rejected by Griffiths on phonetic grounds.[20]
David Lorton (1985) takes up this same compound but explains st-jrt as signifying "product, something made", Osiris representing the product of the ritual mummification process.[19]
Mark J. Smith (2017) makes no definitive proposals but asserts that the second element must be a form of jrj ("to do, make") (rather than jrt ("eye")).[19]
However, recently alternative transliterations have been proposed:
Yoshi Muchiki (1990) reexamines Erman's evidence that the throne hieroglyph in the word is to be read ws and finds it unconvincing, suggesting instead that the name should be read ꜣsjr on the basis of Aramaic, Phoenician, and Old South Arabian transcriptions, readings of the throne sign in other words, and comparison with ꜣst ("Isis").[23]
James P. Allen (2000) reads the word as jsjrt[24] but revises the reading (2013) to jsjrj and derives it from js-jrj, meaning "engendering (male) principle".[25]
Osiris is represented in his most developed form of iconography wearing the Atef crown, which is similar to the White crown of Upper Egypt, but with the addition of two curling ostrich feathers at each side. He also carries the crook and flail. The crook is thought to represent Osiris as a shepherd god. The symbolism of the flail is more uncertain with shepherds whip, fly-whisk, or association with the god Andjety of the ninth nome of Lower Egypt proposed.[15]
He was commonly depicted as a pharaoh with a complexion of either green (the color of rebirth) or black (alluding to the fertility of the Nile floodplain) in mummiform (wearing the trappings of mummification from chest downward).[27]
The Pyramid Texts describe early conceptions of an afterlife in terms of eternal travelling with the sun god amongst the stars. Amongst these mortuary texts, at the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, is found: "An offering the king gives and Anubis". By the end of the Fifth Dynasty, the formula in all tombs becomes "An offering the king gives and Osiris".[28]
The gods Osiris, Anubis, and Horus. Wall painting in the tomb of Horemheb (KV57).The syncretized god Seker-Osiris. His iconography combines that of Osiris (atef-crown, crook and flail) and Seker (hawk head, was-sceptre).
Osiris is the mythological father of the god Horus, whose conception is described in the Osiris myth (a central myth in ancient Egyptian belief). The myth describes Osiris as having been killed by his brother Set, who wanted Osiris' throne. His wife, Isis, finds the body of Osiris and hides it in the reeds where it is found and dismembered by Set. Isis retrieves and joins the fragmented pieces of Osiris, then briefly revives him by use of magic. This spell gives her time to become pregnant by Osiris. Isis later gives birth to Horus. Since Horus was born after Osiris' resurrection, Horus became thought of as a representation of new beginnings and the vanquisher of the usurper Set.
Ptah-Seker (who resulted from the identification of the creator god Ptah with Seker) thus gradually became identified with Osiris, the two becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris. As the sun was thought to spend the night in the underworld, and was subsequently "reborn" every morning, Ptah-Seker-Osiris was identified as king of the underworld, god of the afterlife, life, death, and regeneration. Osiris also has the aspect and form of Seker-Osiris.
Osiris' soul, or rather his ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god, especially in the Delta city of Mendes. This aspect of Osiris was referred to as Banebdjedet, which is grammatically feminine (also spelt "Banebded" or "Banebdjed"), literally "the ba of the lord of the djed, which roughly means The soul of the lord of the pillar of continuity. The djed, a type of pillar, was usually understood as the backbone of Osiris.
The Nile supplying water, and Osiris (strongly connected to the vegetable regeneration) who died only to be resurrected, represented continuity and stability. As Banebdjed, Osiris was given epithets such as Lord of the Sky and Life of the (sun god) Ra. Ba does not mean "soul" in the western sense, and has to do with power, reputation, force of character, especially in the case of a god.
Since the ba was associated with power, and also happened to be a word for ram in Egyptian, Banebdjed was depicted as a ram, or as Ram-headed. A living, sacred ram was kept at Mendes and worshipped as the incarnation of the god, and upon death, the rams were mummified and buried in a ram-specific necropolis. Banebdjed was consequently said to be Horus' father, as Banebdjed was an aspect of Osiris.
Regarding the association of Osiris with the ram, the god's traditional crook and flail are the instruments of the shepherd, which has suggested to some scholars also an origin for Osiris in herding tribes of the upper Nile.
Isis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the ancient Egyptian goddess. For the modern extremist group commonly abbreviated as ISIS, see Islamic State. For other uses, see Isis (disambiguation).
Isis
Composite image of Isis's most distinctive Egyptian iconography, based partly on images from the tomb of Nefertari
Isis[Note 1] was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 – c. 2181 BCE) as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her slain brother and husband, the divine king Osiris, and produces and protects his heir, Horus. She was believed to help the dead enter the afterlife as she had helped Osiris, and she was considered the divine mother of the pharaoh, who was likened to Horus. Her maternal aid was invoked in healing spells to benefit ordinary people. Originally, she played a limited role in royal rituals and temple rites, although she was more prominent in funerary practices and magical texts. She was usually portrayed in art as a human woman wearing a throne-like hieroglyph on her head. During the New Kingdom (c. 1550 – c. 1070 BCE), as she took on traits that originally belonged to Hathor, the preeminent goddess of earlier times, Isis was portrayed wearing Hathor's headdress: a sun disk between the horns of a cow.
In the first millennium BCE, Osiris and Isis became the most widely worshipped Egyptian deities, and Isis absorbed traits from many other goddesses. Rulers in Egypt and its southern neighbor Nubia built temples dedicated primarily to Isis, and her temple at Philae was a religious center for Egyptians and Nubians alike. Her reputed magical power was greater than that of all other gods, and she was said to protect the kingdom from its enemies, govern the skies and the natural world, and wield power over fate itself.
In the Hellenistic period (323–30 BCE), when Egypt was ruled and settled by Greeks, Isis was worshipped by Greeks and Egyptians, along with a new god, Serapis. Their worship diffused into the wider Mediterranean world. Isis's Greek devotees ascribed to her traits taken from Greek deities, such as the invention of marriage and the protection of ships at sea, and she retained strong links with Egypt and other Egyptian deities who were popular in the Hellenistic world, such as Osiris and Harpocrates. As Hellenistic culture was absorbed by Rome in the first century BCE, the cult of Isis became a part of Roman religion. Her devotees were a small proportion of the Roman Empire's population but were found all across its territory. Her following developed distinctive festivals such as the Navigium Isidis, as well as initiation ceremonies resembling those of other Greco-Roman mystery cults. Some of her devotees said she encompassed all feminine divine powers in the world.
The worship of Isis was ended by the rise of Christianity in the fourth through sixth centuries CE. Her worship may have influenced Christian beliefs and practices such as the veneration of Mary, but the evidence for this influence is ambiguous and often controversial. Isis continues to appear in Western culture, particularly in esotericism and modern paganism, often as a personification of nature or the feminine aspect of divinity.
In Egypt and Nubia
Name and origins
Whereas some Egyptian deities appeared in the late Predynastic Period (before c. 3100 BCE), neither Isis nor her husband Osiris were mentioned by name before the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2494–2345 BCE).[5][6] An inscription that may refer to Isis dates to the reign of Nyuserre Ini during that period,[7] and she appears prominently in the Pyramid Texts, which began to be written down at the end of the dynasty and whose content may have developed much earlier.[8] Several passages in the Pyramid Texts link Isis with the region of the Nile Delta near Behbeit el-Hagar and Sebennytos, and her cult may have originated there.[9][Note 2]
Many scholars have focused on Isis's name in trying to determine her origins. Her Egyptian name was written as 𓊨𓏏𓆇𓁐 (ꜣst), the pronunciation of which changed over time: Rūsat > Rūsaʾ > ʾŪsaʾ > ʾĒsə,[2] which became ⲎⲤⲈ (Ēse) in the Coptic form of Egyptian, Wusa in the Meroitic language of Nubia, and Ἶσις, on which her modern name is based, in Greek.[14][Note 3] The hieroglyphic writing of her name incorporates the sign for a throne, which Isis also wears on her head as a sign of her identity. The symbol serves as a phonogram, spelling the st sounds in her name, but it may have also represented a link with actual thrones. The Egyptian term for a throne was also st and may have shared a common etymology with Isis's name. Therefore, the Egyptologist Kurt Sethe suggested she was originally a personification of thrones.[15]Henri Frankfort agreed, believing that the throne was considered the king's mother, and thus a goddess, because of its power to make a man into a king.[16] Other scholars, such as Jürgen Osing and Klaus P. Kuhlmann, have disputed this interpretation, because of dissimilarities between Isis's name and the word for a throne[15] or a lack of evidence that the throne was ever deified.[17]
Roles
The cycle of myth surrounding Osiris's death and resurrection was first recorded in the Pyramid Texts and grew into the most elaborate and influential of all Egyptian myths.[18] Isis plays a more active role in this myth than the other protagonists, so as it developed in literature from the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BCE) to the Ptolemaic Period (305–30 BCE), she became the most complex literary character of all Egyptian deities.[19] At the same time, she absorbed characteristics from many other goddesses, broadening her significance well beyond the Osiris myth.[20]
Wife and mourner
Sculpture of a woman, possibly Isis, in a pose of mourning; fifteenth or fourteenth century BCE
Isis is part of the Ennead of Heliopolis, a family of nine deities descended from the creator god, Atum or Ra. She and her siblings—Osiris, Set, and Nephthys—are the last generation of the Ennead, born to Geb, god of the earth, and Nut, goddess of the sky. The creator god, the world's original ruler, passes down his authority through the male generations of the Ennead, so that Osiris becomes king. Isis, who is Osiris's wife as well as his sister, is his queen.[21]
Set kills Osiris and, in several versions of the story, dismembers his corpse. Isis and Nephthys, along with other deities such as Anubis, search for the pieces of their brother's body and reassemble it. Their efforts are the mythic prototype for mummification and other ancient Egyptian funerary practices.[22] According to some texts, they must also protect Osiris's body from further desecration by Set or his servants.[23] Isis is the epitome of a mourning widow. Her and Nephthys's love and grief for their brother help restore him to life, as does Isis's recitation of magical spells.[24]Funerary texts contain speeches by Isis in which she expresses her sorrow at Osiris's death, her sexual desire for him, and even anger that he has left her. All these emotions play a part in his revival, as they are meant to stir him into action.[25] Finally, Isis restores breath and life to Osiris's body and copulates with him, conceiving their son, Horus.[22] After this point Osiris lives on only in the Duat, or underworld. But by producing a son and heir to avenge his death and carry out funerary rites for him, Isis has ensured that her husband will endure in the afterlife.[26]
Isis's role in afterlife beliefs was based on that in the myth. She helped to restore the souls of deceased humans to wholeness as she had done for Osiris. Like other goddesses, such as Hathor, she also acted as a mother to the deceased, providing protection and nourishment.[27] Thus, like Hathor, she sometimes took the form of Imentet, the goddess of the west, who welcomed the deceased soul into the afterlife as her child.[28] But for much of Egyptian history, male deities such as Osiris were believed to provide the regenerative powers, including sexual potency, that were crucial for rebirth. Isis was thought to merely assist by stimulating this power.[27] Feminine divine powers became more important in afterlife beliefs in the late New Kingdom.[29] Various Ptolemaic funerary texts emphasize that Isis took the active role in Horus's conception by sexually stimulating her inert husband,[30] some tomb decoration from the Roman period in Egypt depicts Isis in a central role in the afterlife,[31] and a funerary text from that era suggests that women were thought able to join the retinue of Isis and Nephthys in the afterlife.[32]
Mother goddess
Isis nursing Horus, a sculpture from the 7th century BCE.
Isis is treated as the mother of Horus even in the earliest copies of the Pyramid Texts.[33] Yet there are signs that Hathor was originally regarded as his mother,[34] and other traditions make an elder form of Horus the son of Nut and a sibling of Isis and Osiris.[35] Isis may only have come to be Horus's mother as the Osiris myth took shape during the Old Kingdom,[34] but through her relationship with him she came to be seen as the epitome of maternal devotion.[36]
In the developed form of the myth, Isis gives birth to Horus, after a long pregnancy and a difficult labor, in the papyrus thickets of the Nile Delta. As her child grows she must protect him from Set and many other hazards—snakes, scorpions, and simple illness.[37] In some texts, Isis travels among humans and must seek their help. According to one such story, seven minor scorpion deities travel with and guard her. They take revenge on a wealthy woman who has refused to help Isis by stinging the woman's son, making it necessary for the goddess to heal the blameless child.[38] Isis's reputation as a compassionate deity, willing to relieve human suffering, contributed greatly to her appeal.[39]
Isis continues to assist her son when he challenges Set to claim the kingship that Set has usurped,[40] although mother and son are sometimes portrayed in conflict, as when Horus beheads Isis and she replaces her original head with that of a cow—an origin myth explaining the cow-horn headdress that Isis wears.[41]
Isis's maternal aspect extended to other deities as well. The Coffin Texts from the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055–1650 BCE) say the Four sons of Horus, funerary deities who were thought to protect the internal organs of the deceased, were the offspring of Isis and the elder form of Horus.[42] In the same era, Horus was syncretized with the fertility godMin, so Isis was regarded as Min's mother.[43] A form of Min known as Kamutef, "bull of his mother", who represented the cyclical regeneration of the gods and of kingship, was said to impregnate his mother to engender himself.[44] Thus, Isis was also regarded as Min's consort.[45] The same ideology of kingship may lie behind a tradition, found in a few texts, that Horus raped Isis.[46][47]Amun, the foremost Egyptian deity during the Middle and New Kingdoms, also took on the role of Kamutef, and when he was in this form, Isis often acted as his consort.[45]Apis, a bull that was worshipped as a living god at Memphis, was said to be Isis's son, fathered by a form of Osiris known as Osiris-Apis. The biological mother of each Apis bull was thus known as the "Isis cow".[48] Isis was said to be the mother of Bastet by Ra.[49]
A story in the Westcar Papyrus from the Middle Kingdom includes Isis among a group of goddesses who serve as midwives during the delivery of three future kings.[50] She serves a similar role in New Kingdom texts that describe the divinely ordained births of reigning pharaohs.[51]
In the Westcar Papyrus, Isis calls out the names of the three children as they are born. Barbara S. Lesko sees this story as a sign that Isis had the power to predict or influence future events, as did other deities who presided over birth,[45] such as Shai and Renenutet.[52] Texts from much later times call Isis "mistress of life, ruler of fate and destiny"[45] and indicate she has control over Shai and Renenutet, just as other great deities such as Amun were said to do in earlier eras of Egyptian history. By governing these deities, Isis determined the length and quality of human lives.[52]
Goddess of kingship and protection of the kingdom
Isis holds the king, Seti I, in her lap, thirteenth century BCE
Horus was equated with each living pharaoh and Osiris with the pharaoh's deceased predecessors. Isis was therefore the mythological mother and wife of kings. In the Pyramid Texts her primary importance to the king was as one of the deities who protected and assisted him in the afterlife. Her prominence in royal ideology grew in the New Kingdom.[53] Temple reliefs from that time on show the king nursing at Isis's breast; her milk not only healed her child, but symbolized his divine right to rule.[54] Royal ideology increasingly emphasized the importance of queens as earthly counterparts of the goddesses who served as wives to the king and mothers to his heirs. Initially the most important of these goddesses was Hathor, whose attributes in art were incorporated into queens' crowns. But because of her own mythological links with queenship, Isis too was given the same titles and regalia as human queens.[55]
Isis's actions in protecting Osiris against Set became part of a larger, more warlike aspect of her character.[56] New Kingdom funerary texts portray Isis in the barque of Ra as he sails through the underworld, acting as one of several deities who subdue Ra's archenemy, Apep.[57] Kings also called upon her protective magical power against human enemies. In her Ptolemaic temple at Philae, which lay near the frontier with Nubian peoples who raided Egypt, she was described as the protectress of the entire nation, more effective in battle than "millions of soldiers", supporting Ptolemaic kings and Roman emperors in their efforts to subdue Egypt's enemies.[56]
Goddess of magic and wisdom
Isis was also known for her magical power, which enabled her to revive Osiris and to protect and heal Horus, and for her cunning.[58] By virtue of her magical knowledge, she was said to be "more clever than a million gods".[59][60] In several episodes in the New Kingdom story "The Contendings of Horus and Set", Isis uses these abilities to outmaneuver Set during his conflict with her son. On one occasion, she transforms into a young woman who tells Set she is involved in an inheritance dispute similar to Set's usurpation of Osiris's crown. When Set calls this situation unjust, Isis taunts him, saying he has judged himself to be in the wrong.[60] In later texts, she uses her powers of transformation to fight and destroy Set and his followers.[58]
Many stories about Isis appear as historiolae, prologues to magical texts that describe mythic events related to the goal that the spell aims to accomplish.[19] In one spell, Isis creates a snake that bites Ra, who is older and greater than she is, and makes him ill with its venom. She offers to cure Ra if he will tell her his true, secret name—a piece of knowledge that carries with it incomparable power. After much coercion, Ra tells her his name, which she passes on to Horus, bolstering his royal authority.[60] The story may be meant as an origin story to explain why Isis's magical ability surpasses that of other deities, but because she uses magic to subdue Ra, the story seems to treat her as having such abilities even before learning his name.[61]
Sky goddess
Many of the roles Isis acquired gave her an important position in the sky.[62] Passages in the Pyramid Texts connect Isis closely with Sopdet, the goddess representing the star Sirius, whose relationship with her husband Sah—the constellation Orion—and their son Sopdu parallels Isis's relations with Osiris and Horus. Sirius's heliacal rising, just before the start of the Nile flood, gave Sopdet a close connection with the flood and the resulting growth of plants.[63] Partly because of her relationship with Sopdet, Isis was also linked with the flood,[64] which was sometimes equated with the tears she shed for Osiris.[65]
By Ptolemaic times she was connected with rain, which Egyptian texts call a "Nile in the sky"; with the sun as the protector of Ra's barque;[66] and with the moon, possibly because she was linked with the Greek lunar goddess Artemis by a shared connection with an Egyptian fertility goddess, Bastet.[67] In hymns inscribed at Philae she is called the "Lady of Heaven" whose dominion over the sky parallels Osiris's rule over the Duat and Horus's kingship on earth.[68]
Universal goddess
Isis, crowned with the lotus and bearing the sceptre. An intaglio, of Ptolemaic date, in sardonyx.
In Ptolemaic times Isis's sphere of influence could include the entire cosmos.[68] As the deity that protected Egypt and endorsed its king, she had power over all nations, and as the provider of rain, she enlivened the natural world.[69] The Philae hymn that initially calls her ruler of the sky goes on to expand her authority, so at its climax her dominion encompasses the sky, earth, and Duat. It says her power over nature nourishes humans, the blessed dead, and the gods.[68] Other, Greek-language hymns from Ptolemaic Egypt call her "the beautiful essence of all the gods".[70] In the course of Egyptian history, many deities, major and minor, had been described in similar grand terms. Amun was most commonly described this way in the New Kingdom, whereas in Roman Egypt such terms tended to be applied to Isis.[71] Such texts do not deny the existence of other deities but treat them as aspects of the supreme deity, a type of theology sometimes called "summodeism".[72][73]
In the Late, Ptolemaic, and Roman Periods, many temples contained a creation myth that adapted long-standing ideas about creation to give the primary roles to local deities.[74] At Philae, Isis is described as the creator in the same way that older texts speak of the work of the god Ptah,[68] who was said to have designed the world with his intellect and sculpted it into being.[75] Like him, Isis formed the cosmos "through what her heart conceived and her hands created".[68]
Like other deities throughout Egyptian history, Isis had many forms in her individual cult centers, and each cult center emphasized different aspects of her character. Local Isis cults focused on the distinctive traits of their deity more than on her universality, whereas some Egyptian hymns to Isis treat other goddesses in cult centers from across Egypt and the Mediterranean as manifestations of her. A text in her temple at Dendera says "in each nome it is she who is in every town, in every nome with her son Horus."[76]
In Ancient Egyptian art, Isis was most commonly depicted as a woman with the typical attributes of a goddess: a sheath dress, a staff of papyrus in one hand, and an ankh sign in the other. Her original headdress was the throne sign used in writing her name. She and Nephthys often appear together, particularly when mourning Osiris's death, supporting him on his throne, or protecting the sarcophagi of the dead. In these situations their arms are often flung across their faces, in a gesture of mourning, or outstretched around Osiris or the deceased as a sign of their protective role.[77] In these circumstances they were often depicted as kites or women with the wings of kites. This form may be inspired by a similarity between the kites' calls and the cries of wailing women,[78] or by a metaphor likening the kite's search for carrion to the goddesses' search for their dead brother.[77] Isis sometimes appeared in other animal forms: as a sow, representing her maternal character; as a cow, particularly when linked with Apis; or as a scorpion.[77] She also took the form of a tree or a woman emerging from a tree, sometimes offering food and water to deceased souls. This form alluded to the maternal nourishment she provided.[79]
Beginning in the New Kingdom, thanks to the close links between Isis and Hathor, Isis took on Hathor's attributes, such as a sistrum rattle and a headdress of cow horns enclosing a sun disk. Sometimes both headdresses were combined, so the throne glyph sat atop the sun disk.[77] In the same era, she began to wear the insignia of a human queen, such as a vulture-shaped crown on her head and the royal uraeus, or rearing cobra, on her brow.[55] In Ptolemaic and Roman times, statues and figurines of Isis often showed her in a Greek sculptural style, with attributes taken from Egyptian and Greek tradition.[80][81] Some of these images reflected her linkage with other goddesses in novel ways. Isis-Thermuthis, a combination of Isis and Renenutet who represented agricultural fertility, was depicted in this style as a woman with the lower body of a snake. Figurines of a woman wearing an elaborate headdress and exposing her genitals may represent Isis-Aphrodite.[82][Note 4]
The tyet symbol, a looped shape similar to the ankh, came to be seen as Isis's emblem at least as early as the New Kingdom, though it existed long before.[84] It was often made of red jasper and likened to Isis's blood. Used as a funerary amulet, it was said to confer her protection on the wearer.[85]
An illustration of Isis based on a painting in the tomb of Seti I
Isis with a combination of throne-glyph and cow horns, as well as a vulture headdress, Temple of Kalabsha, first century BCE or first century CE
Winged Isis at the foot of the sarcophagus of Ramesses III, twelfth century BCE
Isis, left, and Nephthys stand by as Anubis embalms the deceased, thirteenth century BCE. A winged Isis appears at top.
Figurine of Isis-Thermuthis, second century CE
Figurine possibly of Isis-Aphrodite, second or first century BCE
A tyet amulet, fifteenth or fourteenth century BCE
Worship
Relationship with royalty
Despite her significance in the Osiris myth, Isis was originally a minor deity in the ideology surrounding the living king. She played only a small role, for instance, in the Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus, the script for royal rituals performed in the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom.[86] Her importance grew during the New Kingdom,[87] when she was increasingly connected with Hathor and the human queen.[88]
The early first millennium BCE saw an increased emphasis on the family triad of Osiris, Isis, and Horus and an explosive growth in Isis's popularity. In the fourth century BCE, Nectanebo I of the Thirtieth Dynasty claimed Isis as his patron deity, tying her still more closely to political power.[89] The Kingdom of Kush, which ruled Nubia from the eighth century BCE to the fourth century CE, absorbed and adapted the Egyptian ideology surrounding kingship. It equated Isis with the kandake, the queen or queen mother of the Kushite king.[90]
The Ptolemaic Greek kings, who ruled Egypt as pharaohs from 305 to 30 BCE, developed an ideology that linked them with both Egyptian and Greek deities, to strengthen their claim to the throne in the eyes of their Greek and Egyptian subjects. For centuries before, Greek colonists and visitors to Egypt had drawn parallels between Egyptian deities and their own, in a process known as interpretatio graeca.[91]Herodotus, a Greek who wrote about Egypt in the fifth century BCE, likened Isis to Demeter, whose mythical search for her daughter Persephone resembled Isis's search for Osiris. Demeter was one of the few Greek deities to be widely adopted by Egyptians in Ptolemaic times, so the similarity between her and Isis provided a link between the two cultures.[92] In other cases, Isis was linked with Aphrodite through the sexual aspects of her character.[93] Building on these traditions, the first two Ptolemies promoted the cult of the new god Serapis, who combined aspects of Osiris and Apis with those of Greek gods such as Zeus and Dionysus. Isis, portrayed in a Hellenized form, was regarded as the consort of Serapis as well as of Osiris. Ptolemy II and his sister and wife Arsinoe II developed a ruler cult around themselves, so that they were worshipped in the same temples as Serapis and Isis, and Arsinoe was likened to both Isis and Aphrodite.[94] Some later Ptolemaic queens identified themselves still more closely with Isis. Cleopatra III, in the second century BCE, used Isis's name in place of her own in inscriptions, and Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of Egypt before it was annexed by Rome, used the epithet "the new Isis".[95]
The Great Ennead was only one of several such groupings of nine deities in ancient Egypt. Claims to preeminence made by its Heliopolitan priests were not respected throughout Egypt, as each nome typically had its own local deities, whose priests insisted stood above all others;[3] even in the nearby city of Memphis , which along with Heliopolis is contained within the limits of modern Cairo, the priests of Ptah celebrated him as singularly superior to the Nine — In addition to Memphis having its own creation myth, the contemporaneous city of Hermopolis had another creation story, the Ogdoad, that accounted for the physical creation of the universe by eight (different) primordial gods.[3]
The Great Ennead was only one of several such groupings of nine deities in ancient Egypt. Claims to preeminence made by its Heliopolitan priests were not respected throughout Egypt, as each nome typically had its own local deities, whose priests insisted stood above all others;[3] even in the nearby city of Memphis , which along with Heliopolis is contained within the limits of modern Cairo, the priests of Ptah celebrated him as singularly superior to the Nine — In addition to Memphis having its own creation myth, the contemporaneous city of Hermopolis had another creation story, the Ogdoad, that accounted for the physical creation of the universe by eight (different) primordial gods.[3]
Ancient Egypt portal
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The goddess Tefnut portrayed as a woman with the head of a lioness and a sun disc resting on her head.
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The ancient Egyptian god Shu is represented as a human with feathers on his head, as he is associated with dry and warm air. This feather serves as the hieroglyphic sign for his name. Shu could also be represented as a lion, or with a more elaborate feathered headdress.[1]
Nephthys was normally portrayed as a young woman, wearing a headdress in the shape of a house and basket
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Horus was often the ancient Egyptians' national tutelary deity. He was usually depicted as a falcon-headed man wearing the pschent, or a red and white crown, as a symbol of kingship over the entire kingdom of Egypt.
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Osiris, lord of the dead and of rebirth. His green skin symbolizes rebirth.
Composite image of Isis's most distinctive Egyptian iconography, based partly on images from the tomb of Nefertari
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Some of the Enneade depicted in the Papyrus of Ani
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