Aker (Egyptian mythology)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aker in hieroglyphics
mostly
G1 V31
D21

or
with  determinative
G1 V31
D21
A40
In the pyramid texts too
A. k
r 		N17

transcription 3kr
Aker.svg
Aker

Aker (also Akar ; plural Akeru ) is a deity of ancient Egypt . Together with Geb , he represents a personification of the earth.

Surname

The meaning of his name is unknown. It is mentioned for the first time in the pyramid texts. Its determinative characterizes it as personified "earth". Since the coffin texts , the Seth animal and the snake can be used as determinants .

In addition to the singular Aker , there is also a plural Akeru , with which earth spirits usually represented as snakes were referred to.

Functions

In the underworld , the earth god Aker guards the connection between the western and eastern horizons . Aker tries to keep the dead in the ground, on the other hand he also appears as a helper of the deceased by guarding the snakes. In this way he protects not only Seth but also the sun god Re from Apophis . Outside of funerary texts, Aker appears as the embodiment of the earth in cosmic representations, for example as the counterpart of heaven.

Representations

In the older pyramid texts of the Old Kingdom , Aker was depicted as a narrow strip of land with one or two human heads looming at the edges. In the more recent Pyramid Texts, the front paws of a lion were added to this image, making the representation a double sphinx , with two lions looking in opposite directions. This duplication should also explain the alternative names Cherefu and Akeru or Sef (“yesterday”) and Tuau (“today”). On some amulets for the dead, a bull's head appears instead of a lion's head, perhaps an allusion to Osiris .

See also

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Gardiner code N17
    N17
    (= t3 , "country")
  2. ↑ a b c Erik Hornung: Lexikon der Ägyptologie I , Sp. 114.
  3. ↑ Erik Hornung: Lexikon der Ägyptologie I , Sp. 115.
  4. ↑ see for example pyramid texts § 796 b