Ankh-taui
| Ankh-taui in hieroglyphics | |||||
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Ankh -taui ˁnḫ-t3.wj life of the two countries |
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Ankh-taui (translated "Life of the Two Countries") is an ancient Egyptian toponym that originally referred to a place of worship in the Memphis area that could not be localized . It also served as a synonym for the entire urban area and the necropolis of Saqqara and Abusir at times .
In the Old Kingdom , the name is initially documented as a place of worship for an indefinable lion goddess. In addition to Sachmet and Schesemtet, possible candidates are Bastet , who discovered a consecrated cat cemetery near the Teti pyramid in Saqqara.
There is a very early reference to the god Ptah , who has been worshiped in the place of worship since the Middle Kingdom as "Lord of Ankh-taui" together with other necropolis deities. The cult expanded to the subsidiary forms Ptah-Sokar, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris and finally Osiris . Adoration of the goddess Isis can also be proven since the New Kingdom .
literature
- Hartwig Altenmüller : Anchtaui. In: Wolfgang Helck (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie (LÄ). Volume I, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1975, ISBN 3-447-01670-1 , Sp. 266-267.
Remarks
- ↑ Upper and Lower Egypt
- ↑ Hartwig Altenmüller : Anchtaui. In: Wolfgang Helck (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie (LÄ). Volume I, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1975, ISBN 3-447-01670-1 , Sp. 266-267.
- ↑ Cecil Mallaby Firth , James Edward Quibell : Excavations at Saqqara: The Step Pyramid . Vol. 1, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo 1935, p. 82.
- ^ Hermann Kees : Memphis. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XV, 1, Stuttgart 1931, Col. 682.