Anukis
Anukis in hieroglyphics | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New kingdom |
Any ˁny |
|||||
New kingdom |
|
|||||
Gr.-Roman. time |
Anket / Anqet ˁnkt / ˁnqt The cause (the flood of the Nile ) |
|||||
Anukis with ankh sign |
Anukis (short form Any ; ancient Egyptian Anket, Anqet , also Anuket ) is a goddess from Sudan who was also venerated in ancient Egypt and is first documented on the pillar of the Satis temple in Elephantine, which was restored by Sesostris I ( 12th Dynasty ) .
meaning
The translation of her name means both “to embrace” and “to bring about” and it was believed that by embracing her, she brought about the flood of the Nile and made the fields fertile during the flooding. It thus contributed to securing the food of the Egyptian people.
Anukis appeared as Chentyt-Setjet ("Head of Sehel "), Nebet-Setjet ("Lady of Sehel") and Nebet-Abu ("Lady of Elephantine") as the goddess of the first cataract ( sources of the Nile ) in Greco-Roman times Appearance and since the New Kingdom formed the triad of Elephantine gods together with Khnum and Satis . Initially together with Sopdet , and later on commission, Anukis brought about the flood of the Nile.
Occasionally in the New Kingdom, but especially since the Greco-Roman times, Anukis also appeared in the forms of the goddesses Isis , Hathor and Nephthys .
presentation
Anukis is usually depicted as a woman wearing a high crown of reeds tied together and a scepter made of papyrus . In the later period she could also appear in the form of a vulture standing on a pedestal with an atef crown and later as a gazelle , the sacred animal of the anukis.
Cult places
In addition to being the “mistress of Elephantine”, Anuket was later worshiped on the island of Sehel . Both places were main cult places and several Anuket festivals are known. After the expansion of the Egyptian empire, she was worshiped in many places of conquered Nubia .
See also
literature
- Hans Bonnet : Anuket. In: Hans Bonnet: Lexicon of the Egyptian religious history. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , pp. 45f.
- Rolf Felde: Egyptian deities. 2nd enlarged and improved edition. R. Felde self-published, Wiesbaden 1995.
- Veronica Ions: The gods and myths of Egypt (= the great religions of the world - gods, myths and legends ). Neuer Kaiser Verlag - Book and World, Klagenfurt 1988.