Kenmet (dean)

Kenmet (also Kenmut ) was originally the ancient Egyptian name of the second dean of the ten- star three-dean constellation of the first month of Achet . It consisted of the zodiac signs water snake and lion .

Kenmet in Egyptian mythology

In the predynastic period , around June 19-20, the heliacal rise of the overall constellation Kenmut took place with the arrival of the Nile flood in the Nile delta . The Egyptians called this moment: Kenmut is born . After the end of the flood of the Nile and the subsequent sowing in the month of Ka-her-ka , his reign as the working dean of Kenmut began in the sky . Kenmut's symbolic death in the months of Chenti-chet and Ipet-hemet signaled the end of the harvest season. Until the next flood of the Nile was reborn , Kenmut was invisible to protect the dead in the Duat .

Change in the order of the deans

Sesostris III. rearranged the order of the deans in his seventh year of reign, as due to the precession of the earth and the proper movement of Kenmut's birth had moved to July 15th. The constellation, which previously consisted of three decades, was reduced to just seven stars and spread over two decades.

With his death, Kenmut only entered the Duat at the end of the Egyptian year and stayed there during the onset of the Nile flood. Sopdet had meanwhile taken over the function of triggering the flood of the Nile .

Manifestations

In ancient Egypt, the snake symbolized the newly emerging life and rebirth. Kenmut's portrayal as the dean of birth was therefore in the form of a large snake that was crossed by three smaller snakes. In his function as a creation deity and as a ferryman in the duat's barge, he accompanies the dead.

With Horus of Letopolis (northwest of Memphis ) Kenmut embodied the time of sowing as a falcon-headed person. Later I identified with Sachmet , since Kenmut was also considered to be the messenger of dangerous epidemics when he was born after the flood of the Nile .

literature

Rolf Krauss: Sothis and moon data: studies on the astronomical and technical chronology of ancient Egypt , Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1985, ISBN 3-8067-8086-X
Alexandra von Lieven : The sky over Esna - A case study on religious astronomy in Egypt using the example of the cosmological ceiling and architrave inscriptions in the temple of Esna . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2000, ISBN 3-447-04324-5
Alexandra von Lieven: Floor plan of the course of the stars - the so-called groove book . The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Eastern Studies (among others), Copenhagen 2007, ISBN 978-87-635-0406-5