Reteh-qabet

Reteh-qabet (in other publications partly also Reteh-Kabet ) denotes the limitation of the sky in Egyptian mythology and astronomy . The meaning “that pushes the chest back” can be compared with the breathing process and relates specifically to breathing shortly before birth or shortly before death. The associated entry into the Sereq-hetit means "beginning of life", while the entry into the Keku-semau means imminent death.

background

Reteh-qabet as the edge of the sky

The Reteh-qabet is the beginning of a region of absolute darkness , which is understood as the edge zone of the sky and the "back of the groove ". It is the transition area to Keku-semau, the primordial darkness, which is also considered the top of heaven.

In the Nutbuch the Reteh-qabet is described as a region "in which Re never comes up". It is considered to be the delimitation of the four cardinal points, which lie simultaneously in the primeval waters of Nun and lose their meaning outside the Reteh-qabet, since it is “the place without directions”.

The mythological ideas of the Egyptians come very close to the modern conception of the universe , which says that there the well-known dimensions of the earth, with the limitation to the three dimensions of length, width and height, have lost their sole definition of validity.

literature

Alexandra von Lieven : Floor plan of the course of the stars - the so-called groove book. The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Eastern Studies (et al.), Copenhagen 2007, ISBN 978-87-635-0406-5 , p. 141.

Individual evidence

↑ Cf. Hellmut Brunner In: Wolfgang Röllig: The hearing heart - Small writings on the religious and intellectual history of Egypt. Universitäts-Verlag, Freiburg 1988, ISBN 3-7278-0567-6 , pp. 356-358.
↑ Cf. Alexandra von Lieven: Plan of the course of the stars - the so-called groove book. The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Eastern Studies (et al.), Copenhagen 2007, ISBN 978-87-635-0406-5 , p. 141.

[1] Cf. Hellmut Brunner In: Wolfgang Röllig: The hearing heart - Small writings on the religious and intellectual history of Egypt. Universitäts-Verlag, Freiburg 1988, ISBN 3-7278-0567-6 , pp. 356-358.

[2] Cf. Alexandra von Lieven: Plan of the course of the stars - the so-called groove book. The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Eastern Studies (et al.), Copenhagen 2007, ISBN 978-87-635-0406-5 , p. 141.