Selket

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Selket in hieroglyphics
short
S29 D21
N29 X1

Serqet
Srqt
Selket
or
S29 D21
N29 X1 		L7

or
with  determinative
S29 D21
N29 X1 		L7
B1
ditto too
S29 D21
N29 X1 		I12 L7 B1

or
S29 D21
N29 X1 		V28 X1
M17 Z4 		F10

Serqet-hetit
Srqt-ḥtjj.t (Srqt-ḥty.t)
The one who lets the throat breathe
Greek Selkis
Serket.svg
Selket with what scepter and ankh mark
Statue of Selket, Cairo Egyptian Museum (JE 60686)

Selket (also Serqet, Selqet, Serket, Serket-Hetit , Serket-hetet, Selkis or Selqis ) is a goddess in Egyptian mythology . She is the patron goddess of the healers and, together with Isis , Neith and Nephthys, one of the four protective goddesses of the four sons of Horus who guard the coffins and canopic jars.

presentation

The best-known representation of the Selket is that of a standing woman with a scorpion on her head, which is why she is also known as the scorpion goddess. However, there are considerable doubts about this usual identification: the animal depicted on the head of the goddess lacks the typical backward curved scorpion stinger, which is surprising given the precision of the Egyptian animal representations. On the other hand, the emblem corresponds to the image of the water scorpion ( Nepa rubra ), a species of water insect not related to the scorpion, whose characteristic breathing tube also fits the Selket's name as “that lets breathe”. In the aspect as goddess of the canopic jar of qebehsenuef she stands there with his arms outstretched, to embrace and to shield. As the divine mother, however, Selket is depicted completely differently: a woman's body with a lion or crocodile head and armed with knives. They show grave scenes not only in anthropomorphic form, but also purely in animal form as a scorpion, lion or a rearing cobra.

Surname

Selket goes back to an old phonetic translation of the hieroglyphic writing . Today it is assumed, however, that the pronunciation Serket comes closest to the time of the Pharaohs and means something like "who lets you breathe". Serket-Hetit is based on an apparently older form of representation of the name. Hetit is translated as "throat", so that the name of the goddess is "the one who lets the throat breathe". Finally, the term “Selkis” was adopted as a spelling from Greek texts in other languages.

meaning

Selket comes from the Delta and there are already references to a worship of this goddess in the 1st dynasty . She is also mentioned as one of the divine mothers in the pyramid texts of the Old Kingdom , in which she is named as the mother of the snake god Nehebkau and in this context "nourishes the king". She is the patron goddess of healers, as she thwarts and heals bites and stings from poisonous animals, especially scorpions. Selket also fights Apophis .

Selket is also mentioned in the mythological story about the birth of the god Horus , in which she and Nephthys stand by the goddess Isis after the child god was stung by a scorpion. Together with Isis , Neith and Nephthys she is one of the four patron goddesses of the sons of Horus . It protects the canopies of the kebab meat, in which the bowels of the deceased are kept. This is probably why Selket is also referred to in an ancient Egyptian text as Nebet-per-nefer , "mistress of the beautiful house", which referred to the place of embalming ("house of beautification").

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Serket  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Richard H. Wilkinson: The world of the gods in ancient Egypt: Faith - Power - Mythology. P. 235
  2. ↑ Manfred Lurker: Lexicon of the gods and symbols of the ancient Egyptians. P. 182
  3. ↑ pyramid texts (PT) 489c .
  4. ^ Pyramid Texts (PT) 1427; Richard H. Wilkinson: The world of the gods in ancient Egypt: Faith - Power - Mythology. P. 234
  5. ↑ Rolf Felde: Egyptian gods. 2nd expanded and improved edition, R. Felde Eigenverlag, Wiesbaden 1995, p. 57.