Sia (Egyptian mythology)
Sia in hieroglyphics | |||||||
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Sia Sj3 The insight |
In Egyptian mythology, the deity Sia embodies as the "General of Lower Egypt " the essential components of understanding , insight and wisdom . According to ancient Egyptian beliefs, the seat of these character traits was in the heart, which in turn belonged to the deity Nehebkau .
presentation
They were portrayed in human or animal form. In the Temple of Amun in Hibis there is an image of the goddess with a ram's head. In the Old Kingdom , Sia was seen as a divine functionary , who stood to the right of Re and held the consecrated papyrus scroll of this god. In the New Kingdom , Sia appears as a crouching ibis-headed deity.
meaning
Since the Pyramid Texts, Sia has been associated with Hu , “General of Upper Egypt ” and embodiment of the word . Together with Nehebkau, both represent the most important creative power of the sun god in Heliopolis . Siegfried Schott calls Sia and Hu auxiliary gods of will formation . At the time of the Middle Kingdom , all gods and kings had Sia and Hu, who knotted the heraldic plants papyrus and lily together for the kings of Egypt . Since the New Kingdom with Heka , both magic , Irer , seeing and Sedjem, hearing , belong to the circle of the fourteen creative powers of the sun god Amun-Re.
Since the 19th dynasty at the latest , these creative forces have belonged to the environment of the god Thoth , as whose assistant they are seen. They do not have their own cults, but Sia often appears with other gods and bears witness to their wisdom.
In Greco-Roman times, Sia and Hu are shown accompanied by Thoth. Similar to Chons , Thoth unites both gods in himself.
See also
literature
- Hans Bonnet : Lexicon of the Egyptian religious history. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 .
- Christian Leitz u. a .: Lexicon of the Egyptian gods and names of gods . (LGG), Volume 6, Peeters, Leuven 2002, ISBN 90-429-1151-4 , pp. 164-166.
- Richard H. Wilkinson : The world of the gods in ancient Egypt. Faith - Power - Mythology. Theiss, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1819-6 .