Uraeus snake (symbol)
| Uraeus serpent in hieroglyphics | |||||||||
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Iaret (Uaret) jˁrt The one rearing up |
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ˁˁrt |
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Nesret Nsrt The Fiery One |
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The uraeus snake is a symbol of ancient Egyptian iconography . The ancient Greek term οὐραῖος (ouraĩos), in romanization Uraios , Latinized Uraeus , probably goes back to the ancient Egyptian iaret (uaret) , which is generally translated as "the one who rears up". In the ancient Egypt this golden, sprayed in form of a aufreckenden, the neck shield spreading and poison applies Cobra illustrated end snake gods as kings ( Pharaoh ) as apotropaic protection icon by Uräus wards with the glow also its fire breath the enemies of the wearer. In the same way, the symbol , mostly in the form of urea friezes, has been attached to the facade of buildings at least since the 3rd dynasty and in particular above entrances (such as in the temple of Abu Simbel and the temple house of Kom Ombo ).
mythology
The Egyptian sun god Re once sent out one of his eyes with a mission. When it returned after it had been dealt with, it found its place occupied by a regrowth eye. Re devised the conciliatory solution to raise the now unmarried third sun eye as Uraeus on his forehead. According to another myth , the lower Egyptian snake goddess Wadjet, in the form of Uraeus, sat on the king's head. The lion-shaped goddess Mehit , worshiped in This, was occasionally identified with the fire-breathing Uraeus as the eye of Re .
Origin and development
Wolfhart Westendorf refers to the early role of the uraeus snake, which was considered to pave the way for the sun. It was the means of transport of the solar disk , which raised it to the sky during the day, moved it further and lowered it into the duat at night , only to let it rise again the next morning. Especially at the entrance and exit gates of the Duat, she acted as a protective being against the enemies of the sun god.
In the predynastic kingdom of Buto , the Uraeus snake was worshiped as the most important of the snake-shaped deities as Wadjet (also: Uto), whose sacred animal the Uraeus is later considered to be. On the other hand, there is also the opinion that the badge symbolizes a forelock, as it was once in vogue among ancient Libyan tribes. Similarly, Helck wants to see in the Uraeus one of the rudiments of prehistoric hunter's attire from which the king's insignia of power developed - in the case of the Uraeus, the lock of prehistoric hunters' hair had mutated into the animal form of a snake.
Uräus diadems can be proven for the Old Kingdom . These are primarily assigned to the sun god and the royal gods Horus and Seth, and finally also to the king. It was not until the Middle Kingdom that the straightened flat cobra was guaranteed as a forehead snake to be worn on the crown.
Meanings in ancient Egypt
Because of its mythological significance as the fire-breathing eye of the sun god, the Uraeus also embodies the fire itself. The resulting magic and power made the reptile as if made for protecting gods and kings by giving it the breath of fire ascribed to it fends off enemies. Thus the Uraeus became next to the scourge , crook and what-scepter for the king an effective insignia of his earthly divine power, which keeps hostile, evil or unclean things away from his sanctified person. In this respect she is first and foremost the protector of the Pharaoh and the gods concerned. On the other hand, the Uraeus snake is considered dangerous, even hostile, even to unauthorized gods, especially since it knows how to deal with any abuse of its nature in a terrible way.
See also
literature
- Dieter Arnold : Lexicon of Egyptian architecture. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2000, ISBN 3-491-96001-0 .
- Hans Bonnet : Lexicon of the Egyptian religious history. 3rd unchanged edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 .
- Rainer Hannig : Large concise dictionary of Egyptian-German. (2800 - 950 BC) The language of the pharaohs (= cultural history of the ancient world . Vol. 64 = Hannig-Lexica. Vol. 1). 2nd Edition. von Zabern, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 .
- Wolfgang Helck : Political Contrasts in Ancient Egypt. An attempt (= Hildesheim Egyptological contributions. Vol. 23). Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1986, ISBN 3-8067-8099-4 .
- Wolfgang Helck, Eberhard Otto : Small Lexicon of Egyptology. 4th revised edition. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04027-0 .
- Manfred Lurker : Lexicon of the gods and symbols of the ancient Egyptians. Handbook of the mystical and magical world of Egypt. 3rd edition of the special edition. Scherz, Bern et al. 2003, ISBN 3-502-16430-4 .
Web links
- Friedhelm Hoffmann : Uräus. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Rainer Hannig: Large Concise Dictionary German-Egyptian. The language of the pharaohs. (2800 - 950 BC) (= cultural history of the ancient world . Vol. 64). 3rd unchanged edition. von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 , p. 433.
- ^ Hans Bonnet: Lexicon of the Egyptian history of religion. 2000, p. 845.
- ↑ quoted from: Uräus. In: Manfred Lurker: Lexicon of the gods and symbols of the ancient Egyptians. 3rd edition of the special edition. 2003.
- ↑ Wolfgang Helck: Political Contrasts. 1986, p. 7.