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Quest for the Hedgehog Goddess
May. 10th, 2014 07:43 pmBehold the goddess Abaset, in the tomb of Benaty at Bahria (the Bahariya Oasis):
I encountered this goddess in the French version of Wikipedia and decided to track her down. In Religions Méditerranéennes et Orientales de L'Antiquité she is described as "un divinité insolite, Abaset, portant un hérrison sut la tête, associée à Rêhorakhty et à Banebdjed" ("an unusual deity, Abaset, carrying a hedgehog on her head, associated with Ra-Horakhty and Banebdjed".) The associated footnote led me in turn to Bahria Oasis by Ahmed Fakhry (and a truly epic battle with Fisher Library's photocopiers).
Alas, this leaves us none the wiser about the goddess. As Fakhry notes, although the hedgehog was extensively used as an amulet and in medicine, we don't know its mythological significance, although he does point out that it's a snake-killer. These two appearances in the one tomb (on a wall behind Ra-Horakhty, and on a pillar behind Banebdjed) are the sum total of our knowledge of Abaset. So here my quest grinds to an undignified halt.
ETA: Here's a photo! And Abaset's entry at Henadology. Also, a few more details from Sherbiny and Bassir (2014). Bahariya's boom period was the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, which is when the tomb of Benaty (or Bannentiu) was made. "Abaset" may possibly mean "Praising Isis" or "Boasting Isis". The photo shows Abaset standing behind Bare, the ram-headed Soul of Re (or is the god Banedbdjed, as Fakhry says? The hieroglyphs just say "Ba"!).
But (the $64m question) why a hedgehog? Sherbiny and Bassir have some ideas: "The hedgehog has been associated with protection because when this animal feels danger it covers itself with a ball of spikes and has the ability to face all bites especially of snakes. Hedgehogs hide beneath earth when food is scarce and appear when there is plenty of food. All these factors refer to the hedgehog’s ability for rebirth after death." (emphases mine) The hedgehog fought with snakes and ate pesty grasshoppers. It was sometimes depicted amongst offerings for the dead. There were hedgehog amulets, and hedgehogs were depicted on the prows of model ships. The authors suggest that Abaset was paired with the sun-god because of the hedgehog's anti-snake powers.
___
Having finally found a working photocopier, I also snagged a mummiform, lion-headed, flail-wielding, ithyphallic Amun-Min from the tomb of Thaty*:
I was interested in its resemblance to the mysterious and possibly ambisexual deity at the Temple of Khonsu, of course, but the figure is also part of a procession which includes an unusual pair - Set and Horus, striding up to a seated Thoth, both of them with one hand raised to their face as if in mourning, and poor Set stuck with four knives to keep him under control.
* But this illustration doesn't appear in either of the references below! Where did I find it?
__
Fakhry, Ahmed. Bahria Oasis vol 1. Cairo : Govt. Print., 1942-50.
Hend Sherbiny and Hussein Bassir (2014) The Representation of the Hedgehog Goddess Abaset at Bahariya Oasis. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt: January 2014, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 171-189.
I encountered this goddess in the French version of Wikipedia and decided to track her down. In Religions Méditerranéennes et Orientales de L'Antiquité she is described as "un divinité insolite, Abaset, portant un hérrison sut la tête, associée à Rêhorakhty et à Banebdjed" ("an unusual deity, Abaset, carrying a hedgehog on her head, associated with Ra-Horakhty and Banebdjed".) The associated footnote led me in turn to Bahria Oasis by Ahmed Fakhry (and a truly epic battle with Fisher Library's photocopiers).
Alas, this leaves us none the wiser about the goddess. As Fakhry notes, although the hedgehog was extensively used as an amulet and in medicine, we don't know its mythological significance, although he does point out that it's a snake-killer. These two appearances in the one tomb (on a wall behind Ra-Horakhty, and on a pillar behind Banebdjed) are the sum total of our knowledge of Abaset. So here my quest grinds to an undignified halt.
ETA: Here's a photo! And Abaset's entry at Henadology. Also, a few more details from Sherbiny and Bassir (2014). Bahariya's boom period was the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, which is when the tomb of Benaty (or Bannentiu) was made. "Abaset" may possibly mean "Praising Isis" or "Boasting Isis". The photo shows Abaset standing behind Bare, the ram-headed Soul of Re (or is the god Banedbdjed, as Fakhry says? The hieroglyphs just say "Ba"!).
But (the $64m question) why a hedgehog? Sherbiny and Bassir have some ideas: "The hedgehog has been associated with protection because when this animal feels danger it covers itself with a ball of spikes and has the ability to face all bites especially of snakes. Hedgehogs hide beneath earth when food is scarce and appear when there is plenty of food. All these factors refer to the hedgehog’s ability for rebirth after death." (emphases mine) The hedgehog fought with snakes and ate pesty grasshoppers. It was sometimes depicted amongst offerings for the dead. There were hedgehog amulets, and hedgehogs were depicted on the prows of model ships. The authors suggest that Abaset was paired with the sun-god because of the hedgehog's anti-snake powers.
___
Having finally found a working photocopier, I also snagged a mummiform, lion-headed, flail-wielding, ithyphallic Amun-Min from the tomb of Thaty*:
I was interested in its resemblance to the mysterious and possibly ambisexual deity at the Temple of Khonsu, of course, but the figure is also part of a procession which includes an unusual pair - Set and Horus, striding up to a seated Thoth, both of them with one hand raised to their face as if in mourning, and poor Set stuck with four knives to keep him under control.
* But this illustration doesn't appear in either of the references below! Where did I find it?
__
Fakhry, Ahmed. Bahria Oasis vol 1. Cairo : Govt. Print., 1942-50.
Hend Sherbiny and Hussein Bassir (2014) The Representation of the Hedgehog Goddess Abaset at Bahariya Oasis. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt: January 2014, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 171-189.
