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She Who Embraces
Jul. 3rd, 2023 01:12 pmI've had a long break from Egypt; well, here I am again. I'm at the library, looking at an electronic version of the book Daemons and Spirits of Ancient Egypt, hoping to summarise the substantial section of Hepet-Hor -- the variously represented goddess who protects Osiris, Ra, and the deceased, with whom I fell in love a few years ago.
Hepet-Hor was basically invented during the 21st Dynasty, at the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period. She's depicted with a snake head, or a lioness head plus a crocodile head, or with three heads. She appears on coffins and papyri (and sometimes tomb walls) in the context of the Book of the Dead, The Litany of Re, and the Amduat.
(Isn't it extraordinary! We have access to the approximate moment that a god is created for the first time, out of the imagination of one or more humans.)
She's often depicted guarding the door to a mound on which Osiris sits in judgement, along with other guardians, such as a huge snake. The mound represents the Primeval Mound; Osiris is resurrected inside it. Osiris may be shown unified with Ra, via an extra falcon head. Alternatively she might lead the deceased, or stand by the scales. In one papyrus she's shown holding the sun-god aloft. In another (belonging to Khonsu-Renep, Piankoff and Rambova Plate 11) she's one of a number of seated mummiform gods, "witnessing the birth of Re-Osiris".
Graves-Brown suggests Hepet-Hor is actually wearing a croc headdress, which might explain its odd angle. She might be seen brandishing knives and/or snakes.
Hepet-Hor ("Embracing Horus") might also be called "Embracing the Duat", "Embracing Osiris", "Lady of the West", amongst other titles; she may be given the names of goddesses such as Serqet, Sekhmet, and Dechty. There's a similar goddess named Saryt.
ETA: Just leaving myself a note about an abstract from the 2023 Basel CRE conference: Towards a Synoptic Edition of Book of the Dead Spell Sources from the 21st Dynasty (p22). "The goal is to better understand variability within the funerary compositions, and to shed light on key evidence regarding their transmission and editorial practices."
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Hepet-Hor was basically invented during the 21st Dynasty, at the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period. She's depicted with a snake head, or a lioness head plus a crocodile head, or with three heads. She appears on coffins and papyri (and sometimes tomb walls) in the context of the Book of the Dead, The Litany of Re, and the Amduat.
(Isn't it extraordinary! We have access to the approximate moment that a god is created for the first time, out of the imagination of one or more humans.)
She's often depicted guarding the door to a mound on which Osiris sits in judgement, along with other guardians, such as a huge snake. The mound represents the Primeval Mound; Osiris is resurrected inside it. Osiris may be shown unified with Ra, via an extra falcon head. Alternatively she might lead the deceased, or stand by the scales. In one papyrus she's shown holding the sun-god aloft. In another (belonging to Khonsu-Renep, Piankoff and Rambova Plate 11) she's one of a number of seated mummiform gods, "witnessing the birth of Re-Osiris".
Graves-Brown suggests Hepet-Hor is actually wearing a croc headdress, which might explain its odd angle. She might be seen brandishing knives and/or snakes.
Hepet-Hor ("Embracing Horus") might also be called "Embracing the Duat", "Embracing Osiris", "Lady of the West", amongst other titles; she may be given the names of goddesses such as Serqet, Sekhmet, and Dechty. There's a similar goddess named Saryt.
ETA: Just leaving myself a note about an abstract from the 2023 Basel CRE conference: Towards a Synoptic Edition of Book of the Dead Spell Sources from the 21st Dynasty (p22). "The goal is to better understand variability within the funerary compositions, and to shed light on key evidence regarding their transmission and editorial practices."
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Graves-Brown, Carolyn. Daemons & spirits in ancient Egypt. Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 2018.
Piankoff, Alexandre and Natacha Rambova. Mythological Papyri. New York, Pantheon, 1957.
