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Anuket

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Anuket
The goddess Anuket, depicted as a woman with a tall, plumed headdress
Name inhieroglyphs
a
n
q
t
B1
Major cult centerElephantine,Seheil
SymbolBow, arrows, gazelle, ostrich feather
ParentsKhnumandSatet
Equivalents
Greek equivalentHestia
Roman equivalentVesta

Anuketwas theancient Egyptian goddessof thecataracts of the NileandLower Nubiain general, worshipped especially atElephantinenear the First Cataract.[1]

Etymology[edit]

Inancient Egyptian,she was known as Anuket,Anaka,[2]orAnqet.[3]Her name meant the "Clasper"or"Embracer".[2]In Greek, this becameAnoukis(Ανουκις),[2]sometimes also spelledAnukis.[4]In theinterpretatio graeca,she was considered equivalent toHestiaorVesta.[2]

Depictions[edit]

Anuket was usually depicted as a woman with a headdress of either reed or ostrich feathers[5]She was usually depicted as holding asceptretopped with anankh,and her sacred animal was the gazelle. She was also shownsucklingthe pharaoh through theNew Kingdomand became a goddess of lust in later years. In later periods, she was associated with thecowry,especially the shell, which resembled the vagina.[3]In the 22nd to 26th Dynasty, Anuket was one of the gods that appeared on votive beds used byThebansto ask for help with fertility, sexuality, and childbirth.[6]

History and roles[edit]

She was originally the daughter ofRa,but was always related toSatetin some way. For example, both goddesses were called the "Eye of Ra",along withBastet,Hathor,andSekhmet.[3]Also, they were both related in some way to theUraeus.[3]

Anuket was the goddess of the Nile flood and a protective goddess of the southern border of Egypt. Her posing with her arms outstretched may have been a visual reference to the shape of the Nile, with its two tributaries, and influenced her being called "the Embracer". In the New Kingdom, her aspects as a southern goddess were emphasized to the point where one of her epithets was "the Nubian".[6]

She was associated with swift moving water, and this was the reason for her association with papyruses.[6]

Worship[edit]

Reliefs ofSenusret IIIandNeferhotep Imaking offerings to Anuket on Seheil.

Anuket was part of a triad with the godKhnum,and the goddessSatis.She may have been the sister of the goddessSatis[5]or she may have been a junior consort to Khnum instead.[5][2]

A temple dedicated to Anuket was erected on theIsland of Seheil.Inscriptions show that a shrine or altar was dedicated to her at this site by the13th DynastypharaohSobekhotep III.Much later, during the 18th Dynasty,Amenhotep IIdedicated a chapel to the goddess.[7]

During the New Kingdom, Anuket's cult atElephantineincluded a river procession of the goddess during the first month of Shemu. Inscriptions mention the processional festival of Khnum and Anuket during this period.[8]

Anouké or Anouki (Anucè, Anucis, Istia, Estia, Vesta), N372.2,Brooklyn Museum

Ceremonially, when the Nile started its annual flood, the Festival of Anuket began. People threw coins, gold, jewelry, and precious gifts into the river, in thanks to the goddess for the life-giving water and returning benefits derived from the wealth provided by her fertility. Thetabooheld in several parts of Egypt, against eating certainfishwhich were considered sacred, was lifted during this time, suggesting that a fish species of the Nile was atotemfor Anuket and that they were consumed as part of theritualof her major religious festival.[citation needed][9]She was seen as bringing forth the flood.[10]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^Hart, George (2005),The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Revised Edition,p. 28
  2. ^abcdeEB (1878).
  3. ^abcdHill, J. (2010)."Anuket".ancientegyptonline.co.uk.Ancient Egypt Online.Retrieved2016-10-26.
  4. ^Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003).The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt.New York: Thames & Hudson. pp.138.ISBN0-500-05120-8.
  5. ^abcGeraldine Pinch, Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press, 2004, p 186
  6. ^abcAbdelhakim, Walaa Mohamed; Zein, Mohamed; Mosallam, Amr (1999-12-01)."The Sexual Symbolism of the Votive Beds' Decorations and Its Relation to Their Function".The International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Studies.4(1): 162–143.doi:10.21608/ijthsx.2023.180510.1040.ISSN2785-9843.
  7. ^Kathryn A. Bard, Encyclopedia of the archaeology of ancient Egypt, Psychology Press, 1999, p 178
  8. ^Zahi A. Hawass, Lyla Pinch Brock, Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century: Archaeology, American Univ in Cairo Press, 2003, p 443
  9. ^"Anuket".Ancient Egypt Online.
  10. ^Hoffman, Susanne M."Preliminary Observations on the Dendera Zodiac (Egypt)"(PDF).Astronomy in Culture.

Bibliography[edit]

  • "Anoukis",'Encyclopædia Britannica,9th ed., Vol. II,New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1878, p. 90.

Further reading[edit]

  • Valbelle, Dominique (1981).Satis et Anoukis(in French). Verlag Philipp von Zabern.ISBN3-8053-0414-5.