Egyptian Mythology: Gods, Goddesses, and Medicine from Ancient Egypt by Ronin Xena

Author:Ronin, Xena [Ronin, Xena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3: Neith

Neith (aka Net, Neit or Nit) and is one of the oldest godly entities of old ancient Egypt who was worshipped early in the Pre-Dynastic Period (c. 6000 - 3150 BCE) and whose veneration went on through the Ptolemaic Dynasty (323 - 30 BCE), the last to rule ancient Egypt right before the coming of Rome. She was a war goddess, female deity of creation, mom female deity who developed birth, and funerary female deity who cared for and helped to dress the dead spirits. Her cult center was at Sais in the Nile Delta and she went on as the most preferred female deity of Lower ancient Egypt even after her characteristics were largely given to Isis and Hathor and those goddesses became more preferred in Egypt. Neith went on to be honored as the customer female deity of Sais throughout Egypt's history as she was considered a great protector of the people of the land and the most effective arbitrator between humanity and the gods.

Neith is known to have existed at the creation of the world and, in some stories, even the developer herself who gave birth to Atum (Ra) who then completed the act of creation. She is always represented as exceptionally wise and just as in the story of The Contendings of Horus and Set where she settles the question of who will rule ancient Egypt and, by extension, the world. She is one of the 4 goddesses, in addition to Isis, Nephthys, and Serket, who appear on the canopic containers in the burial place of Tutankhamun and is likely best known today for her statuary there. She stands supervise Duamutef, one of the Four Sons of Horus, who safeguards the canopic containers in the burial places and also appears alongside Osiris, Anubis, and Thoth as a just judge of the dead in the hereafter. Her signs are the weapon and a sword and guard as a war goddess, a weaving shuttle as a funerary goddess, and the Red Crown of Lower ancient Egypt as female deity of creation and mom goddess. Neith is often depicted sitting on her throne holding either a sceptre or a bow and 2 arrows. She is also at times viewed as a cow, linking her with Hathor or with the Great Cow who was mother to Ra.

Names & Origins

Neith is also understood by the names Net, Neit, Nit all of which, according to academic Geralidne Pinch, may mean "the scary one" because of her immense power and large reach. She was also called "mother of the gods", "grandma of the gods", and "great goddess". Her worship began in Lower ancient Egypt around the city of Sais and she's thought to have actually been a female deity of searching. The earliest depictions of her show her with a bow and arrows but, according to Geraldine Pinch, this was a later interpretation of an earlier sign: "The curious sign that represented Neith in these early times may originally have been a click beetle.

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