THE ANCIENT MYTH OF
AMENTET
THE LONGEST LIST OF THE LONGEST STUFF AT THE LONGEST DOMAIN NAME AT LONG LAST

Amentet - Egyptian Mythology

A beautiful woman dressed in the robes of a Pharaonic queen and wearing the hieroglyph of the west on her head, is the common depiction of Amentet, a minor Egyptian goddess friend of the death and patron of the gates of the underworld.

Like many other Egyptian deities, Amentet's name includes disambiguation such as Imentet, Amentit, or Imentit, usually mentioned in may passages and hymns of the Egyptian Book of the Dead and worshiped in Hikuptah, Memphi, Abydos (Abtu), Ipet-Resyt (Luxor), Ipet-Isut (Karnak), and the western areas of Nile's Delta.

Amentet is married to Aken, the custodian of the ferryboat in the underworld, hence her work consist of greeting the souls of the newly deceased offering them bread and water at the gates of their new land, helping to regenerate their souls for their new rebirth.

She also personifies the land of the west, the place of rest for human and dead alive since is the place in which the sun is sunk in the horizon every day. In Egypt, all cemeteries and funerary places were always built in the west to fall under the protection of this goddess, commonly found engraved in coffins, or in the walls of tombs.

In some literature, Amentet is depicted as a winged goddess, but she is more commonly found carrying in her hands a scepter and the ankh of life, or wearing a hawk on her head.

In Greek literature, the God linked with the dead is Hades; therefore, the underworld is also referred to as Hades, the name of the place. In Egypt, the underworld also receives the name of the deity, but in this case the female Amentet, and the place that Ra, the God of the Sun, visits every night.

The west, the place where the sun sets is also known as Amentet, hence she is considered more powerful that the Greek Hades, both associated with the Amenti of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Amentet

 

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