Lotus Flower (Nymphaea) in Ancient Egypt

Lotus Flowers in Ancient Egypt

There are 2 types of water lily ordinarily known as  the lotus  or lotus flush, the white Nymphaea lotus flower and the blue Nymphaea caerulea, grew along the Nile during ancient sentences; the Egyptians conceived the second of these 2 blooms to be sacred. One reason for this connection was the nature of the prime itself. The lotus is overwhelmed in the water at night, its flower petals organized, but with the morning sun it rises up preceding the waters surface and opens its petals. For this argue, it was a symbol of reincarnation and creation to Egyptians and was connected with gods who were likewise allied, such as the sun god Ra, sometimes named the Great Lotus and outstanding in Creation myths, and another sun god, Nefertem, who was sometimes told to be the son of the creator god Ptah. Nefertem was typically shown in human form enduring a crown of lotus blossoms or with a lotus emerging from the top of his head. Likewise, kings were sometimes showed  as  emerging  from  a  big  lotus flower. For example, a black wooden sculpture of King Tutankhamun indicates his head emerging from a lotus flower.

Blue lotus in ancient Egypt
The lotus as well looked in some myths affiliated to the creation of the world, specially in the city of Hermopolis. These myths typically possess the lotus raising out of the primordial waters to open its petals and give birth to the sun. In addition, the wind of the lotus was said to soothe the gods. For this argue, the lotus was often given as an offer to various gods. It was also the conventional welcome  in  a  home;  upon  entry a residence, each node would be given a single lotus flower. Sometimes necklaces and/or  garlands  of lotus flowers were given as well. This custom led to the practice of householders keeping vessels of lotus flowers and stands of lotus coronals and necklaces about the home in preparation for guests. See besides Creation myths; Nefertem; plants and blossoms; symbols.

Fishes in Ancient Egypt

Hunting big kind of
fish in Ancient Egypt
(Inside the tomb ofKagemni, Saqqara)
River Nile of Egypt was mentioned of the greatest quality of its fish (eaten both fresh and cured or dried), many forms of which seem to have been peculiar to it. "The Israelites retrieved with regret the fish which they did eat in Egypt freely."

The kinds most highly regarded were the oxyrhynchus, "lepidotus" and "lotus".

The oxyrhynchus is now believed to have been the mormyrus or the "mizdeh" of the Arabs. It has a settled skin and a long nose, pointed down. In some dominions it was held sacred to Athor.

The "lepidotus" may have been "the salmo dentex" or "the binny" (Cyprinis lepidotus). As its name entails, its body was covered with long scales. Its flesh was prime.

The lotus, devoted in the area of Latopolis, is thought by De Pauw to be the perca nilotica.

Model of a Fishing Scene
(Inside the Tomb of Meketre
12th dynasty)
Other varieties much liked were: The oulti, to modern palates the first of all; the nefareh or Nile salmon, which at times accomplished the angle of one hundred pounds; the sagbosa, a sort of herring; a species of mullet, the shall, shilbeh byad, kilbel bahr, (the Nile dogfish) a coinages of carp, eels, and turtles of the soft-shelled variety.

Crocodiles were took sacred in the region of Lake Moeris and of Thebes, but were eaten by the indigene of the south frontier.

Birds in Ancient Egypt

Hunting goose
(Tomb of Nefermaat I)
Throughout of Egypt, especially in lower Egypt, some of the mass of bird-life included the falcon, plover, kite, goose, heron, pigeons, ibis, piranha , crane and owl. It is potential that chickens were entered during the New Kingdom from and across Africa.

The Egyptian Goddess Nephthys as a kite from the tomb of Queen Nefertari, discover the detail! Sacred to Horus, the falcon, or hawk, was thinking to be the defender of the ruler, and is frequently found as spread its wings protectively behind the head of the pharaoh. At Saqqara during the Late Period, on that point was a catacomb shape for mummified falcons. These birds, though, were shown to be of several characters of birds of prey, not just the falcon. To the Egyptians, the Horus-falcon white thorn have been considered as even with a whole range of distinct birds of prey.

Eggs in Ancient Egypt

Eggs production in Ancient
Egypt (Tomb of Nebseni,
New Kingdom)
According to Diodorus, the eggs of Local birds in Egypt were born by the use of artificial heat provided by manure.

For the ancient Egyptians, beings in numerousness issued, by the action of a Demiurge, from the Nun, incarnation of the primordial Ocean. A god sprang from this egg to bring order to Chaos, and in this room held birth to differentiated beings. The god Khnum, born from the Ocean and the primordial Egg, in his turn, creates eggs or seeds of life. Ancient Egypt had various cosmogonies and in Hermopolis it was believed that the earlier Egg was Qerehet, guardian of the life effects of the humankind.

Geese in Ancient Egypt

Breeding geese in Ancient Egypt

The greatest favorite, nevertheless, was the Vulpanser, experienced to us as the "Egyptian goose," which, with some others of the same knees, was caught alive and tamed. They were also taken in a wild state to the poulterers' shops to be exhibited for close sale, and when not so apt of were then often salted and cured in earthenware clashes.




Hunting goose in Ancient
Egypt (Inside the tomb of Nakht in Sheikh Abd
el-Qurna -Luxor)

Pigeons in Ancient Egypt

Pigeonhole in Egypt AD 65,
according to Pliny and
Strabo in his geography
Pigeons were likewise very plentiful and were much wished, and many of the wading clan, as for example the ardea, were so highly esteemed as to have been considered choice offers for the gods of Egypt.

It is entered that King Ramses III bid 57,810 pigeons to the Egyptian God Amun at Thebes. Likewise a talent for forum line slaughter, the offer also reveals an Egyptian knack for domestication.

The Hunted Animals in Ancient Egypt

Hunted Animals  in Ancient Egypt,
wild goat (Inside the tomb of
Khnumhotep II,  Beni Hasan)
The animals primarily ran were the gazelle, wild goat, auk, wild oxen, stag, wild sheep, hare, hedgehog and even the hyena. The wild wild boar is not stood for on the monuments, but it probably thrived in ancient Egypt, for the country was commendable suited to its habits, as is showed by its occupancy there at the face date.

Cows in Ancient Egypt

Picture show the breeding
of cattle (cows) in
Ancient Egypt

Meat of cows (cattle) and goose were more loosely eaten than any other form of animal food. Cows were the great power source apart from human push, they were milked, slaughtered, sacrificed and eaten. On the other hand they were a artificial lake for the tuberculosis bacillus the human form of which infected a large circumstances of Egyptians and the bovine cestode.

Livestock Breeding in Ancient
Egypt (Inside the tomb of Kagemni, Saqqara)
Only a number of gods were precious in the form of bulls or cows. To Begin With a fertility god, Apis, the nearly essential male deity among them, admitted the role of Ptah's herald and was famous with his Ka as the Splendid Soul of Ptah. After his death he merged with Osiris, and was named Serapis (Osiris-Apis), a death god. Therefore the flesh of the cow was, though, never taken on account of its purportedly sacred character

Pigs in Ancient Egypt

Breeding pigs in Ancient
Egypt (Inside the tomb of Kagemni, Saqqara)
Pigs were loosely looked upon as black, and thus unfit for foods. The chroniclers present them as used for food at only one festival. Those represented on the memorials were ugly in the big, with long legs and necks, rough hair, and a crest of bristles run down the back.

Goats in Ancient Egypt

Goats in Ancient Egypt
Goats were known animals in ancient Egyptians world. It was very structural variety of home animals, and their meat was the almost took by all classes of Egyptians and their skin made great water containers and floating twists. Chickens did eventually gone broken in the New Kingdom, but not popularly until later on Egyptians developed artificial incubation in the Late Period.

Sheep in Ancient Egypt

Breeding sheep in Ancient
Egypt (Inside a tomb back
to 2000 BC)
Sheep, though, do not come along to have been mostly eaten; in some breaks it was, indeed, strong to devour them.

Two sorts of gentle sheep were raised in ancient Egypt. The older stock, (ovis longipes), had horns jutting out, while the newer fat chased sheep, (ovis platyra), which was presented during the Middle Kingdom, had horns curled close to the head on either lateral.

Sheep were not of the economic importance to Egyptians that they were to the desert dwellers, who hinged upon sheep for milk, meat and wool. The Egyptians favorite the less hot and electric linen and later the light cotton to fleece.

Oxen in Ancient Egypt

The domestic oxen were usually of the hump-backed change. But not only were the frequent domestic animals domestic and risen in ancient Egypt, but also animals such as oryxes and gazelles. The following oxen picture from the  tomb of Meketre (Twelfth dynasty, the Middle Kingdom)
Cattle and Oxen in Ancient Egypt (Inside the tomb of Meketre, 12th dynasty)

Goddesses of Ancient Egyptians

Religious customs from the ancient Near East can be a deep informant of formative stirring for the contemporary dancer, poet, painter, or Pagan practitioner. The dimensions, personalities, and levels of deities are often a mirror for our private human foibles, and many taking stories have come down to us direct the centuries. This selective information about the goddesses of ancient Egypt may cheer your personal creative versions.  

List of Egyptians Goddesses




·  Goddess Shai 


Goddess Mehit

Goddess Mehit name

Goddess Mehit
Goddess Mehit or (Hatmehit) in the ancient Egyptian faith was a fish-goddess in the area around  the delta city of Per-banebdjedet, Mendes  In ancient Egyptian art Mehit was represented either as a fish, or a woman with a fish emblem or crown on her head. She was a goddess of life and security. Her name transforms as Foremost of Fish or Chief of Fish. She may have some connector to Hathor, one of the best deities of Egypt who also went by the name Mehit, meaning great flood. This may maybe be due to being seen as a end of the primal waters of creation from which all things arose. Other goddesses connected with the primal waters of universe are Mut and Naunet.

When the rage of Osiris arose, the people of Mendes reacted by identifying Osiris as having attained his agency by being the husband of Mehit. In certain, it was the Ba of Osiris, known as Banebjed (literally meaning Ba of the lord of the djed, consulting to Osiris), which was said to have married Mehit. When God Horus  got  taken  the  son  of  Osiris,  a  form  known  as  Harpocrates  (Har-pa-khered  in  Egyptian), Mehit was accordingly said to be his mother. As wife of Osiris, and mother of Horus, she eventually became identified as a form of Isis.

Goddess Taweret

Goddess Taweret name

Goddess Taweret
Goddess Taweret was a house deity,  Taweret  the  pregnant  hippopotamus goddess  was  the  patron  of  pregnant  women.  She helped  in  childbirth  and  observed  over  young children.  Because  of  her  cool  nature  and  kindly disposition,  she  was  a  favorite  family  goddess. Amulets in the shape of the goddess were raised by  the  hundreds  and  broken  by  pregnant  women. Small  figurines  of  Taweret  were  often  kept  in home  shrines.  It  was  thought  that  her  fierce show the head of a river horse, the arms and legs of a feline, the tail of a crocodile, and long flat breasts would ward off any evil spirits and  keep  the  women  and  children  of  the  house safe.  Stone  vases  were  engraved  in  her  image  with  a perforation at one of her nipples so that milk could be streamed from the vase while magical spells were recited  to  cure  children  stung  by  scorpions.  Her name way the great one and her attribute is the SA sign, a restrictive sign in the shape of a papyrus life preserver used by boaters, held in her left paw. The Greek writer Plutarch says she was the concubine of the evil god Set but that she eventually deserted him for Horus the falcon god.

Goddess Hatmehit


Goddess Hatmehit name
Goddess Hatmehit (left) with other deities
Goddess Hatmehit was a Goddess of the city of Mendes in the Delta, stood for as a Nile cavil or as a woman with a fish emblem on her head, Hat-mehit was hidden by the ram-god Baeb Djet at Mendes. She  was eventually considered as his associate. Her name Hatmehit or (Hat-mehit) meaning (first of  the fishes).

Goddess Ta-Bitjet

Goddess Ta-Bitjet name

Goddess Ta-Bitjet was a Scorpion-goddess called wife of God Horus in a number of magico-medical turns against vicious bites.The power of the spell stems from the magic of the blood that flowed when Horus took her maidenhood.

Goddess Baalat


Goddess Baalat name
Goddess Baalat was a Canaanite goddess connected plausibly via her obligation for products valued by the Egyptians with Hathor. Her name means schoolmarm and she is clearly the light counterpart to God Baal. In her role as Baalat Gebal schoolma'am of Byblos she  protects the  cedar-wood trade between Lebanon and Egypt which goes back to the reign of King Sneferu (4th Dynasty). Her significance parallels that of Hathor of Dendera who is described as dwelling at Byblos. In the Sinai peninsula the peacock blue mines at Serabit  el-Khadim  were  protected  by Hathor. In the temple of Goddess Hathor, there is a small sandstone sphinx written by the dedicator both with the name of the Egyptian deity, in hieroglyphics, and with the name of Baalat, in an early alphabetised script.

Goddess Unut

Goddess Unut name

Goddess Unut
Goddess Unut was a rabbit or hare goddess of Egypt, serving as a patroness of Thebes. She was the associate of Unu, the hare god, and she was described in the totems of the Theban nome and as part of the Was Scepter.

Goddess Mehurt


Goddess Mehurt name
Goddess Mehurt
Goddess Mehurt or (Mehet-Weret) was the  great  celestial  cow  who  gave  have to the ocean of the sky, Mehurt was read to be the birth mother of the sun god Ra. Because of this, she is related with Nut, the sky goddess who passes birth to the sun at the dawn of every day. When Ra was born, Mehurt took him between her horns as a sun disk, and she gone linked with Hathor, whose crown is a sun disk betwixt her horns. Later this became the crown of Isis. She is nearly always read as a cow, and her name agencies the great flood. Her delegacies are  easy  broken  with Hathor, because each is oftentimes  shown  as  a  recumbent cow lying on a reed felt, a sun disk betwixt the horns. In the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 B.C.),  Mehurt looks in the Pyramid Texts of Unas: Unas  has related his pools which are on the trusts of the canal of Mehurt, at the place where oblations flourish, and areas  on  the  horizon,  and  he  has  named  his  garden expand on the banks of the horizon.

By the New Kingdom (1550-1069 B.C), Mehurt had grown a goddess of rebirth, especially for those souls trusting to resurrect in the Netherworld. The Book of the Dead (Chapter XXVII) tells us, I behold Ra who was born yesterday from the goddess Mehurt . . it is the white abyss of heaven ..  it is the image of the eye of Ra in the morning at his yearly birth. Mehurt is the eye of Ra. In different myth Ra claims to have created Mehurt with the help of Isis and her magical spells. When Tutankhamens  tomb  was  given  in 1922, a funerary couch was observed in his tomb in the shape of the celestial cow. Mehurt was there to aid him when he entered the Netherworld. As a goddess of  rebirth  and  resurrection,  Mehurt  evolved  into  a sponsor or guardian of the necropolis on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes.

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