Goddess Qetesh

Goddess Qetesh name

Goddess Qetesh

Goddess Qetesh was the Middle Eastern goddess of  dedicated  exaltation  and  sexual  pleasure, taken  in  the  New Kingdom  by  the Egyptians into a triad with the gods Min and Reshep. Her name, plausibly meaning the holy, passes no clew to her lines but she  appears  to  be  a  manifestation  of  the sensuousness  inherent  in  the  goddesses Astarte and Anat.

Qetesh rides naked on the back of a lion and holds out symbols of amativeness and fertility to her companions  lotuses for God Min and snakes or papyrus constitutes for Reshep. In the Levant the cult of Qetesh, like that of Astarte, taken her acolytes modeling  the  dedicated  marriage of the goddess  with  Reshep. This sexuality exposed  by  Qetesh  naturally  led  to  an designation  between  her  and  Goddess Hathor the Egyptian goddess of Love.

Goddess Sopdet

Goddess Sopdet name

Goddess Sopdet

Goddess Sopdet  embodying the  star  Sirius  (Dog-star),  herald  of  the annual  Nile  deluge  by  its  bright appearing  in  the  dawn  sky  in  July (Heliacal rising). The Egyptian name of this goddess is Sopdetfrom which gains the Greek version Sothis, ordinarily used in Egyptology. She is pictured as a lady with a star on her head.

Picture of Sopdet from tomb of Seti I

Maybe as early as Dynasty I Sothis is named bringer  of  the  New
Year  and  the Nile  alluvion   the  agricultural  calender leaded off  with  the  rise  of  the  river  Nile. Sothis so became linked  like the  constellation  Orion  with  the  successfulness leaving from the fertile silt forgot by the losing waters. In  the  Pyramid Texts,  where  there  is hard  prove  of  an  early  Egyptian astral cult, the king joins with his sister Sothis who  gives  birth  to  the  Morning-star.  She  is  likewise  the  kings  guide  in  the heavenly Field of Rushes. In afterwards funerary texts  of  broken  courtiers  Sothis  has got mother and nurse.

Goddess Anuket

Goddess Anuket name

Goddess Anuket

Goddess Anuket was to begin with the personification and goddess of the Nile, in arenas such as Elephantine, at the start of the Nile's journey through Egypt, and in hot parts of Nubia. Anuket was break of a triad with the God Khnum, and the goddess Satis. It is potential that Anuket was seen the daughter of Khnum and Satis in this triple, or she may have been a junior consort to Khnum instead. Anuket was showed as a woman with a headdress of plumes (thought by most Egyptologists to be a detail deducting from Nubia). Her sacred animal was the gazelle. A  temple  dedicated  to  Anuket  was  erected  on  the  Island  of  Seheil.  Inscriptions  show  that  a  shrine  or  altar  was given  to  her  at  this  site  by  the  thirteenth  dynasty  Pharaoh  Sobekhotep  III.  Much  later,  during  the  18th dynasty, Amenhotep II paid a chapel to the goddes. During the New Kingdom, Anukets cult at Elephantine included a river procession of the goddess during the first month of Shemu. Dedications mention the prosodion festival of Khnum and Anuket during this time period.

Ceremonially,  when  the River Nile  went  its  annual  flood,  the  Festival  of  Anuket  begun.  People  threw  coins,  gold, jewelry, and precious gifts into the river, in thanks for the life-giving water and rendering benefits derived from the wealth left by her fertility to the goddess. The taboo held in different parts of Egypt, against eating distinct fish which were taken dedicated, was lifted during this time, indicating that a fish species of the Nile was a totem for Anuket and that they were consumed as part of the ritual of her leading religious fete.