Neith



 Neith



 

  Eye of Ra

Lady of the West

The Huntress

Mistress of the bow

Opener of the ways

Ruler of arrows  Neith is the Egyptian goddess of Arts, Crafts, Creation, Healing, Herbs, Knowledge, Magic, Marriage, Meditation, Mysticism, Rituals, and Women. She was also considered a goddess of war. She was the patron deity of the city of Sais, where her cult was centered in the Western Nile Delta of Egypt and attested as early as the First Dynasty. The Ancient Egyptian name of this city was Zau.

In the New Kingdom she was regarded as the "god's mother who bore Re," whereby she assumed the position of a primeval goddess who was neither male nor female. She was the first to "create the seed of gods and men." She is the mother of Egyptian rulers. Also she was a mortuary goddess who watched over Osiris' brier along with Isis, Nephthys and Serket. The deceased received her divine power by means of the mummy's wrappings, for the bandages and shrouds were considered gifts of Neith, who was regarded as the patroness of weaving. Possibly there was an earlier proposal that her symbol was the weaver's shuttle.

When depicted in human form she wears the red crown of Lower Egypt, and in ancient times her pre-anthropomorphic symbol was a shield bearing crosses because she also was a local war goddess. This goddess of war also blessed hunters' weapons. The practice of placing weapons around the coffin in ancient Egyptian times could be traced to the goddess' protective functions.

She was occasionally shown suckling a crocodile who represented her son, Sobek. She was self-produced and the Egyptians believed she was of both a masculine and feminine nature. It was said that Neith gave birth to Ra while she was still in the waters of Nun. Neith was the protectoress of Duamutef, the guardian of the deceased's stomach.

During the dispute between Set and Horus for the throne of Egypt, the gods could not decide how to resolve the issue. They sent a letter to Neith requesting her advice. She suggested that Horus be made king and Set be given two Semetic goddesses as consolation. All the gods (but Set) agreed with the wisdom of her solution.

Her largest temple, Sapi-meht, was located at Sais, the capital of the fifth nome of Lower Egypt. In Upper Egypt, she was portrayed with the head of a lioness. Here her husband was Khnemu, the ram-headed creation god of the First Cataract, and her son was Tutu. Tutu was a form of the god Shu.