The Imiut fetish (''jmy-wt'') is a religious object that has been documented throughout the history of
ancient Egypt. It was a stuffed, headless animal skin, often of a feline or bull. This fetish was tied by the tail to a pole, terminating in a
lotus bud and inserted into a stand. The item was present in
ancient Egyptian funerary rites from at least the earliest dynasties. Although its origin and purpose is unknown, the imiut fetish dates as far back as the
First Dynasty (3100–2890 BC).
History
The earliest known depiction of the ''jmy-wt'' fetish is on a
Predynastic lug handle dating to
Naqada IIc-d, which appears to show the procedure by which intestines were extracted from a sacrificial bird and tied to the fetish.
In the
First Dynasty, the fetish appears on seals and labels during the reigns of kings
Hor-Aha,
Djer,
Djet, and Den, where the ''jmy-wt'' is associated with ritual killings of prisoners. Another example found in 1914 by an expedition of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
near the pyramid of
Senusret I
Senusret I (Middle Egyptian: z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 BC to 1926 BC (1920 BC to 1875 BC), and was one of the mo ...
(c. 1971-1928 BCE) was placed in a shrine.
There are depictions of the imiut fetish on ancient Egyptian temples, and sometimes there were models of it included with the funerary equipment, most notably the two found in the burial chamber of
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...
by
Howard Carter. The fetish was later connected to the god
Anubis
Anubis (; grc, Ἄνουβις), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian () is the god of death, mummification, embalming, the afterlife, cemeteries, tombs, and the Underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depict ...
and mummification around the
Fourth Dynasty
The Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty IV) is characterized as a "golden age" of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Dynasty IV lasted from to 2494 BC. It was a time of peace and prosperity as well as one during which trade with other ...
, so it is sometimes called the Anubis fetish.
Meaning
Logan suggests that the ''jmy.wt'' has its origin as a standard associated with kingship and transition, a pole upon which the intestines of a ritual animal sacrifice were hung. This he connects to an etymology ''jmy.wt'' "that which is inside", analogous to ''jmyw'' "tumor".
In this scenario, the name was later reanalyzed as a reference to embalming after the association with Anubis.
Notes
Egyptian artefact types
Ancient Egyptian symbols
Gerzeh culture
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