Iusaaset, Iusaas, or, in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, Saosis, is a primordial goddess in Ancient Egyptian religion, a feminine counterpart to the male

creator deity A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatr ...

Atum Atum (, Egyptian: ''jtm(w)'' or ''tm(w)'', ''reconstructed'' ; Coptic ''Atoum''), sometimes rendered as Atem or Tem, is an important deity in Egyptian mythology. Name Atum's name is thought to be derived from the verb ''tm'' which means 'to c ...

.Hart, George. (2005). ''The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, 2nd Edition''. Routledge. p. 83 Iusaaset was depicted as a woman with a

scarab beetle The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...

on her head. She was worshipped in the city of I͗wnw or Iunu, the Greek Heliopolis, as was Atum. Iusaaset was associated with the acacia tree and acacias stood at the sanctuary dedicated to Iusaaset at Heliopolis. The process of creation was said to have begun when Atum masturbated, or copulated with himself, to produce the deities Shu and

Tefnut Tefnut ( egy, ; cop, ⲧϥⲏⲛⲉ ) is a deity of moisture, moist air, dew and rain in Ancient Egyptian religion.The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, George Hart She is the sister and consort of the air god Shu and the ...

, thus beginning the process of creation. The hand he used in this act was personified as a goddess, the Hand of Atum. She was equated with

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sk ...

or Iusaaset and Nebethetepet, two other, more minor goddesses. The earliest texts to mention them seem to treat Iusaaset and Nebethetepet as two names for a single goddess, but after the time of the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000–1700 BC) they were treated as separate, although similar, deities. The name "Iusaaset" means something resembling "She who grows as she comes" and "Nebethetepet" means "Lady of the Field of Offerings', so the Egyptologist Stephen Quirke suggests that they represented two aspects of creation: Iusaaset for growth and Nebethetepet for abundance.Quirke, Stephen. (2001). ''The Cult of Ra: Sun Worship in Ancient Egypt''. Thames & Hudson. p. 31

References

Sources

* Vandier, Jacques. 1964-66. "Iousâas et (Hathor)-Nébet-Hétépet." Revue d’Égyptologie 16–18. {{Ancient Egyptian religion footer Egyptian goddesses Earth goddesses Solar goddesses Hathor