Wepset ''(wps.t)'' is an
ancient Egyptian goddess. She is one of the personifications of the
uraeus
The Uraeus (), or Ouraeus (Ancient Greek: , ; Egyptian: ', "rearing cobra"), ''(plural: Uraei)'' is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra, used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt.
Symbol ...
cobra that protected the kings; she is also an
Eye of Ra
The Eye of Ra or Eye of Re is a being in ancient Egyptian mythology that functions as a feminine counterpart to the sun god Ra and a violent force that subdues his enemies. The eye is an extension of Ra's power, equated with the disk of the sun, ...
and is mentioned as "the Eye" in the
Coffin Texts
The Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. They are partially derived from the earlier Pyramid Texts, reserved for royal use only, but contain substantial ...
. Her name means "she who burns". In
New Kingdom
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
texts she destroys the enemies of
Osiris
Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He wa ...
. She was mentioned as having a temple on the island of
Biga
Biga may refer to:
Places
* Biga, Çanakkale, a town and district of Çanakkale Province in Turkey
* Sanjak of Biga, an Ottoman province
* Biga Çayı, a river in Çanakkale Province
* Biga Peninsula, a peninsula in Turkey, in the northwest par ...
; no such structure has been found there, but she appears in the temples of other deities here and in Lower Nubia.
[Richard Wilkinson: The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London, Thames and Hudson, 2003. p.228]
Iconography
She is most often depicted as a snake, but in the Greek and Roman period she also has anthropomorphic depictions, as a woman with a lion's head or with uraeus or sun disk on her head.
See also
References
Egyptian goddesses
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