Werethekau ( Egyptian: ''wrt-hk3w'' "great one of magic, great enchantress"; alternately Urthekau, Weret Hekau) was an ancient Egyptian deity. She served as the personification of supernatural powers.Barbara S. Lesko, The great goddesses of Egypt, University of Oklahoma Press, 1999, p 74

In myth

As a deity dedicated to protection, she often appeared on funerary objects, particularly weapons, to allow the deceased to protect him or herself against the dangers of the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

. She also was placed on ivory knives as a charm to protect pregnant and nursing mothers. Her power was one of the inherent qualities of the

Crowns of Egypt The Egyptian civilization used a number of different crowns throughout its existence. Some were used to show authority, while others were used for religious ceremonies. Each crown was worn by different pharaohs or deities, and each crown had its o ...

. As goddess of the crowns she was a snake or a lion-headed woman and dwelt in the state sanctuary. As the wife of

Ra-Horakhty Ra (; egy, rꜥ; also transliterated ; cuneiform: ''ri-a'' or ''ri-ia''; Phoenician: 𐤓𐤏, CIS I 3778 romanized: rʿ) or Re (; cop, ⲣⲏ, translit=Rē) was the ancient Egyptian deity of the sun. By the Fifth Dynasty, in the 25th ...

she is depicted with his solar disk on her head. Werethekau was an epithet frequently conferred on Isis,

Sekhmet In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet ( or Sachmis (), also spelled Sakhmet, Sekhet, Sakhet among other spellings, cop, Ⲥⲁⲭⲙⲓ, Sakhmi), is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing. She is depicted as a lioness. Sekhmet is a solar de ...

Mut Mut, also known as Maut and Mout, was a mother goddess worshipped in ancient Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush in present-day North Sudan. In Meroitic, her name was pronounced mata): 𐦨𐦴. Her name means ''mother'' in the ancient Egyptian l ...

,Carol A. R. Andrews, ''Amulets of Ancient Egypt'', University of Texas Press 1994, , p.37 and others.

References

{{Ancient Egyptian religion footer, collapsed Egyptian goddesses Magic goddesses

In myth

See also

References