Wosret, Waset, or Wosyet meaning "the powerful female one" was an

Egyptian goddess Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. Deities represented natural fo ...

whose cult was centered on Thebes in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient ...

and her name was the same as the Egyptian name of the city, ''Waset''. She was a minor goddess, but three pharaohs during the

Twelfth Dynasty The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom by Egyptologists. It often is combined with the Eleventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth dynasties under the group title, Middle Kingdom. Some ...

incorporated her name into theirs:

Senwosret Senusret (Greek: ''Sesostris''; also transcribed as ''Senwosret'' based on Coptic; and as ''Usertesen'' in older literature) is the name of several Ancient Egyptians: * Senusret I, pharaoh (12th Dynasty) * Senusret II, pharaoh (12th Dynasty) * S ...

, or Senusret, means "man of Wosret". Wosret was rarely depicted, and no

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

to her have been identified. When she was depicted, it was wearing a tall crown with the Was "power" sceptre (which was related to her name) upon her head and carrying other weapons such as spears and a bow and arrows. She was

Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...

's first wife (

John Ray John Ray FRS (29 November 1627 – 17 January 1705) was a Christian English naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after ...

calls her "the theological equivalent of the girl next door"), and was replaced by

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 ...

, although it is possible that Mut is simply a later name for Wosret.Ray, John ''Reflections of Osiris: lives from ancient Egypt'' p.2

/ref>

References

{{Ancient Egyptian religion footer, collapsed Egyptian goddesses

See also

References