Iat () is an
ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
ian minor goddess of milk and, by association, of nurturing and childbirth.
The goddess is sparsely attested, and what little we know of her is based upon a handful of mentions in the
Pyramid Texts.
These include the following:
* utterance PT 211/Pyr. 131, where it is said of the deceased king, "My foster-mother is Iat, and it is she who nourishes me, it is indeed she who bore me" (unknown translator)
or "The Milk-Goddess is his attendant. She is the one who will make it possible for him to live: she in fact is the one who bore
Unis" (
James P. Allen’s translation);
[Allen, James P. (2005) ''The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts'', Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, pages 30, 184, 196.]
* utterance PT 578/Pyr. 1537, where the dead king is told to take on her identity in order to reach the gods in the retinue of the sun: "you should take hold of them, in your identity of the north wind; they will take account of you, in your identity of Anubis; and the gods will not go down against you, in your identity of the Milk-Goddess";
* and utterance MAFS PT 1071, which counsels, "Since you are little, you should give your arm to the Sun and sit with your arm to the Milk-Goddess."
Etymology
The name of the goddess resembles one Egyptian word for "milk", ;
the more common work for milk, , may also have some etymological connection to both.
See also
*
Egyptian pantheon
Ancient Egyptian deities are the God (male deity), 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 prehistoric Egypt, prehist ...
References
Egyptian goddesses
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