Kherty is an

ancient Egyptian deity 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 for ...

. Despite being archaeologically attested since the early

2nd Dynasty The Second Dynasty of ancient Egypt (or Dynasty II, – ) is the latter of the two dynasties of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, Egyptian Archaic Period, when the seat of government was centred at Thinis. It is most known for its last rule ...

, his original mythological role during this era is unclear. Kherty was an Egyptian god of the

Duat The Duat or Tuat (Ancient Egyptian: Hieroglyph: 𓇽 romanized: dwꜣt) is a concept in ancient Egyptian mythology involving death. It is most often seen as a realm where people go after they die. Due to linguistic shifts within Ancient Egypt, th ...

.Georg Meurer: ''Die Feinde des Königs in den Pyramidentexten'' (= ''Orbis biblicus et orientalis'', vol. 189). Saint-Paul, 2002, , pp. 73, 74 & 76. The earliest mythological descriptions of Kherty's role do not appear until the 6th Dynasty in the

Pyramid Texts The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterranea ...

.John Gwyn Griffiths: ''The Origins of Osiris and His Cult'' (= ''Studies in the history of religions'', vol. 40). BRILL, Leiden 1980, , p. 6, 173 & 174.

Description

The earliest depictions of Kherty appear during the early 2nd dynasty, under king (

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

)

Hotepsekhemwy Hotepsekhemwy is the Horus name of an early Egyptian king who was the founder of the Second Dynasty of Egypt. The exact length of his reign is not known; the Turin canon suggests an improbable 95 years Alan H. Gardiner: ''The royal canon of T ...

and

Raneb Nebra or Raneb is the Horus name of the second early Egyptian king of the 2nd Dynasty. The exact length of his reign is unknown since the Turin canon is damaged and the year accounts are lost.Alan H. Gardiner: ''The royal canon of Turin''. ...

. He is normally shown as a recumbent and mummified

ram Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

. In rare instances he was pictured as a bull or a lion. The figurine is always guided by the

hieroglyphic Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct characters. ...

signs of a shamble and a bread loaf, giving a reading as ''kherty''.

Cult

Kherty was worshipped since the early 2nd dynasty, his name appears first time on stone bowls of king

Sneferka Sneferka was an early Egyptian king who may have ruled at the end of the 1st Dynasty. The exact length of his reign is unknown, but thought to have been very short and his chronological position is unclear. Name sources Sneferka's '' serekh-n ...

. Stone bowl inscriptions from the reign of king

Peribsen Seth-Peribsen (also known as Ash-Peribsen, Peribsen and Perabsen) is the serekh name of an early Egyptian monarch (pharaoh), who ruled during the Second Dynasty of Egypt (c. 2890 – c. 2686 BC). His chronological position within this dyna ...

mention first time the title "god servant of Kherty" (Egypt. ''hem-netjer Kherty''). The main centre of the Kherty cult was located at Letopolis (today Ausim), a second cult centre was later founded at ''Nesat'' (exact location unknown).Christian Leitz: ''Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen (LGG)'' (= ''Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta'', vol. 6). Peeters Publishers, Leuven 2002, , pp. 48.

Mythology

Kherty was a contradicting character: The pyramid texts reveal that he was worshipped at one side as a guide, who brought the deceased king safely to "the yonder site" by "being the ferryman". He also protected the deceased against various demons (named ''inmetjw'' in the texts) sent by

Seth Seth, in the Abrahamic religions, was the third son of Adam and Eve. The Hebrew Bible names two of his siblings (although it also states that he had others): his brothers Cain and Abel. According to , Seth was born after Abel's murder by Cain, ...

. The deceased king was then brought to his destination by Ra. On the other site, however, Kherty was feared as death in persona, a god that "lives on the heart of men", making them stop pounding. The pyramid texts reveal that Kherty attacked the physical heart (''khat(jw)'') of the dying peoples, not the metaphysical, symbolic heart (''jb'') as the "seat of thoughts and feelings". For this reason, a lot of spells and prayers were addressed to Kherty in attempt to befriend and please him. Other prayers beg Ra to "take the deceased king away from Kherty". These prayers also mention

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

, the judge of the underworld. Thus, Kherty and Osiris were mythologically connected to each other. Kherty is not mentioned in the famous

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 n ...

of Middle Kingdom period. Instead, he is replaced by a god Aker, who is now the ferryman. In the prayers of the

Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' is the name given to an Ancient Egyptian funerary texts, ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom of Egypt, New Kingdom (around 1550 BC) to around 50 BC ...

, Kherty is described as a guard who guides the celestial bark of Ra.

References

{{Ancient Egyptian religion footer Egyptian death gods Underworld gods Egyptian underworld Psychopomps Lion gods