Mehit (also Mehyt, Mekhit) was 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 and Nubian lion goddess of Nubian origin.

History

In the Early Dynastic period she was depicted as a reclining lioness with three bent poles projecting from her back. In that era she appears in numerous early dynastic sealings and ivory artifacts, usually together with a representation of an

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

ian shrine.Toby A. H. Wilkinson: ''Early Dynastic Egypt'', Routledge; (2001), , p. 290 Her main places of worship were Hierakonpolis and

Thinis Thinis ( Greek: Θίνις ''Thinis'', Θίς ''This'' ; Egyptian: Tjenu; ; ) was the capital city of pre- unification Upper Egypt. Thinis remains undiscovered but is well attested by ancient writers, including the classical historian Manetho ...

.Emery, W.B. (1961) ''Archaic Egypt'', Harmondsworth: Penguin, p. 125

Beliefs

Mehit was the consort of Onuris, or Anhur, a hunter god who was worshipped in Thinis. Various texts allude to a

myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

in which Onuris tracks down Mehit in

Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...

and brings her to Egypt as his wife. This event is the basis for Onuris name, which means "bringer-back of the distant one". Late sources identify this story with the "Distant Goddess" myth, in which the Eye of Ra—a solar deity who can take the form of several goddesses—runs away from her father Ra, who sends one of the gods to retrieve her. In the version with Onuris and Mehit, Onuris is syncretized with Shu and Mehit with Hathor- Tefnut, Shu's mythological sister and wife. Because Shu and Tefnut sometimes represented the sun and moon, Mehit could also represent the full moon. Her return to her proper place could thus represent the restoration of the

Eye of Horus The Eye of Horus, also known as left ''wedjat'' eye or ''udjat'' eye, specular to the Eye of Ra (right ''wedjat'' eye), is a concept and symbol in ancient Egyptian religion that represents well-being, healing, and protection. It derives from th ...

, a symbol of the moon and of the divine order of the cosmos.Pinch, Geraldine (2004). ''Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt''. Oxford University Press. pp. 71–73, 177 Geraldine Pinch suggests that the Distant Goddess may have originally been a personification of the wild deserts of Nubia, whose myth was absorbed into a complex of myths surrounding the Eye of Ra. Toby Wilkinson says that in Early Dynastic times she may have been a protector goddess, associated with holy places.

References

{{Kushite religion footer Egyptian goddesses Lion goddesses Nubian goddesses Tutelary goddesses