Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian pantheon, Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part ...

, Meret (also spelled Mert) was a goddess who was strongly associated with rejoicing, such as

singing Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and

dancing Dance is an art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements or ...

In myth

Meret was a token wife occasionally given to Hapi, the god of the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

flood. Her name being a reference to this, meaning simply ''the beloved''. As token wife, she was usually depicted with the same associations as Hapi, having on her head either the blue lotus for

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 ...

, or the

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

plant for

Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ') is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, the Nile River split into sev ...

. Since Hapi was the source of bountifulness, Meret was usually depicted with an offering bowl, as she was seen, being his wife, as the symbolic recipient of his generosity. Among the lower classes, where nationalism was less important than successful harvest, she was more strongly considered the wife of Hapi than the protectresses of Lower and Upper Egypt, which were more normally his wife in the upper classes. As a deity whose role was to be the symbolic receiver of bounty from the inundation of the Nile, she was strongly associated with rejoicing, such as

and

.Lurker, Manfred. ''Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons'', p. 231. Routledge, 1987. . Later stories tell that Meret was the goddess of the eighth hour, in the ''

Book of Gates The Book of Gates is an ancient Egyptian funerary text dating from the New Kingdom. The ''Book of Gates'' is long and detailed, consisting of one hundred scenes. It narrates the passage of a newly deceased soul into the next world journeying wi ...

.''

References

{{Authority control Arts goddesses Egyptian goddesses Music and singing goddesses ca:Llista de personatges de la mitologia egípcia#M