Nehmetawy ''(nḥm.t-ˁw3ỉ;'' "she who embraces those in need") is a goddess in the

ancient Egyptian religion Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of Polytheism, polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with Ancient Egyptian deities, many deities belie ...

. She is not very widely known. Nehmetawy was the wife of snake god Nehebkau, or in other places of worship, like in

Hermopolis Hermopolis (or ''Hermopolis Magna'') was a major city in antiquity, located near the boundary between Lower and Upper Egypt. Its Egyptian name ''Khemenu'' derives from the eight deities (the Ogdoad) said to reside in the city. A provincial capi ...

, the wife of

Thoth Thoth (from , borrowed from , , the reflex of " eis like the ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an African sacred ibis, ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine count ...

.A local form of the god

Horus Horus (), also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor () in Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and t ...

called Horus-nefer ("Horus, the good one)" might have been viewed as the son of Thoth and Nehmetawy. Her depictions are anthropomorph, with a sistrum-shaped headdress, often with a child in her lap.

Tale of the returning goddess

In a tale from the

Tebtunis Tebtunis was a city and later town in Lower Egypt. The settlement was founded in approximately 1800 BCE by the Twelfth Dynasty king Amenemhat III. It was located in what is now the village of Tell Umm el-Baragat in the Faiyum Governorate. In Tebt ...

Mythological Manual, the goddess

Unut Unut, also known as Wenut or Wenet, was a Prehistory, prehistoric Ancient Egyptian hare and snake goddess of fertility and new birth. Known as "The swift one", the animal sacred to her was the hare, but originally, she had the form of a snake. ...

speared the earth god Geb for fornicating with Nehmetawy in Khemenu and Nehbet-anet in Dep. The two different locations where the goddesses were raped represent the two lands of ancient Egypt respectively. The tale might be connected with the myth of Shu separating Geb and Nut as punishment for the rape of his wife Tefnut. The manual includes another myth about Nehmetawy, closely tied to the legend of "The returning Goddess." These myths center on a missing, raging goddess who must be convinced to return to Egypt by a male god. Numerous local versions of this myth exist, incorporating regional goddesses into the role of the returning goddess.In the Tebtunis manual, the goddess's exile and return are integral to a festival dedicated to the god

, which also serves as the ritual framework for the composite myth of Geb’s crimes. In this context,the god

Set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

appears both as Geb's son, attempting to reclaim his father's ill-gotten possessions, and as a manifestation of Geb himself.The goddess flees from Set to

Naunet Nu ("Watery One") or Nun ("The Inert One") (Ancient Egyptian: ; Coptic: ), in ancient Egyptian religion, is the personification of the primordial watery abyss which existed at the time of creation and from which the creator sun god Ra a ...

, where she is visited by

Nephthys Nephthys or Nebet-Het in ancient Egyptian () was a goddess in ancient Egyptian religion. A member of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis in Egyptian mythology, she was a daughter of Nut and Geb. Nephthys was typically paired with her sister Isis ...

and Thoth. Together, they escort her back to the temple of Khemenu. There she meets the"Noble one", probably a reference to the local sun god Shepsy. Shepsy is associated with the Ogdoad, a group of eight primordial deitie. This temple, called "The Temple of the Ogdoad" or "The Temple of the Golden One," depicted eight sistra symbolizing the goddess Hathor-Nehmetawy and her connection to the Ogdoad. The myth refers to Thoth and the goddess as siblings, reflecting a restored relationship akin to the union of

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...

-Tefnut and her brother Shu in other versions of the Return of the Goddess myth. Unlike other narratives where the goddess takes refuge 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 ...

, here she retreats to Naunet, the primordial waters or inner sky, emphasizing the symbolic nature of mythic space. Two demotic ostraca from the Ptolemaic period in Herakleopolis describe a festival characterized by drunkenness, indulgence, music, and sexual activity in the presence of the goddesses Nehmetawy and Ay. This festival alludes to the great Bastet festival in

Bubastis Bubastis ( Bohairic Coptic: ''Poubasti''; Greek: ''Boubastis'' or ''Boubastos''), also known in Arabic as Tell-Basta or in Egyptian as Per-Bast, was an ancient Egyptian city. Bubastis is often identified with the biblical ''Pi-Beseth'' ( ''p ...

. Ay embodies the wild, untamed version of the returning goddess, while Nehmetawy represents her peaceful counterpart after her return to Egypt, while In the Tebtunis manual, Unut represents the raging aspect of the returning goddess, while Nehmetawy is the pacified one.Jørgensen (2014), pp.88.

References

External links

"The Hermopolis Stela of Nectanebo I"
''describing a temple that Nectanebo built for Nehmetawy''. Egyptian goddesses Thoth {{Egyptian-myth-stub