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 ...

, Wepwawet ( hieroglyphic ''wp-w3w.t''; also rendered Upuaut, Wep-wawet, Wepawet, Apuat, and Ophois) was originally a jackal deity of funerary rites, war, and royalty, whose

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

centre was

Asyut AsyutAlso spelled ''Assiout'' or ''Assiut''. ( ' ) is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt. It was built close to the ancient city of the same name, which is situated nearby. The modern city is located at , while the ancient city i ...

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 ...

(Lycopolis in the Greco-Roman period). His name means ''opener of the ways'' and he is often depicted as a wolf standing at the prow of a solar-boat. Some interpret that Wepwawet was seen as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

, going out to clear routes for the army to proceed forward. One inscription from the Sinai states that Wepwawet "opens the way" to king

Sekhemkhet Sekhemkhet (also read as Sechemchet) was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the Third Dynasty of Egypt, 3rd Dynasty during the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. His reign is thought to have been from about 2648 BC until 2640 BC. He is also kn ...

's victory.Remler, p.170 In royal and religious processions, Wepwawet was often depicted on the first standard, opening the way for subsequent standards. He also stands at the prow of the Barque of Ra, usually in human-headed form. Wepwawet originally was seen as a jackal, or, according to some, a wolf deity, with his cult center being at the '' Lycopolis'', (meaning ''city of wolves'' in Greek). He is one of the earliest Egyptian Gods on record. Wepwawet was heavily seen in association with royalty and the Pharaoh (''My face is that of Wepwawet'', Pyramid Texts), symbolizing and protecting their rise to power, accompanying them on hunts (in which capacity he was titled '' ne withsharp arrows more powerful than the

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

alone)'' or in the pharaoh's ascent to the Duat, or afterlife. Over time, the connection to war and thus to

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

led to Wepwawet also being seen as one who opened the ways to, and through, Duat, for the spirits of the dead. Through this, Wepwawet became associated with

Anubis Anubis (; ), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian (), is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine hea ...

, a deity that was worshiped in Asyut, eventually being considered his brother. The Pyramid Texts state that Wepwawet was born in the Peru-nu, the sacred shrine of the goddess Wadjet, while an alternative myth suggests he emerged from a tamarisk bush. Consequently, Wepwawet is often confused with Anubis. This deity appears in the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

Seti I Menmaatre Seti I (or Sethos I in Greek language, Greek) was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom of Egypt, New Kingdom period, ruling or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and th ...

at Abydos. In Egyptian art, Wepwawet was depicted as a black jackal, or as a man with the head of a jackal. In the temple of Seti I at Abydos, Wepwawet appears to have grey-colored fur, though this is likely due to loss of pigmentation, as elsewhere in the temple, black paint is almost entirely faded. In rare cases, he appears in fully human form. He was sometimes depicted dressed as a soldier, as well as carrying other military equipment—a mace and a bow. For what generally is considered to be lauding purposes of the pharaohs, a later

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 ...

briefly was circulated claiming that Wepwawet was born at the sanctuary of

Wadjet Wadjet (; "Green One"), known to the Greek world as Uto (; ) or Buto (; ) among other renderings including Wedjat, Uadjet, and Udjo, was originally the ancient Egyptian Tutelary deity, local goddess of the city of Dep or Buto in Lower Egypt, ...

, the sacred site for the oldest goddess of Lower Egypt that is located in the heart of

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 ...

. Consequently, Wepwawet, who had hitherto been the standard of Upper Egypt alone, formed an integral part of royal rituals, symbolizing the unification of Egypt. In later

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 ...

, Wepwawet is called " Ra" who has gone up from the horizon, perhaps as the "opener" of the sky. In the later Egyptian funerary context, Wepwawet assists at the

Opening of the mouth ceremony The opening of the mouth ceremony (or ritual) was an ancient Egyptian ritual described in funerary texts such as the Pyramid Texts. From the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom to the Roman Egypt, Roman Period, there is ample evidence of this cerem ...

and guides the deceased into the netherworld.

Etymology

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

, Wepwawet's name is rendered as ''wp-wꜣwt'', and translates from the

Egyptian language The Egyptian language, or Ancient Egyptian (; ), is an extinct branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large corpus of surviving texts, which were made accessible to the modern world ...

as "opener of ways," with ''wpj'' meaning "to open/split" and ''wꜣwt'' being the direct genitive construction of the plural of ''wꜣt'', meaning "road." Though there are several ways to write Wepwawet's name in hieroglyphs, similarly to other gods such as

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 ...

, Wepwawet has a unique hieroglyph specific to him which resembles a jackal on a standard (𓃧). The hieroglyph which respresents Wepwawet resembles similar ones used for Anubis (𓃣, 𓃢) due to their association with one another.

In popular culture

In '' Crusader Kings III'', God Wepwawet is the supreme deity of the Kordofan faith. Wepwawet is the personal god or totem of Thu, the main character in the ''Lady of the Reeds'' books by Canadian author Pauline Gedge (House of Dreams, 1994; and House of Illusions, 1996).

Animal origin

While we do not know for certain the exact species of animal represented by the Ancient Egyptian ''sꜢb'' / sAb animal (''Jackal''), the African wolf (''Canis lupaster'') was one species thought to depict and the template of numerous Ancient Egyptian deities, including Wepwawet. Other species theorized include the

black-backed jackal The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas'') is a medium-sized Caninae, canine native to East Africa, eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly . One region includes the southernmost tip of the continent, includin ...

also called the silver-backed Jackal (''C. mesomelas'' or ''Lupulella mesomelas'') and

golden jackal The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called the common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Eurasia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy yellow in summer to a dark tawny beige in winter. It is smaller a ...

or Asiatic jackal (''Canis aureus''). The Egyptian jackal was listed as a subspecies of the

but molecular and osteological data has established that it is a unique species in its own right. It is native to Egypt,

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

, and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, though its post-

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

range once encompassed the Palestine region. Inter-breeding between species also cannot be ruled out, and it has been posited that a species sharing the characteristics of both African jackal and wolf species could be the missing link, such as the combination of ''C. aureas'' and ''C. lupus lupaster'' appearing as '' Canis aureus lupaster''.

Gallery

File:AbydosSethosCh-191.jpg, Wepwawet giving scepters to

, bas-relief from the Temple of Seti I. Nearby hieroglyphs and elements which are usually painted black also appear grey. File:Painted Relief of Seti I with Wepwawet ... (35875692304).jpg, Painted Relief of Seti I embraced by Wepwawet. Nearby hieroglyphs and elements, e.g. the pupils of the eyes, which are usually painted black, also appear grey or white. File:IvoryLabelOfDen-BritishMuseum-August19-08.jpg, Ivory label depicting the pharaoh Den, found at his tomb in Abydos, c. 3000 BCE. Wepwawet is at the upper right atop a standard. File:Wepwawet, 664–332 B.C.E.,16.580.168.jpg, Figure depicting Wepwawet, 664–332 BCE,

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

File:Wepwawetemsaf.png, Sketch of a stela depicting pharaoh Wepwawetemsaf standing before Wepwawet, c. 17th century BCE. File:SFEC-MEDINETHABU-2009-11-14-0148-d.jpg,

Ramesses III Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt, Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. Some scholars date his reign from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC, and he is considered the last pharaoh of the New K ...

before Wepwawet in a relief from Medinet Habu, c. File:Isis and Wepwawet, god of Asyut,with the name of Siese,Overseer of the Two Granaries of Ramesses II MET DP310779.jpg, A statue of Wepwawet with the goddess

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

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 ...

, which belonged to an official named Siese who worked under

Ramesses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...

File:Flickr - Nic's events - London - 14-15 Dec 2007 - 029.jpg, A figure of Wepwawet,

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

References

External links