Daughters of Isis(80)

Several warlike goddesses were imported into Egypt during the New Kingdom, and it says much for the flexibility of the religious system that they were able to find a niche in the official pantheon without any undue fuss. The Canaanite goddess Astarte, who is also identified with the Assyrio-Babylonian goddess Ishtar, is either depicted as a lion-headed goddess driving a chariot over her vanquished enemies or as a naked goddess riding a horse and wielding a dangerous-looking sword and battle-axe; in her more gentle persona of Ashtoreth she is again shown as a beautiful naked woman, often identified with Hathor in her role as goddess of love. Anath was the Syrian war-goddess who in Egypt became ‘Lady of Heaven’ and ‘Mistress of the Gods’, the daughter of Re and the consort of Seth. Although she usually dressed in a conventional feminine style, she carried a battle-axe and spear to indicate where her real interests lay.

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Behold, I will announce to the great and the small who are in the troop: Beware of the Peak, for there is a lion within her! The Peak pounces with the movement of a savage lion, and she goes after him who offends her.

New Kingdom stela from Deir el-Medina



Everyday religious life was very much centred around the cults of the family past and present. Bonds with living relatives were crucial to the family-centred Egyptians, and there was at all times a deeply felt and permanent link with the dead relations who were in many ways still regarded as family members. Paying honour to immediate ancestors was therefore regarded as a particularly important religious requirement. Those who were affluent enough to build their own private tombs made sure that they included an integral above-ground chapel in the plan. This allowed the living to visit the tomb and make offerings to the spirit dwelling in the body of the deceased family member who was interred at the bottom of a shaft dug within or in front of the chapel. Separate shafts were excavated for the husband, wife and young unmarried children, and each succeeding generation hoped to build a new tomb to house their own nuclear family.

Tomb ownership was, however, a luxury denied to most Egyptians who were forced to express their reverence either at the graveside or, more usually, at the family altar or shrine. In poorer houses this shrine was a simple decorated niche or cupboard set in the wall of the main room directly opposite a doorway. More wealthy families were able to build elaborate free-standing chapels in the gardens of their spacious villas. The shrine usually held a small sacred image, a carving or statue which represented a composite of the patron god or goddess, the king and the souls of all the deceased family members. The function of the family shrine or chapel extended beyond that of the tomb-chapel, being concerned not only with the welfare of the recently departed but also with the worship of a mixture of local cult gods and goddesses, minor deities and the king. The private votive chapels which were built on the outskirts of the Amarna workmen’s village developed their own priesthood, and each chapel had its own guardian or curator who actually lived within the chapel precincts. Many of these chapels included images of Renenutet, the cobra-goddess of harvest and fertility, while the comparable votive chapels at the workmen’s village of Deir el-Medina showed a definite bias towards the female-orientated goddesses Renenutet, Meretseger and Taweret. Although not particularly influential within the state pantheon, these three goddesses personified events and locations which were very important in the daily lives of their worshippers.



Fig. 45 The cobra goddess Renenutet

A particularly strong domestic cult evolved around the cobra goddess Renenutet who was firmly identified with household and family life and was also the patron goddess of nursing and the harvest. The snake, who at first sight might be regarded as an unwelcome guest in any home, protected the stored food from vermin and was therefore perceived as both helpful and friendly. Renenutet, Meretseger and Edjo, the cobra goddess of Lower Egypt and protector of the king, were all widely revered female snake-deities, while the only wholly evil snake was the male Apophis, a serpent who was despised as the enemy of the gods. As the goddess of the Theban mountain, Meretseger (the ‘Peak of the West’) was particularly important to the workmen of Deir el-Medina, and was frequently depicted in association with Ptah, the mummiform patron of craftsmen.

Snakes became very closely linked with women, fertility and childbirth to the extent that Isis, holding the baby Horus, was often depicted under the protection of two snakes. Further evidence of a connection between the snake and femininity is provided by a series of New Kingdom female-fertility figurines which are modelled lying on beds decorated with red and black stripy snakes, while both ostraca and wall paintings recovered at Amarna and Deir el-Medina depict snakes in close association with dancing Bes figures, Taweret and trailing foliage and flowers.3 These scenes may be literal depictions of a ‘birth bower’, a particular room or even a separate hut reserved for the use of women during their delivery and subsequent period of purification, or they may be more symbolic representations intended to give protection to the mother and child and to ensure the continued prosperity of the whole family. Whatever their purpose, they certainly emphasize the importance attached to childbirth by the community as a whole.