Monday, January 28, 2008
Sacred Animals Part 1: Snakes
The first installment of my series on Egyptian animals theme will be the snake. Why? Last night I saw that the largest species of spitting cobra has been discovered in Kenya (it gets to be over 9 feet long!) and I said to myself, "Hey, spitting cobras are the Eye of Re. That's pretty cool."
Snakes were incredibly important in ancient Egyptian mythology. Between 34 and 40 species of snakes inhabit Egypt, everything from sand boas to carpet vipers. I will primarily focus on the kind most commonly found in art, the cobra. Two types seem to be found most frequently in depictions: the red spitting cobra, seen below and the Egyptian Cobra.
Some sources I have say the uraeus on the brow of royals and also some gods is the Egyptian cobra. I look at some depictions and have to wonder. In myth, this snake is the Eye Goddess, a title of several aggressive goddesses, including Sekhmet, Wadjet and and Bast, who sit on the brow of the pharaoh and spit fire into his enemies' eyes. This sounds more like a spitting cobra to me, and when you compare a uraeus to a photo of a red spitting cobra, the similarity is striking. Although as with Yinepu being shown as a composite canine, it's 100% possible the Egyptian cobra is also a form the Eye of Re assumes. Red Spitting Cobras are a small, slender, not terribly poisonous species. Here is an ancient depiction of a spitting cobra, and here is a YouTube video of a man feeding and getting spat on by a Red Spitting Cobra (and then telling it to stop striking at him like it's a naughty child.)
Egyptian cobras grow as big as 8 feet long, though a more normal range is 5 to 6 feet long. They vary widely in coloration, and are nocturnal, sunning themselves in the morning sunlight. Egyptian cobras are also very deadly snakes, having the second most toxic venom of any cobra species, though it delivers more venom per bite than the Cape Cobra, which has the most toxic venom. They are found in all types of environments, from human habitation (they like the small critters who live around humans, such as rats and chickens) to swimming in the Mediterranean sea. It's not hard to see why they were associated with such a wide variety of Egyptian gods.
Wadjet is a goddess who primarily assumes cobra form. I have a image of Her on my altar. When I was at the rock show one year, I saw a tiny carved stone cobra with inlaid eyes, and had to own it. I took it home, put it on my altar, and asked, "Who are you?" The answer, Wadjet. She is one of the very old "Two Ladies", the gods of upper and lower Egypt. Her name means "Green One" and her city was Per-Wadjet, a merging of the two very ancient cities Pe and Dep in the Nile Delta. Wadjet's name either refers to the green of the delta lands, or the color of snakes. Her shrine was known as per-nu, or the House of Flame. Together with Nekhbet, the patroness of Nekhen (Nekhbet means "She of Nekhen"), who is most often found in vulture form, they protect the pharaoh and can be found on royal headdresses. In myth, Wadjet protected Horus the Child in the marshes where he grew up, thus showing Her nurturing side, as well as Her aggressive, protective side.
Other cobra goddesses are Renenutet, a harvest goddess called "The Nourishing Snake" and "Lady of the Fertile Fields", Weret-Hekau, whose name means "Great of Magic", and Meretseger, whose name means "She Loves Silence" and who both protected the Valley of the Kings and also punished trespassers there.
But it wasn't just goddesses who had snake symbolism. Apep and Yamm, the gods of chaos-as-destruction and the Mediterranean sea (respectively) were seen as either serpents or serpentine in form. Apep to me looks like an Egyptian cobra without the hood extended. Usually shown being subdued or dismembered in order to restrict his power, he is seen in the link being beheaded by Re in cat form. Yamm was originally a Canaanite god, described as greedy and chaotic. Benign gods also assumed serpent form or had serpentine characteristics: Heka, the god of what is best described as magic, and Nehebu-Kau, a helpful, protective funerary god.
Finally, a non cobra of importance, the Horned Viper (right). Another extremely venomous snake that lives in the Sahara, it is the hieroglyphic sign for "f". Most people see this sign and assume it's a slug or snail, but it is in fact a viper. It gets used a lot because the -f suffix is how one writes "his". When the horned viper wishes to scare off a predator, it scrapes its scales together to create a rasping sound. According to one site, which has information that is generally reliable, it makes kind of an "ffff" sound, and the ancient word for horned viper is "fy".
Now that we've learned about the beauty and majesty of Egyptian snakes in myth and religion, lets enjoy some bad Egyptian Snake God art.
Snakes were incredibly important in ancient Egyptian mythology. Between 34 and 40 species of snakes inhabit Egypt, everything from sand boas to carpet vipers. I will primarily focus on the kind most commonly found in art, the cobra. Two types seem to be found most frequently in depictions: the red spitting cobra, seen below and the Egyptian Cobra.
Some sources I have say the uraeus on the brow of royals and also some gods is the Egyptian cobra. I look at some depictions and have to wonder. In myth, this snake is the Eye Goddess, a title of several aggressive goddesses, including Sekhmet, Wadjet and and Bast, who sit on the brow of the pharaoh and spit fire into his enemies' eyes. This sounds more like a spitting cobra to me, and when you compare a uraeus to a photo of a red spitting cobra, the similarity is striking. Although as with Yinepu being shown as a composite canine, it's 100% possible the Egyptian cobra is also a form the Eye of Re assumes. Red Spitting Cobras are a small, slender, not terribly poisonous species. Here is an ancient depiction of a spitting cobra, and here is a YouTube video of a man feeding and getting spat on by a Red Spitting Cobra (and then telling it to stop striking at him like it's a naughty child.)
Egyptian cobras grow as big as 8 feet long, though a more normal range is 5 to 6 feet long. They vary widely in coloration, and are nocturnal, sunning themselves in the morning sunlight. Egyptian cobras are also very deadly snakes, having the second most toxic venom of any cobra species, though it delivers more venom per bite than the Cape Cobra, which has the most toxic venom. They are found in all types of environments, from human habitation (they like the small critters who live around humans, such as rats and chickens) to swimming in the Mediterranean sea. It's not hard to see why they were associated with such a wide variety of Egyptian gods.Wadjet is a goddess who primarily assumes cobra form. I have a image of Her on my altar. When I was at the rock show one year, I saw a tiny carved stone cobra with inlaid eyes, and had to own it. I took it home, put it on my altar, and asked, "Who are you?" The answer, Wadjet. She is one of the very old "Two Ladies", the gods of upper and lower Egypt. Her name means "Green One" and her city was Per-Wadjet, a merging of the two very ancient cities Pe and Dep in the Nile Delta. Wadjet's name either refers to the green of the delta lands, or the color of snakes. Her shrine was known as per-nu, or the House of Flame. Together with Nekhbet, the patroness of Nekhen (Nekhbet means "She of Nekhen"), who is most often found in vulture form, they protect the pharaoh and can be found on royal headdresses. In myth, Wadjet protected Horus the Child in the marshes where he grew up, thus showing Her nurturing side, as well as Her aggressive, protective side.
Other cobra goddesses are Renenutet, a harvest goddess called "The Nourishing Snake" and "Lady of the Fertile Fields", Weret-Hekau, whose name means "Great of Magic", and Meretseger, whose name means "She Loves Silence" and who both protected the Valley of the Kings and also punished trespassers there.
But it wasn't just goddesses who had snake symbolism. Apep and Yamm, the gods of chaos-as-destruction and the Mediterranean sea (respectively) were seen as either serpents or serpentine in form. Apep to me looks like an Egyptian cobra without the hood extended. Usually shown being subdued or dismembered in order to restrict his power, he is seen in the link being beheaded by Re in cat form. Yamm was originally a Canaanite god, described as greedy and chaotic. Benign gods also assumed serpent form or had serpentine characteristics: Heka, the god of what is best described as magic, and Nehebu-Kau, a helpful, protective funerary god.
Finally, a non cobra of importance, the Horned Viper (right). Another extremely venomous snake that lives in the Sahara, it is the hieroglyphic sign for "f". Most people see this sign and assume it's a slug or snail, but it is in fact a viper. It gets used a lot because the -f suffix is how one writes "his". When the horned viper wishes to scare off a predator, it scrapes its scales together to create a rasping sound. According to one site, which has information that is generally reliable, it makes kind of an "ffff" sound, and the ancient word for horned viper is "fy".Now that we've learned about the beauty and majesty of Egyptian snakes in myth and religion, lets enjoy some bad Egyptian Snake God art.
Labels: sacredanimals
