The Tree Goddesses of Ancient Egypt

At various locals in the in the ancient world, trees were associated with different gods, and Egypt was certainly no exception. We know of no trees, or for that matter other vegetation in Egypt that was honored as specific gods as were bulls or rams, for example. Nevertheless, various vegetation was connected to gods and goddess in one way or another, or generally to Egyptian religion and specifically the afterlife.

There were several deities that were associated with trees, a rare commodity in Egypt. Horus was associated with the acacia, while Osiris and Ra were tied with the willow and the sycamore, respectively. Osiris was sheltered by a willow after he was killed, and for example, the Book of the Dead describes two "sycamores of turquoise" growing at the point on the eastern horizon where the sun-god rises each morning. Re was also associated with the ished tree. Also, Wepwawet was paired with the Tamarisk, and the symbol of the god Heh was a palm branch, while not surprisingly, we have both Thoth and Seshat, the two deities associated with writing, inscribing the leaves of either the ished (or persea) tree with the Royal Titulary and the number of years in the pharaoh's reign.

However, none of these male deities were associated with trees nearly as much as a number of female deities. The sycamore specifically was regarded as a manifestation of the goddesses Nut, Isis and Hathor, who was even given the title, "Lady of the Sycamore".In fact, this title has been interpreted to relate to a specific and particularly old tree that once stood to the south of the Temple of Ptah at Memphis during the Old Kingdom.

The Sycamore tree was of special significance in Egyptian religion. It was the only native tree of useful size and sturdiness in Egypt, and perhaps very significantly, most often grew along the edge of the desert, which would have also placed it near or in the necropolises.

Tree Goddess from the tomb of Pashedu in the Valley of the Kings

There were also a number of minor tree goddesses who were depicted in a number of ways. There were simply images of trees labeled as goddesses as well as fully anthropomorphic personifications of tree goddesses. Perhaps the most unusual representation is that of the upper body of a goddess rising from the trunk at the center of a tree, or sometimes a tree sprouting out of the head, such as in the case of Nut.

Many representations were made depicting Hathor, Nut or some other goddess reaching out from a tree to offer the deceased food and water. Sometimes only the arms of the goddess were shown providing food or water and in the tomb of Tuthmosis III, the king is shown being nursed at the breast of "his mother Isis" in the form of a sycamore tree. Hathor had an especially important role in the afterlife of the deceased. In tomb depictions, the deceased, frequently accompanied by his wife, was shown sitting under or near the branches of a tree, with Hathor sprouting from the trunk, enjoying the fruit and drink offered by this goddess. An excellent example of such a representation is in the Theban tomb of Sennedjem.

Scenes and inscriptions clearly show a link between the tree-goddess, the symbol of renewal, and the dead in the form of the avian Ba, for as a bird, the soul of the dead was attracted to, and nourished by the tree.

Notably, the identification of several maternal deities as tree goddesses also meant that burial in a wooden coffin was viewed as a return to the womb of the mother goddess.

A Tree Goddess with a fruit-tree headress

Today in Egypt, trees have not altogether died out as religious symbols, for their remains at least several sites where trees have modern religious significance, associated with, for example, the Holy Virgin Mary.

Lecture: God Wepwawet the ancient jackal god the "opener of the ways"

Wepwawet (Upuaut, Wep-wawet, and Ophois) was an ancient wolf god whose worship originated in Upper Egypt.

He was one of the earliest of the gods to be worshipped at Abydos, possibly predating (and absorbing) Khentyamentiu (another god of the Abydos necropolis). By the Old Kingdom he was popular throughout Egypt, but as Osiris grew in popularity (absorbing both Khentyamentiu and Wepwawet) Anubis took on his funerary role. However, he did not entirely dissappear. His standard was associated with Upper Egypt and was given the honour of going before the king during many ritual processions. During the New Kingdom his standard even preceded that of Osiris and the "procession of Wepwawet" initiated the mysteries of Osiris as a god of the dead.

His name means "the opener of the ways (roads)". This is thought to refer to the paths through the underworld, but may also refer to the choices or paths taken life as he also seems to have been linked to the power of the living pharaoh. In the "Book of the Dead" and the book of "That Which Is in the Underworld" (Amduat) he leads the deceased through the underworld and guards over them on their perilous journey, but he was also thought to act as a scout for the army, "opening a path" to allow them to proceed.

According to some traditions, it was Wepwawet and not Anubis or Ptah who devised the "opening of the mouth" ceremony which ensured that the person would have the use of all his faculties in the afterlife. However, he also accompanied the king when he was hunting and was given the epithet, "the one with the sharp arrow who is more powerful than the gods."

More recently, his name (Upuaut) was given highly appropriately to the tiny robot used to investigate the "air shafts" in the Great Pyramid.

Wepwawet offering regal insignia to Seti I

Wepwawet may also have symbolized the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. In royal processions his standard was paired with the Apis Bull (representing Lower Egypt). Yet in one inscription the location of his birth is claimed to be the temple of the goddess Wadjet in Buto (in the Delta). It seems that this was a political move as all other evidence suggests that he had Upper Egyptian origins.

He was generally depicted as a wolf or a man with the head of a wolf. Yet there is some debate as to whether he is in fact a wolf. Unlike Anubis, he is often depicted with a grey or white head, and the Greeks named Thirteenth nome of Upper Egypt Lycopolis (Wolf town) in his honour. Some scholars argue that he was a jackal and others that he was originally a wolf but was merged with Anubis, and so became seen as a jackal-headed god. He was often depicted alongside the uraeus (royal cobra) and a "shedshed" standard. A good example of this can be seen on the Pre-Dynastic Narmer Macehead.

His relationships with the other gods were confused by the merging and shifting of roles throughout Egyptian history. He was closely associated with Anubis who was originally part of the Ogdoad of Hermopolis, and came to be seen as his son. However, he was also linked to the god Shu of the Ennead of Heliopolis by the epithet "he who has separated the sky from the earth". When the two theologies merged and Anubis made way for Osiris the idea developed that Osiris was the father of Anubis (although his mother was generally not described as Osiris' wife Isis but rather her sister Nephythys). To complicate matters further, Wepwawet was sometimes called the "son of Isis" and identified as Horus (and therefore the pharaoh) although she was also seen as the grand-daughter of Shu and the step-mother of Anubis according to the Heliopolitan tradition.

Wepwawet Brother to Anpu

Wepwawet ( wp-w3w.t; also rendered Upuaut, Wep-wawet, Wepawet, and Ophois) was originally a war deity, whose cult centre was Asyut in Upper Egypt (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, 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's victory.

Wepwawet originally was seen as a wolf deity, thus the Greek name of Lycopolis, meaning city of wolves, and it is likely the case that Wepwawet was originally just a symbol of the pharaoh, seeking to associate with wolf-like attributes, that later became deified as a mascot to accompany the pharaoh. Likewise, Wepwawet was said to accompany the pharaoh on hunts, in which capacity he was titled (one with) sharp arrow more powerful than the gods alone.

In later Egyptian art, Wepwawet was depicted as a wolf or a jackal, or as a man with the head of a wolf or a jackal. Even when considered a jackal, Wepwawet usually was shown with grey, or white fur, reflecting his lupine origins. He was depicted dressed as a soldier, as well as carrying other military equipment—a mace and a bow.Over time, the connection to war, and thus to death, led to Wepwawet also being seen as one who opened the ways to, and through, Duat, for the spirits of the dead. Through this, and the similarity of the jackal to the wolf, Wepwawet became associated with Anubis, a deity that was worshiped in Asyut, eventually being considered his son. Seen as a jackal, he also was said to be Set's son. Consequently, Wepwawet often is confused with Anubis. This deity appears in the Temple of Seti I at Abydos.

For what generally is considered to be lauding purposes of the pharaohs, a later myth briefly was circulated claiming that Wepwawet was born at the sanctuary of Wadjet, the sacred site for the oldest goddess of Lower Egypt that is located in the heart of Lower Egypt. 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, 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 and guides the deceased into the netherworld.

The History of Anpu (Anubis) part II

 king tutankhamen (center), anubis (left), nephthys (right)

Anubis is one of the most iconic gods of ancient Egypt. Anubis is the Greek version of his name, the ancient Egyptians knew him as Anpu (or Inpu). Anubis was an extremely ancient deity whose name appears in the oldest mastabas of the Old Kingdom and the Pyramid Texts as a guardian and protector of the dead. He was originally a god of the underworld, but became associated specifically with the embalming process and funeral rites. His name is from the same root as the word for a royal child, "inpu". However, it is also closely related to the word "inp" which means "to decay", and one versions of his name (Inp or Anp) more closely resembles that word. As a result it is possible that his name changed slightly once he was adopted as the son of the King, Osiris. He was known as "Imy-ut" ("He Who is In the Place of Embalming"), "nub-tA-djser" ("lord of the scared land").

He was initially related to the Ogdoad of Hermopolis, as the god of the underworld. In the Pyramid Texts of Unas, Anubis is associated with the Eye of Horus who acted as a guide to the dead and helped them find Osiris. In other myths Anubis and Wepwawet (Upuaut) led the deceased to the halls of Ma´at where they would be judged. Anubis watched over the whole process and ensured that the weighing of the heart was conducted correctly. He then led the innocent on to a heavenly existence and abandoned the guilty to Ammit.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the preservation of the body and the use of sweet-smelling herbs and plants would help the deceased because Anubis would sniff the mummy and only let the pure move on to paradise. According to early myths, Anubis took on and defeated the nine bows (the collective name for the traditional enemies of Egypt) gaining a further epithet "Jackal ruler of the bows".

The growing power of the Ennead of Heliopolis resulted in the merging of the two religious systems. However, Osiris was the King of the Underworld in the Ennead and he was more popular (and powerful) than Anubis. So Anubis was relegated to a god of mummification. To save face it was stated that Anubis had voluntarily given up his position when Osiris died as a mark of respect. Some myths even stated that Anubis was the son of Osiris and Nephthys (who was herself associated with the funeral rites). Anubis was still closely involved in the weighing of the heart, but was more a guardian than a ruler.

He became the patron of lost souls, including orphans, and the patron of the funeral rites. In this respect he overlapped with (and eventually absorbed) the Jackal God Wepwawet of Upper Egypt.

During the Ptolemaic Period Anubis became associated with the Greek god Hermes as the composite god Hermanubis. Hermes was messenger of the gods, while Anubis was principally guide of the dead. Hermanubis was some times given attributes of Harpokrates. He was worshipped in Rome until the second century and was popular with Rennaisance alchemists and philosophers.

Priests wore Anubis masks during mummification. However, it is not clear whether the Anubis mask was a later development influenced by the Osirian myth or whether this practice was commonplace in the earlier periods too. Anubis was also closely associated with the imiut fetish used during the embalming ritual. Anubis was credited with a high level of anatomical knowledge as a result of embalming, and so he was the patron of anaesthesiology and his priests were apparently skilled herbal healers.

Tombs in the Valley of the Kings were often sealed with an image of Anubis subduing the "nine bows" (enemies of Egypt) as "Jackal Ruler of the Bows" and it was thought that the god would protect the burial physically and spiritually. One of his epithets, "tpy-djuf" ("he who is on his mountain") refers to him guarding the necropolis and keeping watch from the hill above the Theban necropolis. He was also given the epithet "khentyamentiu" ("foremost of the westerners" i.e. the dead) because he guarded the entrance to the Underworld.

He was originally thought to be the son of Ra and Hesat, Ra's wife (who was identified with Hathor), but later myths held that he was the child of Osiris and Nephthys, or Set and Nephthys. He was sometimes described as the son of Bast because of her link to the perfumed oils used in embalming. His wife, Anput (his female aspect) was only really referred to in association with the seventeenth nome of Upper Egypt. It is thought that they were the parents of Kebechet, the goddess of the purification.

Anpu giving life to king tutankhamen

Dogs and jackals often patrolled the edges of the desert, near the cemeteries where the dead were buried, and it is thought that the first tombs were constructed to protect the dead from them. Anubis was usually thought of as a jackal (sAb), but may equally have been a wild dog (iwiw) He was usually depicted as a man with the head of a jackal and alert ears, often wearing a red ribbon, and wielding a flail. He was sometimes depicted as a jackal (such as in the beautiful examples from the tomb of Tutankhamun) but only rarely appears as a man (one example is in the cenotaph temple of Rameses II at Abydos).

His fur was generally black (not the brown associated with real jackals) because black was associated with fertility, and was closely linked to rebirth in the afterlife. In the catacombs of Alexandria he was depicted wearing Roman dress and the sun disk flanked by two cobras.

Anubis was worshipped throughout Egypt, but the center of his cult was in Hardai (Cynopolis) in the the seventeenth nome of Upper Egypt. To the east of Saqqara there was a place known as Anubeion, where a shrine and a cemetery of mummified dogs and jackals was discovered. He was also worshipped at cult centers in Abt (the the eighth nome of Upper Egypt) and Saut (Asyut, in the thirteenth nome of Upper Egypt).