set-amentet

The ancient Egyptian Goddess Amentet (also known as Ament, Amentit, Imentet and Imentit) was the consort of Aken (the ferryman of the dead). Her name means "She of the west". This was not just a geographical statement, although some scholars consider that she originated from Libya (west of Egypt). As the sun set in the west, it was associated with death and the netherworld. The name Amentet referred to both the west bank of the Nile and to the world of the dead, and the dead were sometimes known as "westerners". Originally, Amenti (or Amentet) was considered to be the place where the sun set at the entrance to the netherworld, but the name was soon applied to cemeteries and tombs across Egypt.

As a goddess of the dead, Amentet is thought to have lived in a tree at the edge of the desert overlooking the gates to the underworld. She was often depicted in tombs and coffins, protecting the dead. However, she was also a fertility goddess. She met the souls of the recently deceased and offered them bread and water before ushering them into the realm of the dead. This sustenance revitalised them and prepared them for the rebirth of their souls and the trials they would face on their way to the "field of reeds" (paradise).

She was sometimes merged with Hathor, Isis and Neith, Mut, and Nut.

She was also closely related to Nephthys and Ma´at, and according to some myths was the daughter of Horus and Hathor.

She was often depicted as a queen occasionally carrying a scepter and the ankh of life. On her head she wears the sign representing the west (a semi circle on top of one long and one short pole) and a feather and or a hawk. In the depictions in coffins she is often given wings, and in her association with Isis and Nepthys she was depicted as a kite.

The goddess was sometimes paired with Ra-Horakthy, who represented the rising sun while she represented the setting sun. She also appears with Iabet, (the goddess of the eastern desert) in the Book of the Earth. Her main centers of worship were the western Delta, Memphis, Abydos and Luxor and Karnak.

Book of Gates Hour One; gate of Saset

THE ANTE-CHAMBER OF THE TUAT

During the first hour, the sun god enters the underworld and is greeted by the "gods of the west". The sun god is in the form of a scarab beetle (khepri) and he is surrounded by a snake eating its own tail. 

He sails on a mehen barque.

On the left, the mountains of the west divide to allow the barque of the sun god to sail into the underwold.

He travels with Sia (perception or divine inspiration) and Heka (god of magic). The god Hu steers the barque. Above the sun barque there is a post with a jackal´s head beside which stands "Tat" (a personification of the region) and Set. Below the sun barque there is a post with a ram´s head also supported by "Tat" and Set.

The text beside the sun god is;

"Ra says to the Mountain: Send forth light, O Mountain! Let radiance arise from that which has devoured me, and which has slain men and is filled with the slaughter of the gods. Breath to you, O ye who dwell in the light in your habitations, my splendors shall be to you. I have decreed their slaughter, and they have slaughtered everything which exists. I have hidden you from those who are upon the earth, restoring the crown to those who are on the Mountain. The gods say: "Let this jackal-headed scepter emit the words of this great god who joins together his members. Come then unto us, O you from whom we have come forth! Cries of joy are to thee, O you who are in your disk, great god whose forms (or transformations) are manifold." Their provisions (consist) of bread-cakes and beer."

Above the barque and the jackal headed post stand the twelve god of the mountain with the text;

"These gods have come into being from Ra, and from his substance, and have emerged from his eye. He has decreed for them (as) a place (or abode) the Hidden Mountain (Ament Set), which consumes men, and gods, and all cattle, and all reptiles which are created by this great god. This great god hath decreed the plans (or, designs) thereof having made [them] to spring up in the earth which he created."

Below the barque and the ram headed post stand the twelve gods of "set-amentet" and the text reads;

The hidden place. (These are) those who have consumed the men, and the gods, and all the cattle, and all the reptiles which this great god hath created. "This great god hath decreed plans for them after he made them to spring up in the land which he created, that is to say, in the Amentet which he made."

The serpent Sa-set protects the gateway between the mountains of the west. The text reads;

He who is over (i.e. has mastery over) this door opens to Ra. Sia says to Sa-set, "Open your door to Ra, throw wide open your door to Khuti. The hidden abode is in darkness, so that the transformations of this god may take place." This portal is closed after this god hath entered in through it, and there is lamentation on the part of those who are in their mountain when they hear this door shut."

adapted from the translation by E. A. Wallis Budge