Who is your favorite Egyptian Goddess?

[Bishka]

#1 : Isis

#2 : Tefnut

#3 : Bastet

# 4 : Other (post a picture and describe)

​

 

[Gentoo]

Ma'at, I think...

I believe she's the one that the evil souls are fed to if their hearts weigh more than the feather.

 

[Kay]

:bkcat: Meow

 

[ChrisP]

Hathor - She is the go to girl for Justice, Music, drunkenness, Love and all the other important stuff

linky to a full list

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Ma'at (natural for anyone who likes feathers!), Tefnut (I've always heard her referred to as Sekhmet, but there are many spellings, I know!), and Bast/et!

 

[anders]

My favourite is Bast(et). Even before joining this forum.

 

[Makhsihed]

I think Hethert (Hathor) would be my favorite, if I had to pick. (ChrisP already posted a picture.) Eye of Ra, Beautiful in All Her Names, Divine Mother, Lady of Drunkenness and Heaven and the Limit of the Universe, Mistress of All, Mistress of Fertility and Intoxication and Joy and Judgments and Life and Love, Primordial One, Sovereign of Women, Mistress of the Birth House and Dance and Music... Those are capitalized because they're all Hethert's titles. There's a lot more, but those are some of the most telling, I think.

She's a funerary goddess as Lady of the West. Music and dance are her glory as Mistress of Music and Mistress of Dance. She's the vengeance of her father as the Eye of Ra, as Sekhmet - she is not just sweetness and mothering warmth.

She is depicted as a beautiful woman, as a cow, as a lioness (Sekhmet) or hippopotamus or sycamore tree, and as a falcon and a cobra. She is also the Seven Hetherts of a child's fate, of protection against evil spirits, and of love.

For more information, go to hethert.org.

 

[Makhsihed]

Oh, and one thing that always makes me wince a bit - it's Bast, not Bastet. The extra "t" (transliterated as "-et"; the hieroglyph is usually called the "bread loaf") was added during the New Kingdom to emphasize that it should be pronounced "Bast", not "Bas", because in spoken words, the -t at the end of words was being dropped due to accents/foreign influences.

Since most English speakers don't have a problem keeping the -t on the end of words, the extra -et is not needed and only causes confusion. It was never intended that the writing "Bastet" be pronounced "Bastet"; it was only intended that the "t" not be forgotten.

(Source: per-bast.org. Highly recommended for Bast-lovers.)

 

[Circle_One]

Ma'at, I think...

I believe she's the one that the evil souls are fed to if their hearts weigh more than the feather.

Ma'at is the Goddess who weighs the hearts of the dead on her scale against one of her ostrich feathers.

Ammut is the Goddess who is fed the souls of those who's hearts are heavier than the feather.

As for my Goddess, that would be Isis, my patron Goddess.

 

[Gentoo]

Ma'at is the Goddess who weighs the hearts of the dead on her scale against one of her ostrich feathers.

Ammut is the Goddess who is fed the souls of those who's hearts are heavier than the feather.

As for my Goddess, that would be Isis, my patron Goddess.

I thought it was Anubis that actually weighed the heart, or does he just lead the deceased to the scales? But then, being Kemetic, you would know more about it

 

[Radio Frequency X]

I'd have to go with Ma'at.

 

[Makhsihed]

I thought it was Anubis that actually weighed the heart, or does he just lead the deceased to the scales? But then, being Kemetic, you would know more about it

The scales are managed by either Djehuty/Thoth or Yinepu/Anubis, depending on what period of Egypt you're talking about. The heart is weighed against the Feather of Ma'at.

touregypt.net/featurestories/dead1.jpg shows a scene from the Weighing of the Heart. Anubis is clearly doing the weighing (with Thoth assisting or perhaps presiding over it; he's the baboon on top of the scales) while Osiris sits in judgment.

 

[Gentoo]

The scales are managed by either Djehuty/Thoth or Yinepu/Anubis, depending on what period of Egypt you're talking about. The heart is weighed against the Feather of Ma'at.

touregypt.net/featurestories/dead1.jpg shows a scene from the Weighing of the Heart. Anubis is clearly doing the weighing (with Thoth assisting or perhaps presiding over it; he's the baboon on top of the scales) while Osiris sits in judgment.

Oohhh... there's so much to Egyptian mythology, I get it confused. But I also find it incredibly interesting.

 

[anders]

Oh, and one thing that always makes me wince a bit - it's Bast, not Bastet. The extra "t" (transliterated as "-et"; the hieroglyph is usually called the "bread loaf") was added during the New Kingdom to emphasize that it should be pronounced "Bast", not "Bas", because in spoken words, the -t at the end of words was being dropped due to accents/foreign influences.

Since most English speakers don't have a problem keeping the -t on the end of words, the extra -et is not needed and only causes confusion. It was never intended that the writing "Bastet" be pronounced "Bastet"; it was only intended that the "t" not be forgotten.

(Source: per-bast.org. Highly recommended for Bast-lovers.)

The alledged -t dropping was news to me. I'll look into it. I was taught that the -et is the feminine ending, like in Semitic languages. In sentence final position, it "disappears" in Arabic; hence, if parallel, final Bast, but within a sentence, Bastet.

 

[Makhsihed]

I was taught that the -et is the feminine ending, like in Semitic languages. In sentence final position, it "disappears" in Arabic; hence, if parallel, final Bast, but within a sentence, Bastet.

Yes, -et is a feminine ending. Or rather, -t is; it's uncertain whether or not which vowel comes before the -t (if any). (It's likely, but ... there weren't exactly any vowels in the hieroglyphs. We can only guess through Coptic and a few other clues.)

"Bast" is a combination of the word "bas" with the feminine "-t" added on. So the feminine is already there. I suppose if you wanted to stick a vowel before the "-t" ending to emphasize the feminine, it'd be "Baset". With the -et added on, it'd become "Basetet". But that's very nonstandard and probably has problems I don't know about.

 

[Lux et Umbra]

Bast. I love cats.
(Makhsihed made a good point about her name, which is why I spell it without the ending "et")
Some other favorites are: Nebthet, Sekemet, Seshet (I love her!) and Ma'at.
All my life I'm been obsessed with Ancient Egypt, I even dabbled in the Kemetic Orthodoxy (I'm a undivined Remetj).

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Great to have you here!

My apologies for using 'Bastet'. We have a forum member by that name, and I've come to think of it as an affectionate name for the goddess, when working with her.

 

[Lux et Umbra]

Great to have you here!
My apologies for using 'Bastet'. We have a forum member by that name, and I've come to think of it as an affectionate name for the goddess, when working with her.

Thanks, I'm glad to be here.
As for using "Bastet" --it's a common mistake and in the end not really a big deal. Don't worry about it. When it comes to translating ancient languages to our own things can happen.

 

[Lux et Umbra]

Bast. I love cats.
(Makhsihed made a good point about her name, which is why I spell it without the ending "et")
Some other favorites are: Nebthet, Sekemet, Seshet (I love her!) and Ma'at.
All my life I'm been obsessed with Ancient Egypt, I even dabbled in the Kemetic Orthodoxy (I'm a undivined Remetj).

I forgot to mention Selket, Wadjet, Nut, Meretseger, Aset and HerHet. There's probably more. In a way I love them all!

 

[Bastet]

I don't really need to answer this, do I?

Oh, and one thing that always makes me wince a bit - it's Bast, not Bastet. The extra "t" (transliterated as "-et"; the hieroglyph is usually called the "bread loaf") was added during the New Kingdom to emphasize that it should be pronounced "Bast", not "Bas", because in spoken words, the -t at the end of words was being dropped due to accents/foreign influences.

Since most English speakers don't have a problem keeping the -t on the end of words, the extra -et is not needed and only causes confusion. It was never intended that the writing "Bastet" be pronounced "Bastet"; it was only intended that the "t" not be forgotten.

(Source: per-bast.org. Highly recommended for Bast-lovers.)

I do know this, and I knew it before I chose my username here. I simply liked the sound and look of it with the added 'et' better for forum purposes. And yes, great Bast site - it's been in my bookmarks for quite a while.