Amunet |
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In Egyptian mythology, Amunet is a mother and fertility goddess and representative of the northern wind. Along with her husband, Amun, she was part of the Ogdoad. Also called Amentet, Amentit, Imentet, Imentit, Amaunet, and Ament. Her name means “Hidden One.” Some of the titles of Amaunet were “The Mother who is Father” and “She of the West” (the land of the dead). Living in a tree at the edge of a desert, she offered bread and water to the deceased in the Underworld. The name was also used to refer to the underworld itself.
Amaunet was regarded as the protectress of the nation, and had a prominent part in pharaohs’ accession ceremonies. Amaunet was pictured as a snake, a lioness-headed woman, a cow, a sycamore tree, a snake-headed woman, or as a woman with an ostrich feather or hawk on her head. Occasionally she was seen as a winged goddess. Sometimes Amunet was thought to have been created by Thoth. The companion of the goddess of the East, Iabet, these two goddesses appear together on private tombs, on coffins and sarcophagi, and on funerary papyri.
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