http://thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/amentet.html

Amentet, Goddess of the Dead, Personification of the Westby Caroline Seawright June 25, 2002Updated: December 3, 2012

Amentet (Ament, Amentit, Imentet, Imentit) was the Egyptian goddess and f riendof the dead, and the personif ication of the Land of the West, Amenty - imnty. Itwas she who welcomed the deceased to their new dwelling place in thenetherworld. She was also a goddess who helped with the rebirthing process,and thus a goddess of f ertility and rebirth, who regenerated the deceased withf ood and water.

She was depicted as a beautif ul woman as wearing the hieroglyph of the west - -on her head, carrying a sceptre and the ankh of lif e in her hands. She isoccasionally seen as a winged goddess, when linked to the goddesses Isis and Nephthys. Thestandard of the west is usually a half circle sitt ing on top of two poles of uneven length, the longerof which is tied to her head by a headband. Of ten a hawk or an ostrich f eather is seen sitt ing on topof the standard. This hieroglyph was used in words such as 'west' and words relating to the westsuch as, 'western' as well as 'right' and 'right hand'. Occasionally, she is shown wearing just thehawk on her head. She was believed to live in a tree at the edge of the desert, a place where shecould watch the gates to the underworld. She was of ten shown not only intombs, but on cof f ins, being a goddess of the dead.

This f eather, the normal ornament of Libyans, who wore it f ixed in their hair, wasalso the sign f or the word 'Western' and was naturally suitable to Amentet, whowas originally the goddess of the Libyan province to the west of Lower Egypt.

-- The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (1994), p. 41

The word 'Amentet', as used by the Egyptians, was applied to the west bank ofthe Nile - Egyptian cemeteries and f unerary places were all on the west. To theEgyptians, west was a direction linked to death. Amentet was also the name ofthe underworld - the place where Ra travelled during the night. The place wherethe sun set was also called by this name, being the entrance to the land of thedead according to Egyptian belief . Amentet - 'She of the West' - was theref or the goddess of notonly the land of the dead, but also of the entry to the underworld, and of the west itself .

Amenti or Amentet was originally the place where the sun set, but subsequentlythe name was applied to the cemeteries and tombs which were usually built orhewn in the stony plateaus and mountains on the western bank of the Nile. Somebelieve that Amenti was, at f irst, the name of a small district, without eitherf unereal or mythological signif ication. The Christian Egyptians or Copts used theword Amend to translate the Greek word Hades, to which they attributed all theideas which their heathen ancestors had associated with the Amenti of The Bookof the Dead.

-- E. A. Wallis Budge (2011), The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Papyrus of Ani inthe British Museum, p. cxxxiii

Image © Hans Ollermann

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'Amentet' could also read as 'hidden place' when referring to the underworld. It was also the place where Ra's journey through the 12 night hours of the Duatbegan. In the 11th Hour of the Duat, Amentet appears alongside two other deitiescalled Herit (hryt) and Sebekhti (sbkhty), at the gate called Shetat-Besu. Amentetwears the crown of Upper Egypt, Herit wears the crown of Lower Egypt, and thegod Sebekhti holds an ankh and a sceptre. Together, the three deities werebelieved to preside over the entrance to the vestibule of the world of light.

Standing at the entry to the land of the dead, Amentet of f ers f ood and drink tothe deceased, regenerating them. This is connected to regeneration of the dead- the rebirth of the souls in the af terlif e. Thus she is also a f ertility goddess,who was of ten represented by other f ertility-related goddesses such as Hathor,Isis and Nit, Mut, and Nut. She was also connected with Nephthys and Ma'at. Asthe goddess Hathor-Amentet she was a solar goddess of the west, who wasbelieved to regenerate and welcome the newly deceased, and in this f orm shewas paired with Ra-Horakhty. She was sometimes depicted with Iabet, thegoddess of the east.

At the gates of the World, at the entrance of the desert, one of ten sees thedead being welcomed by a goddess who half -emerges f rom the f oliage of thetree she has chosen to live in to of f er him bread and water. If he drinks and eatshe becomes the 'f riend of the gods' and f ollows af ter them, and can neverreturn.

-- The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (1994), p. 41

There may have been a male version of Amentet. In The Book of the Earth ofRamses VI, there are two male deities who are shown to welcome the sun - iabtht and amntht . Amenteth may have been the male personification of the west, and maybe a husband or companion of Amentet.

Amentet was worshiped in the western areas of the Delta, and at Mennef er(Hikuptah, Memphis), Abtu (Abydos) and in the Ipet-Resyt (Luxor)/Ipet- Isut(Karnak) region of Egypt, but no temples were dedicated to her. The goddessHathor eventually supplanted her during the New Kingdom.

© Caroline 'Kunoichi' Seawright 2002 - present

Image © Eliot Elisofon