Nebt-het

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Name

Nebt-het

Mistress of the House or Friend of the Dead

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Names - Alternate

Nebet-het, Nebthet
Greek: Nephthys

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Appearance

A woman with the symbols for "basket" and "house" on her head. She was also seen as a bird, gradually becoming a vulture, which the Egyptians believed never had children because they were thought to all be female (the Egyptians thought that vultures were spontaneously created from air). Although vultures were seen in a positive light, their feeding behaviour nevertheless led them to be associated also with decay and death, and so Nebt-het too gradually became a goddess of death and decay. This led her, in art, to be depicted as a mourning woman, and her hair was compared to the strips of cloth that shroud the bodies of the dead.

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Image Gallery

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Parents

Nut and Geb

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Consorts

Set

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Children

Although Set, representing the barren desert, was said to be homosexual or infertile, Nebt-Het was said to be the mother of Yinepu through her brother Wesir. In some myths Set is the father of Yinepu, however.

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Epithets

Divine Sister
Friend of the Dead
Eye of Ra
Mistress of the Nome of the Gazelle
Mistress of Renewal
Lady of the Body of the Gods
Lady of Heaven
The Revealer

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Roles

Nourishes the dead and comforts the bereaved. Can act together with Aset as the Ma'ati

Aset and Nebt-het summon the deceased.
Aset and Nebt-het gather the members of the deceased together to make him whole.
Nebt-het comes from the West and goes behind the deceased, joining Aset who comes from the East and goes before the deceased.
The hair of Aset and Nebt-het are tied together, the hair of Nebt-het binding the deceased.
Nebt-het awakens the deceased so he may live again.
Both Aset and Nebt-het give the deceased his heart for his body.
Nebt-het inflicts a wound with the knife and arrows of Nit.
The hand of Nebt-het is prevented from "taking action," probably against the Eye of Heru