Nephthys, also known as Nebet-Het, is an Egyptian goddess who resides over mourning, service, childbirth, mothers, the dead, and coffins.
Description[]
Nephthys is shown to be quite similar to her sister Isis and can only be differentiated by their headdresses. Nephthys is shown with a basket on her head, however she is also sometimes depicted as a hawk or a mourning woman.
Her magical skills were similar to those of Isis and some scholars see her as Isis' mirror image, Nephthys' darkness balancing Isis' light, and they are frequently pictured together as twin sisters. In the city of Heliopolis Nephthys and Isis were represented by two virgin priestesses at festivals who would recite the famous Lamentations of Isis and Nepthys at the Osiris festival.
She is a goddess of the dead who, like her granddaughter Qebhet, provides assistance to the souls of the deceased. She was so helpful to those in the afterlife that one of her titles was "Friend of the Dead" and she was also thought to bring news of the deceased back to their relatives on earth and comfort them in their time of mourning.
Overview[]
In Egyptian mythology, Nephthys was the daughter of Geb (Earth) and Nut (sky) and the sister of Isis. She was Set’s sister and wife and was the mother of Anubis, although in some myths Nephthys was barren. Therefore, she was associated with vultures, a bird which the Egyptians believed could not have children, and with mourning.
Nephthys became the wife of Set and is best known for the part she played in the Osiris myth where, disguised as Isis, she seduced Osiris and provided Set with justification for the murder of his brother. She is later depicted in the myth as both betraying and then helping Isis in her efforts to restore her husband to life. A result of her helping Isis bring Osiris back to life after he was killed by Set, she was of depicted in tombs and on coffins.
She is the mother of the death god Anubis and was associated with the setting sun, twilight, and darkness. Prayers were offered to Nephthys at twilight for protection and also to aid her as she struggled with her husband Set to defend the Boat of Ra (the sun god) from the serpent Apophis as it made its journey through the realms of night.