Nemti ( Egyptian translit. Nmtj “walking”) - in the Egyptian religion, a god in the form of a falcon swimming in a boat had local significance in some upper Egyptian nomes on the right (eastern) bank of the Nile [1] . He was revered as the god of the Eastern desert - he patronized the caravans going through it to the Red Sea and the development of the local minerals [2] . The name of this god had an ideogram in Egyptian hieroglyphic writing - the hieroglyphs G7 * and G7 ** according to the " Egyptian Grammar " by A. H. Gardiner [3] .
 Dr. Egypt • Religion • Gods | ||||||
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| Period | from the Old Kingdom to Roman era | |||||
| Cult centers | in some cities of the X, XII, XV, XVI and XVIII Upper Egyptian nomes | |||||
| Functions | patron of the eastern desert | |||||
| Avatars | falcon | |||||
| Attributes | rook | |||||
| Comparisons | Antey ( Greek ) | |||||
 Nemti on Wikimedia Commons | ||||||
Name
For a long time, reading the character G7 * remained unknown. In 1910, Kurt Zete, on the basis of a number of arbitrary assumptions, suggested reading it as ˁntj (“Anti” in conditional transcription), understanding this word as an adjective with the meaning “clawed”. A. Gardiner accepted the Zeta reading in his Egyptian Grammar, although with some reservations. Other reading options were suggested, but they were all unreasonable.
The real reading of the ideogram was established in 1969 by the Soviet Egyptologist O. D. Berlev . He explored two steles of the XII dynasty era with parallel texts, on one of which the name of the god was written in sound hieroglyphs as nmtj ("Nemti"). Berlev considered this name a participle from the verb nmt “to walk, go, move,” which is consistent with the role of God as the patron saint of travelers or caravans. The status of the “wandering god” is also indicated by the boat, which was an integral attribute of Nemti.
References to myths
In the myth of the lawsuit of Choir and Seth, Nemti acts as a simple boatman, seduced by the gold of Isis and punished by the gods of the Nine for disobeying the order by cutting off his toes. According to the papyrus Zhumilyak, as a punishment for another crime, Nemti removes the entire cover of bones, that is, skin and flesh. Passing this peculiar "purification" Nemti gains a new quality: in fact, now it is a silver skeleton standing above its golden flesh. According to myths, Nemti cursed gold after cruel punishment, and in those places where Nemti was venerated, gold was imposed a strict taboo . Nemti is one of the hypostases of the god Set.
Cult Centers
To date, Egyptologists believe that Nemti was revered only in Central Egypt along the right bank of the Nile, the statement is not proven, but it is likely [4] .
| City | Nome of Upper Egypt |
|---|---|
| mrnn, qaH, aHat, aHat, rngA, mnDw (minor centers of the cult of Nemti) | ? |
| Chebu ( other Greek Anteopol modern Cav El Kebir) | X Wajit |
| Ju-fit, Per-Nemti (dr. Greek. Hierakon, modern El Atawla) | XII Atefet |
| Trtj | XV Unut |
| Hebenu (dr. Greek. Hipponon? Alabastropol? [5] , modern Kom el Ahmar) | XVI Mahedzh |
| Hut-Nesu (dr. Greek. Hipponon? Alabastropol? [5] modern Sharuna and Kom el-Ahmar Savaris) | XVIII Nemti |
Notes
- ↑ Gardiner AH Ancient Egyptian Onomastica. Vol. 1-3. Oxford, 1947.
- ↑ Myths of the peoples of the world. - M .: " Soviet Encyclopedia ", 1991. - T. 2 - S. 210.
- ↑ Gardiner AH Egyptian Grammar. Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. - 1927. - P. 468.
- ↑ Berlev O. D. "Falcon swimming in a boat." Hieroglyph and god . - 1969.
- ↑ 1 2 Identification of the dynastic and Hellenistic city is assumed.
Literature
- Berlev O. D. "Falcon swimming in the boat." Hieroglyph and God // Bulletin of Ancient History , 1, 1969. - S. 3-30.
- Berlev O.D. Name of the character of the Tale of the eloquent inhabitant of the oasis and the hieratic sign Moller I 208 B // Ancient East, 1 (collection of articles) - M., 1975. P. 15-24.