St. Patrick, Snakes, and Ancient Egypt

For all of you enjoying a celebration of St. Patrick's Day!

 St. Patrick is purported to have banished all snakes from Ireland. It doesn't matter that Ireland has never had any snakes (something that is bizarre in itself), the point is, St. Patrick is the one blamed for driving them out.

St. Patrick driving out snakes

There were, however, lots of snakes in Ancient Egypt: vipers, cobras, perhaps even pythons. The Egyptians would not be happy about having them driven out of their land!  Many Goddesses took the form of a snake including:

Meretseger, "Lover of Silence" Renenutet, a goddess associated with the harvest and even Weret-Hekau "Great of Magic." Often depicted in the form of a cobra or a cobra with a woman's head, or a woman with a cobra's head, unless specifically named, the specific identity is not known. Often they are depicted with an offering table in front, such as this unnamed example:

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology UCL

The rearing cobra became such an icon of the concept of a powerful goddess, that it became the generic determinative for the word goddess as well as names of goddesses.

 And of course, the uraeus was one of the most powerful of all protective symbols. There was however, a darker side to snakes as well, one that might have been more familiar to St. Patrick... Here is a spell that was meant to protect a dead person from snakes in the afterlife.

Coffin Text 436 

TO DRIVE OFF A SNAKE AND DESTROY ITS VENOM:
O you who cut off the heads and sever the necks of the foes of Osiris;
O you HnbAA-snake which has neither arms nor legs, are you proud because of this which is on your mouth, which your mother has given you? Your mother goes up to you; go off to her who regards you as weak!

While this one was to protect the living (featuring the elusive wife of Horus, an expert in snake and scorpion killing):

ANOTHER SPELL 

Come, you Ennead, come forth at my voice! May you slay this miserable snake, the enemy of Horus, who causes a fighter to sit down exhausted, his eyes filled with water, his heart sinking low. Come you to me! I have called to her, the wife of Horus—I am the physician who soothes the god!

Thus were snakes in Ancient Egypt defeated, though thankfully never banished for good!


(Translations are from Faulkner, R. O. (1973), The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, 3 vols. (Warminster: Aris & Phillips Ltd). and Borghouts, J. F. (1978), Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, (NISABA, 9; Leiden: E.J. Brill), 92.)

Cobras: the ultimate protection for an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh

Seti I is here shown resplendently protected by a fountain of was-sceptres (=power) and ankhs (=life). Over that appears to be a row of fruit? Amy Calvert would know more about these, and a full image of this image can be seen on her facebook site. But best of all, this Pharaoh wears 
snakes, snakes, and more snakes!

Seti I in his temple at Aybdos (source: Amy Calvert)

  They sit atop the horns on his headgear. The four of them are meant to provide protection from the four directions. Notice that their headgear is similar to, but not identical to that of the Pharaoh. The uraei wear what is called a modius, topped with a shuti crown that is clearly made of feathers and a solar disk in beween.

  Four more dangle by their tails from the graceful wavy horns arising from the Pharaoh's headdress, offering protection again from all sides. These wear solar disks only, but are still brightly painted like those above. 

  A ninth cobra entwines herself around the band that encircles Seti's headgear, a uraeus, poised, ready to strike.

Snakes galore in tomb of Ramesses VI

Like a snake coming out of its old skin, I am finally back after a horrible bout of the flu, and a wonderful launch for our Ancient Egyptian Demonology Project 2K. 

Part A of the Book of the Earth (courtesy of Amy Calvert)

Above are two more gorgeous cobra goddesses (here representing fire and flame) and a mourner in the Book of the Earth in the tomb of Ramesses VI. Josh Roberson has recently published a book on the subject of this fascinating and complex composition.  In the next few weeks, I'll be featuring many more of these fiery cobras that roam the tomb known as KV9...

Ancient Egyptian snakes found in excavations at Amara West

The news from Amara West (Nubia) is great for those following Serpents in the ancient world:

Amara West 2013: (ancient) snakes in the town

http://blog.amarawest.britishmuseum.org/2013/01/29/amara-west-2013-ancient-snakes-in-the-town/

Marie Vandenbeusch, Geneva University Amara West team members have encountered a number of snakes over recent years – in the houses and in the ancient buildings we are excavating – but they must ha...

Snakes are featured on ostraka, scarabs, figurines, and amulets!  Just to tease and inspire a visit to their site ... 

Detail of a hieratic ostracon (F7168) with depiction of a cobra (http://blog.amarawest.britishmuseum.org/2013/01/29/amara-west-2013-ancient-snakes-in-the-town/)

Cobras in full party dress in Ancient Egypt!

On my birthday, Amy Calvert posted this wonderful image of three cobras all dressed up (presumably ready to party)  :-)

They must represent statuettes, rather than divinities themselves—note the carefully drawn base upon which each is placed. The base itself is an ideogram for the idea of foundation. The cobras are clothed in linen, and in fact other types of figurines have been found with the remains of linen around them. Each of the cobras is associated with provisions, with the first named Renutet, then Hw (food), followed by DfA.w (provisions). The idea is clear!

Three divine cobra figurines in the tomb of Ramesses III (KV11)