THE SHRINE OF
NEPHTHYS


Nephthys (Nebt-het) The sister and wife of Set, and sister of Isis and Osiris; also the mother (variantly by Set or by Osiris) of Anubis. She abandoned Set when he killed Osiris, and assisted Isis in the care of Horus and the resurrection of Osiris. She was, along with her sister, considered the special protectress of the dead, and she was the guardian of Hapi, the protector of the lungs of the deceased. The "Mistress of the House" (Nebet-het or Nebt-het in the Egyptian Language), Nephthys is the "Friend of the Dead," and is first mentioned in Old Kingdom funerary literature as riding the "night boat" of the underworld, meeting the deceased king's spirit and accompanying him into "Lightland." Her hair is metaphorically compared to the strips of cloth which shroud the bodies of the dead. Nephthys is almost universally depicted as a woman with the hieroglyphic symbols of her name (a basket and a house, stacked on top of each other) situated atop her head, though she can also be depicted as a bird (most often a kite or some other form of falcon/hawk). She was associated with funerary rituals throughout ancient Egyptian history and was venerated not as Death itself, but as the companion who gives guidance to the newly deceased, and as a Lady With Wings who comforts the deceased's living relatives. Nephthys is in most myths the youngest daughter of Nut, sister of Isis and Osiris and the sister-consort of Seth. In later periods Nephthys is also considered to be the mother of Anubis, a primordial form of the lord of the dead who later became subservient to Osiris in the Egyptian cultic myth. Nephthys had connections with life as well as death -- she stood at the head of the birth-bed to comfort and assist the mother giving birth (while her sister, Isis, stood at the foot to midwife the child). To our current Egyptological knowledge, Nephthys did not have her own cult or temples in Egypt until the Ptolemaic-Roman period; however, as her name is merely a title (the same title given to the eldest woman in any ancient Egyptian household), it is possible that Nephthys may be a specialized form of another goddess; probable candidates include Bat (as she is called the "Lady of Het," or "Nebt-het") and Neith (with whom Nephthys is paired in the canopic shrine quadrants, as Isis is with Serket, who is sometimes seen to be an aspect of Isis. Neith's being the "eldest of goddesses," along with her connection with weaving and funerary garments lends credence to this theory, as does the interchangeable depiction of Neith and/or Nephthys in symmetrical transposition on a number of Late Period temples. The Goddess Nephthys is the twin sister of Isis, the wife of Set, and the mother of Anubis. She is generally considered to rule the dark of night and the waning Moon, as opposed to Isis, who rules the daylight and the waxing Moon. In the human mind, Nephthys is the guardian of the deep unconscious, and what is termed the "collective unconscious." As the wife of Set, she is associated with the desert, especially oases. When Set rebelled against the rule of Osiris, Nephthys chose to side with Isis in her quest to restore Osiris to life. Afterward, Nephthys remained in close association with Isis, while Set returned to the heavens to accompany Ra on the Boat of a Million Years.