Sacred Symbols of Aset
Aset’s associations with these animals mirror the attributes of the goddess. Aset was a fierce protector as a lioness and cobra, a keen predator as a bird of prey, a shrill mourner as the kite, a protective mother as a scorpion, pig, vulture and a hippopotamus, a stealthy hunter as the lioness and leopard, and the goddess of the starry heavens as both the cow and the leopard.
Sacred Animals of Aset
- Akhet-Cow or Celestial Cow
- Dolphin (Lepidotus or Nile Tilapia of Hatmehyt)
- Female Baboon
- Female Black Kite
- Female Dog
- Female Falcon
- Female Hippopotamus
- Female Scorpion
- Female Snake
- Female Vulture
- Female Winged Scarab
- Gray Goose
- Greyhound
- Hawk
- Hmt-Fish
- Lioness
- rA DA-Fish
- Sow
- Tern (a type of bird)
- Two Female Black Kites (with Nebet Het)
- Two Hwrt-Birds (with Nebet Het)
- Two Red Cows (with Nebet Het)[1]
More Sacred Animals
Her Crowns
- Throne: The three-stepped throne
- Horns/Sundisk: Solar disk encircled by cow horns ontop of a modius crown (most of the time with a Uraeus)
- Uraei-Horns: Horns with sundisk and uraeus on a modius crown encircled with a circlet of uraei
- Two Plumes: Shuty crown (sundisk between cow horns on two plumes and sometimes with a Uraeus)[6]
Regalia
- Ankh
- Menat Necklace
- Mirror
- Papyrus Sceptre
- Tyet Knot Amulet (Isis Knot)
- Sistrum
- Situla (curved libation jug)[7]
Natural Forces
- Rain
- Nile River
- The Sky (Day and Night)
- Sopdet (Sirius)
- Sun and Stars
[1] Leitz, Christian, ed. Lexicon der Aegyptischen Goetter und Goetterbezeichnungen (LAGG, OLA 129, Band 8). (Peeters, 2003), 16-17. Tyldesley, Joyce. “Isis: Great of Magic,” in The Penguin Book of Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt. (Penguin Books, 2011), 211. For Hatmehyt and Lepidotus: Lurker, Manfred. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Egypt. (Thames and Hudson, 2006), 88.
[2] Zabkar, Louis V. Hymns to Isis in Her Temple at Philae. (London: University Press of New England, 1988), 58. Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. (New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003), 147. Siuda, Tamara L. The Ancient Egyptian Daybook. Stargazer Design, 2016.
[3] Cauville, Sylvie. Dendara III: Traduction. (Peeters, 2000), 221-223.
[4] Zabkar, Louis V. Hymns to Isis in Her Temple at Philae. (London: University Press of New England, 1988), 51 and 53.
[5] Capel, Anne K. and Glenn E. Markoe, ed. Mistress of the House, Mistress of Heaven: Women in Ancient Egypt. (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1996), 70.
[6] Mair, Melissa. “The Transformation of a Goddess: Depictions of Isis throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World.” (Dissertation: Emory University, 2012), 11-12. Tyldesley, Joyce. “Isis: Great of Magic,” in The Penguin Book of Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt. (Penguin Books, 2011), 211.
[7] Tyldesley, Joyce. “Isis: Great of Magic,” in The Penguin Book of Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt. (Penguin Books, 2011), 211. Roberts, Alison. My Heart My Mother: Death and Rebirth in Ancient Egypt. (England: Northgate Publishers, 2000), 64. Wilkinson, Richard. Reading Egyptian Art. (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1992), 47 , 201 and 213.
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