Henet
Henet or the Pelican is an Ancient Egyptian goddess. She has to do with pelicans. The Pyramid Texts talk about Henet.
The Pelican (Henet in Egyptian) is shown on the walls of tombs of people from the Pharaoh's court. Henet is in scenes of farm animals. Henet is in royal funerary texts from the Pyramid Age as a protective symbol against snakes. The description of the Pelican falling into the Nile seems connected with the idea that dangerous things are disguised as fish, and the pelican will capture them in its large beak. This is similar to the dragnets and bird nets used for trapping sinners in the Underworld. Scholars think that Henet is a goddess because she is called "mother of the king" in the Pyramid Texts. In ancient Egypt, that only meant a goddess.
In non-royal funerary papyri the Pelican can predict safe travel for a dead person in the Underworld. The open beak of the Pelican is also associated with the ability of the deceased to leave the burial chamber and go out into the rays of the sun, possibly an analogy made between the long cavernous beak of the pelican and the tomb shaft.[1]
References[change | change source]
- ↑ George Hart (March 1, 2015). The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, cited in Pelican Mother of the King. Some Strangeness. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
