Kherty
Kherty in hieroglyphs | |||||
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Kherty Ḫr.tj The lower one | |||||
Kherty Ḫr.tj The lower one |
Kherty is an
Description
The earliest depictions of Kherty appear during the early 2nd dynasty, under king (
Cult
Kherty was worshipped since the early 2nd dynasty, his name appears first time on stone bowls of king
Mythology
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Kherty was a contradicting character: The pyramid texts reveal that he was worshipped at one side as a guide, who brought the deceased king safely to "the yonder site" by "being the ferryman". He also protected the deceased against various demons (named inmetjw in the texts) sent by Seth. The deceased king was then brought to his destination by Ra.[2][3] On the other site, however, Kherty was feared as death in persona, a god that "lives on the heart of men", making them stop pounding. The pyramid texts reveal that Kherty attacked the physical heart (khat(jw)) of the dying peoples, not the metaphysical, symbolic heart (jb) as the "seat of thoughts and feelings". For this reason, a lot of spells and prayers were addressed to Kherty in attempt to befriend and please him.[2] Other prayers beg Ra to "take the deceased king away from Kherty". These prayers also mention Osiris, the judge of the underworld. Thus, Kherty and Osiris were mythologically connected to each other.[3]
Kherty is not mentioned in the famous
References
- ^ ISBN 9042911514, pp. 48.
- ^ ISBN 9004060960, p. 6, 173 & 174.
- ^ ISBN 3525530463, pp. 73, 74 & 76.