Raet-Tawy

Raet / Raet-Tawy
Louvre Museum.
Name in hieroglyphs
Major cult center	Medamud, el Tod, Thebes
Consort	Montu

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Symbols and objects Aani Abtu Ankh Atef Atet Book of Thoth Cartouche Corn mummy Crook and flail Deshret Djed Egyptian obelisk Egyptian pool Eye of Horus Eye of Ra Griffin Hedjet Hemhem crown Hennu Hieracosphinx Hypocephalus Imiut fetish Khepresh Kneph Matet boat Medjed Menat Nebu Nemes Neshmet Ouroboros Pschent Scarab Seqtet boat Serekh Serpopard Set animal Shen ring Sphinx Tyet Uraeus Ushabti Was-sceptre Winged sun
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Raet (

Mention of Raet occurs as early as the Fifth Dynasty. As her name is simply the feminine form of Ra, it is evident she did not exist independently of him. It is unclear when the fuller form of her name, Raet-tawy, was first used. She was later referred to as "lady of heaven, mistress of the gods", mirroring Ra's titles.^[1]

Cult

Raet was also considered a wife of Montu, and she formed a triad with him and Harpocrates in Medamud. Her feast day was in the fourth month of the reaping season.^[1] The centers of her cult were at Medamud, El-Tod, and Thebes. A demotic manual from the Roman period with hymns to Raet has survived in fragments.^[2] She never reached the importance of Hathor, who by then was also considered the wife of Ra (or, in other myths, his daughter).^[1]

Iconography

Images of Raet are rare. When she is depicted, she is shown as a woman with cow horns holding a sun disk on her head, similar to the headdress of Hathor. The headdress is adorned with a uraeus, or sometimes with feathers.^[1]

References