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Egyptian mythology
Nephthys
Nephthys, 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 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.
Other names: Neb-hut, Nebthet