Kherty is attested from early dynastic inscriptions (early 2nd Dynasty, appearing on stone bowls of kings such as Sneferka) and becomes prominent in mythic and funerary literature of the Old Kingdom (notably the Pyramid Texts). In those texts he is portrayed functionally as an underworld escort or ferryman for the deceased king and is integrated into solar-barque and funerary traditions involving Ra and Osiris. He is absent from the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts, where a ferryman role is carried by Aker in those corpuses, and later reappears in Book of the Dead contexts as a guide or guard linked with Ra and Osiris.
Kherty is normally depicted in Egyptian sources as a recumbent, often mummified ram or as a ram-headed man; some later or rare representations describe him as a lion or bull. The ram-form is the primary attested iconography in the cited sources, with occasional variant portrayals recorded in later sources.
Pyramid Text passages portray Kherty primarily as an escort or ferryman who brings the deceased king safely to the afterlife and as a guide of the solar bark in certain funeral contexts. Those same texts also depict him ambivalently as a personification of death who 'lives on the heart of men' and who attacks the physical heart (khatjw), causing the cessation of its beating. Kherty is described as protecting the deceased against hostile beings (named in the sources as inmetjw) in some passages; he is linked mythologically with Ra (who brings the king to his destination) and with Osiris in later funerary literature.
Weaknesses
- otherNo specific weakness attested in provided sources; ritual appeasement and petition to other deities (notably Ra) are the documented responses to his dangerous aspect
Wards
- ritualPyramid Text spells and prayers addressed to Kherty
- ritualPetitioning Ra for removal
Aani
Aani (ancient Egyptian jꜥnr) is the lexical term for the baboon in ancient Egyptian language and functions in religious contexts as an animal icon and theophoric epithet. Attested repeatedly in Egyptian texts and images, the baboon image is used to represent or denote aspects of gods such as Thoth, Hapy, Khonsu, and Osiris rather than implying the animal itself is an independent deity.
Aker
Aker is an ancient Egyptian personification of the horizon and an earth and underworld deity who is described in surviving summaries as guardian of the eastern (Bakhu) and western (Manu) horizons, marking liminal boundaries between day and night and between the living world and the netherworld.
Akhty
Akhty (also read Netjer-akhty) is an ancient Egyptian deity identified with the northern bald ibis and linked to the akh (the transfigured, luminous human spirit). Attested from early 2nd dynasty inscriptions and in Old Kingdom personal names and priestly titles, Akhty was associated with the evening horizon and believed to guide the setting sun and carry the deceased's spirit into the night sky.
Amaunet (Amunet)
Amaunet (also spelled Amunet, Amonet) is a primordial female deity of ancient Egyptian religion, attested from early religious texts and represented as the feminine counterpart and consort of the god Amun. She is presented in sources as a pre-creation or primeval principle associated with hiddenness; Thebes is recorded as a principal center of her cult into the late dynastic and Ptolemaic periods.
Amenhotep, son of Hapu
Amenhotep, son of Hapu was a historically attested 18th‑Dynasty official who was posthumously venerated and integrated into Egyptian temple cult as a deified, local healing intercessor. His cult appears in Thebes and resurges in the Ptolemaic period, represented in votive reliefs, chapels, and statues.
Ammit
Ammit is an ancient Egyptian funerary guardian-demon of the Duat who stands at the Hall of Two Truths during the weighing of the heart. Feared and not worshipped, she awaits the verdict and consumes hearts judged impure, thereby preventing the deceased from joining the blessed dead.
Ammut
Ammut is an ancient Egyptian chimeric creature associated with the Judgment of the Dead; traditionally described as a composite of lion, hippopotamus, and crocodile, she is said to consume the souls or the symbolic heart of those judged unworthy, preventing admission to the afterlife. Modern artistic and speculative retellings recast Ammut as a large scavenging semi‑aquatic animal whose corpse‑consuming habits inspired funerary beliefs.
Amset (Imsety)
Amset (Egyptian Imsety) is one of the four sons of Horus in ancient Egyptian mortuary religion, a named funerary guardian commonly associated with protection of the liver and represented as the human-headed canopic-jar lid in mummification and afterlife iconography.
Amun
Amun is a major ancient Egyptian deity whose name (imn) means 'the hidden one.' Originating as a local Theban tutelary god, he rose to national prominence and was syncretized with the sun‑god Ra (Amun‑Ra), becoming a transcendent, self‑created creator and king of the gods closely tied to royal legitimation and personal petitionary religion.
Amun-Re
Amun-Re is a major ancient Egyptian state deity formed by syncretism of Amun with the sun-god Re. Attested from the Old Kingdom and rising to prominence as the patron god of Thebes by the 11th Dynasty, Amun-Re is closely tied to pharaonic kingship, temple cult, and oracular activity (notably at Siwa).
Amunet
Amunet (jmnt) is a primordial Egyptian goddess originally one of the female members of the Ogdoad of Hermopolis whose name means ‘The Hidden One.’ In later Theban religion she became a localized consort and cult companion of Amun, serving protective and liturgical roles in royal coronation, Sed festivals, temple liturgies, and funerary invocations.
Ancient Egyptian corkscrew-horned sheep
An extinct ovicaprine form identified in modern scholarship as Ovis longipes palaeoaegyptiacus and depicted in early pharaonic art; its distinctive loosely spiralling horns were adopted as the horn-type for several ram-headed Egyptian deities and persisted in iconography after the animal vanished from the record.
Community Record
- [1]Kherty - Wikipedia. Wikipedia article 'Kherty'wiki
- [2]Kherty | Henadology. Henadology: Khertyother
- [3]Kherty | Ancient Egypt Online. Ancient Egypt Online: Khertyother
- [4]Sepa (priest) - Wikipedia. Wikipedia entry noting a historical priest titled 'Priest of the god Kherty' (Sepa)wiki