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Guardians of Eternity: Death Gods and Goddesses (Part 1) - TPM 07
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In Episode 7 of The Past Macabre, delve into the lesser-known death deities of Ancient Egypt. Beyond Osiris and Anubis, discover guardians like Wepwaut, Serket and Neith, and other gods who protect the soul on its journey through the perilous Duat. Then, explore the rich spiritual traditions of the Akan people of West Africa, connect ancestral spirits, life and death. Unveil the hidden stories of death’s divine keepers in this haunting exploration of humanity’s connection to the afterlife.
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Transcript
Exploration of Death's Role in History
00:00:01
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network.
00:00:30
Speaker
Welcome to the past macabre, where we journey through history to explore how our relationship with death reflects the values, fears, and hopes that shape the way that people live.
Introduction to Death Gods and Goddesses
00:00:41
Speaker
I'm your host, Stephanie Rice. Thank you for joining me for episode seven, Guardians of Eternity, Death Gods and Goddesses. This is part one of a series of episodes that will look at some of the many deities of death from around the world.
Guardians and Judges of the Afterlife
00:00:57
Speaker
In the ancient world, diverse cultures developed intricate beliefs surrounding were seen as the guardians, the judges, and the carriers of souls.
00:01:14
Speaker
In this episode, we'll look at the guardians of the afterlife, starting with the sacred sands of Egypt's western desert, where gods and guardians preside over a perilous journey through the Duat, and devourers of souls wait for the unworthy. From there, we'll journey to West Africa, where the spirits of ancestors and nature deities guide people in both life and death.
00:01:44
Speaker
gods associated these gods are still venerated by descendant communities today, and I will try to provide information on how to learn more from those communities directly, wherever possible.
Egyptian Death Deities: Osiris and Anubis
00:02:02
Speaker
Now, let's meet some death gods.
00:02:10
Speaker
We'll start with some of the many deities associated with death in ancient Egypt. Dimastic Egypt lasted over 2,700 years, and shifts in belief happened many times over the course of the centuries. Some gods gained more prominence and associations, while some were fused into new gods altogether, and then others disappeared entirely.
00:02:32
Speaker
This means that there were many gods and goddesses associated with death throughout Egypt's long history, and their importance changed based on the region and time period. First, Osiris, one of the most recognizable of ancient Egypt's death gods, represents fertility and kingship. He rules in the underworld, but he has little power over death itself and mainly acts as a shepherd for the reborn souls in the afterlife.
00:02:57
Speaker
This is why his symbols are the crook and flail. He is sometimes depicted as the final judge presiding over whether or not the deceased gets to go to a good afterlife, but often the other gods are the true judges and he's just watching the proceedings most often from his throne.
00:03:14
Speaker
He represents the annual cycle of grain from seed to harvest, and that's dependent on the annual floods of the Nile. He also represents the continuous cycle of kingship passing from father to son that's required to maintain mat or the universal balance that ensures those annual cycles continue. According to myth, he was a just and prosperous ruler who was cut down in his prime by his jealous brother Set, who dismembered his body and scattered the pieces across Egypt.
00:03:44
Speaker
Osiris's wife, Iset, otherwise known as Isis, retrieved and reassembled his remains, which allowed Osiris to be resurrected. But one piece was missing, so he was unable to return to the living world, and so he became ruler of the underworld, the Duat. His son, Horus, takes the throne back from Set and then rules on Earth, the kingship reborn through him.
00:04:08
Speaker
Osiris is often depicted as a mummified figure with green skin, symbolizing rebirth and fertility, not because he's the undead. Archaeological excavations at Abydos have uncovered temples and cenotaphs dedicated to him where huge annual festivals that reenacted his death and resurrection would draw crowds from all over Egypt. This helped to continue that annual cycle of rebirth and balance that was at its core part of the daily lives of the ancient Egyptians.
00:04:38
Speaker
Next, we have Anubis, or Anpu, as the ancient Egyptians knew him, and he's the easily recognizable jackal-headed god of mummification. He was originally the head death god and ruler of the Duat. He held the title, Kinti Amintiu, or foremost of the Westerners. And this is a phrase that means the leader of the dead. The dead were known as Westerners because they were always buried on the western side of the Nile.
00:05:06
Speaker
So instead of Anubis carrying the title, it became one of Osiris's titles that he carried throughout the rest of Egypt's history. Anubis's worship started in the Delta region of Lower Egypt at a place called Kasut by the ancient Egyptians and Kynopolis by the Greeks. Kynopolis meaning the city of dogs.
00:05:27
Speaker
His worship is older than the evidence of Osiris worship, and up until the fifth dynasty, Anubis was the only god addressed in funerary offering dedications. But after Osiris took over, Anubis presided over mummification and then guided the souls into the afterlife instead of ruling over it.
00:05:45
Speaker
Artifacts and inscriptions from the necropolises all over show us that Anubis stayed an important part of funerary practices throughout Egypt's history. He is most often depicted overseeing the weighing of the heart ceremony, where the deceased's heart is weighed against the feather of Maat, the goddess of truth. If the heart was lighter, the soul was deemed worthy. If heavier, it was devoured by Amit.
00:06:10
Speaker
Over time, Anubis became more closely associated with Wepua'ut and was also worshipped at Aysut alongside him. We will take a look at him coming up. Anubis' consort, Anput, is less prominent in the surviving texts, but she is often invoked as a protector of the burial grounds. She is the wife of Anubis and the mother of their daughter, Kebeshet.
00:06:35
Speaker
Kebeshet is the cobra-headed goddess who represents embalming fluids and purification. In the pyramid texts, she said to have provided refreshing, purifying waters to the souls of the deceased while they wait for their mummification to be complete, which was a process that took 70 days. Outside of that, she's not really mentioned very often and eventually does get absorbed between all of the other cobra goddesses throughout Egypt's history.
Judging Souls for the Afterlife: Rituals and Deities
00:07:01
Speaker
Next we have Amit, known as the Devourer of the Dead. She was a fearsome creature with the head of a crocodile, the torso of a lion or a jaguar, and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus. She was a chimera made of the three largest man-eating animals known to ancient Egyptians. She's often shown lurking near the scales of justice in the underworld, ready to consume the hearts of those deemed unworthy during the weighing of the heart.
00:07:28
Speaker
Her image was meant to evoke fear in those who are unjust and cruel and remind them of the horrific eternal death that awaited the unworthy in the duos. and now Wepua'ut, whose name means opener of the ways. He's one of the oldest ancient Egyptian deities, and archaeologists have found depictions of him that date to the pre-dynastic period. He's often seen as Anubis' double in later texts and arts, since he's also depicted as a wolf or jackal-headed god. But Wepua'ut's worship is older than Anubis' and his earliest associations were with war and conquest, not specifically death.
00:08:06
Speaker
He led armies into battle, and then people would pray to him to open the way for their victory. Over time, this role expanded to include guiding the souls through the treacherous paths of the underworld, and then eventually he became a major part of Osiris's annual festival at Abydos. Weppolut was depicted as leading the parades during the festival and opening the way for Osiris's effigy.
00:08:30
Speaker
Wepu was also known as the Guardian deity of kings, and the original name for his center of worship was Zati, meaning guardian. Eventually, Anubis became associated with this site as well, and both canine-headed gods were worshipped here, which led the Greeks to call it Lycopolis, or city of the wolf.
00:08:50
Speaker
Several canine mummies have been found here over the decades and recent DNA research has confirmed that many were actually African golden wolves and not just domestic dogs. This is very important considering the association that both Anubis and Wepalut had with wolves.
Significance of Asyut and Burial Practices
00:09:08
Speaker
Today, the city is known as Asyut, and it's still a bustling city and center of worship. It's one of the largest Coptic Christian communities. Today, the city still has a major textile industry, and they're actually one of the few cities left that's maintaining a very specific cultural practice called Tulbiteli, which is also called Asyut, named after the city. And it's a very specific type of textile that's used in a lot of formal dress.
00:09:39
Speaker
Next we have Kansu, the lunar god whose name means traveler, and he was the original devourer of the hearts of the dead in the pyramid texts and the coffin texts before Amit took over in the new kingdom.
00:09:52
Speaker
He's depicted as a falcon-headed god and was associated with time, healing, navigation, and travelers. This extends to those traveling in the Duot, too. For the living, he was believed to influence the well-being of the king, the nation, nature, and people.
00:10:10
Speaker
The Temple of Konsu at Karnak features reliefs depicting his role in the divine birth of pharaohs and his protective qualities. In one story preserved on Estila at Karnak, a Nubian princess falls very ill and a statue of Konsu is sent to her. Through the statue, Konsu was able to fully heal her and demonstrate that he was so powerful he could extend his reach outside of Egypt. For the dead, he was invoked as a guide and as a warrior.
00:10:39
Speaker
In what's known as the cannibal hymn in the pyramid texts, Konsu and Shasmu, the god of perfume, oils, wine, and celebrations, helped the deceased king kill and butcher the gods so that the king could eat them to gain their powers and immortality.
00:10:57
Speaker
Luckily, more often, Konsu was invoked as a guide for souls in the afterlife, much less violently, illuminating their path through the darkness of Duat and guiding them towards the rebirth the way that he is reborn with each new moon. And then next we have Sokar, or Sekir, the falcon-headed god who was associated with the Memphite Necropolis that was named after him, Sakara.
00:11:22
Speaker
He was the protector of the deceased there, and he was celebrated during the festival of Sohkar, and these rituals emphasized his role in regeneration and safeguarding the dead. The festival of Sohkar was very similar to the festival of Osiris that was held at Abydos, and they both centered around the annual planting cycles and celebrated rebirth.
00:11:42
Speaker
Archaeologists have found statues and amulets from the tombs around Saqqara that depict him as a mummified falcon or a mummified falcon-headed man, similar to how Osiris is depicted as a mummy. One of Saqqara's main symbols was an onion, both because it grew underground in his domain and because onions were used during the embalming process to mask any unpleasant smells that were coming from the deceased.
00:12:07
Speaker
During the festival of Sokar, people would wear onions on a string around their neck in recognition of his sacred plant. In the Book of the Dead and in the Amduot, two funerary texts from the Middle and New Kingdoms, he rules over his own section of the duot called Imhet. It's a vast desert island in the middle of the primordial waters in the duot, and it's at the deepest, darkest part of the sun god's nightly journey.
00:12:33
Speaker
In later traditions that start around the end of the dynastic period and go into the Ptolemaic period, Sokhar is merged with Osiris and then the god of crafters, Ta, to become Ta-Sekhar Osiris, who represented birth through Ta and his creations, death through Sekhar and his underworld connotations, and resurrection through Osiris and his rebirth cycle.
Nath's Mythology and Cultural Parallels
00:12:57
Speaker
And now we look at Serket, who is another one of the oldest deities in Egypt.
00:13:03
Speaker
She was depicted in the tombs of pre-dynastic kings in Upper Egypt. Her symbol is one of the hieroglyphs that's used in the name of the Scorpion King in his tomb at Abidos. Hence why we call him the Scorpion King. Depicted as a woman with a scorpion atop her head, she embodies both the deadly sting of the scorpion and healing from toxins and venoms.
00:13:26
Speaker
Her name can be interpreted as either she who causes the throat to close, or she who causes the throat to breathe, which reflects her dual role. In funerary practices, Serket was a protector of the deceased as they traveled through the Duat, and then her guardianship was believed to prevent harm from the many venomous creatures in the underworld, but most especially Aepep, also known as Apophis, who was the giant snake who tries to devour the sun god, Ra.
00:13:55
Speaker
In addition to protecting souls, Serket was one of the four goddesses alongside Isis or Aeset, Nepthys, and Nath, who guarded the canopic jars containing the internal organs of the mummified. Specifically, Serket protected the jar holding the intestines, which were unsurprisingly associated with venom and toxins.
00:14:18
Speaker
Next we'll take a look at a syncretic deity or one god that's a fusion of multiple who originated in Libya and then became an important and well-known goddess in ancient Egypt. For a bit of background, Libya is directly to the west of Egypt and it's been inhabited by the Berbers for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians called the land Tehenu and they were constantly in violent conflict with one another.
00:14:42
Speaker
The oldest confirmed evidence of an Egyptian military campaign into Libya dates to the pre-dynastic period. Archaeologists found a relief in 1995 that shows the Scorpion King victorious over the people of Tahinn. The Scorpion King was the ruler of Egypt just before an armor unified it. He likely played a very important role in the unification before an armor came along to finish the job.
00:15:09
Speaker
It's very possible that during this period, the blueprint for the goddess who would become Nath was brought into Egypt by captives who were brought back from the spoils of war. Nath is a goddess of war, hunting, motherhood, weaving, mummy wrappings, creation, and she protects the dead.
00:15:28
Speaker
That's honestly only a few of the things she's attributed to. A lot of her worship has changed over time to suit the needs of whatever mother goddess she needed to sort of embody at the time. Archaeological evidence indicates that she was a Libyan goddess first and her worship traveled east into Egypt where a temple was established at Sa'is in the Nile Delta.
00:15:53
Speaker
Her worship quickly spread throughout the pre-dynastic period so that she rose to be the most important goddess during the early dynastic period, and she had a temple dedicated to her at Mennefer or Memphis, which was the first capital of Egypt. Therefore, having a temple there within the capital was a very big deal. Her name is also found within the names of many first dynasty rulers. I've seen some researchers estimate it at about 40% of the rulers have Nath in their name.
00:16:24
Speaker
One of the most famous is Mernath, the first woman to rule Egypt. Depictions of Nath often show her wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt and holding a bow and arrow in the same manner a king would be depicted to show their protective role over the land and its people.
00:16:40
Speaker
The first of these depictions dates to during or just after Mernaeth ruled. So maybe this was commissioned by her intentionally to use imagery to legitimize her rule, and then the style caught on and lasted into the late period, where we see other depictions of her cast in bronze this way. We don't have evidence of Mernaeth depicting herself in masculine King Garb, which could be due to the fact that she simply never depicted herself that way.
00:17:07
Speaker
Unfortunately, the main burial chamber in both of her tombs was intentionally set on fire, likely in an act of damnatio memore, to remove her from history, and this destroyed most of her burial offerings that would have included depictions of her to give us those sorts of hints.
00:17:25
Speaker
Later in the New Kingdom, the famous queen who became king Hatshepsut did depict herself as a man and used masculine king names, and so did Nefertiti after her. Iconography linking current rulers to those of the past was used quite often in Egypt's history, and since Egypt was a patriarchy, it was likely a good political move for sovereign women rulers to depict themselves in the same manner as their masculine predecessors.
00:17:54
Speaker
Nath is referred to as a mother goddess and given female determinatives most often, but she's also given male determinatives from time to time and one of Nath's titles that's found in her temple at Esna calls her the male who acts the role of the female, the female who acts the role of the male.
00:18:12
Speaker
In the temple at Dendera, Nath is also described as two-thirds male and one-third female. She's one of the only deities with no parents and no consort. and She's the only creator god not associated with male sexual fertility. In one version of the ancient Egyptian creation myth, she's the creator god instead of the sun god Atum, and she creates herself out of the primordial waters and then created the earth and the other gods.
00:18:40
Speaker
Instead of using bodily fluids like Atum, who used his tears, semen, and spit in the various versions of his myth, it was believed that Nath could weave anything that she deeply desired into existence, and that was how she created the Earth and her children Ra, Apep, Sobek, and Serket.
00:18:58
Speaker
In addition to becoming a creator god, Nath became associated with death. As a weaver goddess, she was credited with weaving mummification wrappings in order to protect the body of the deceased. As a war goddess, she was called upon in funerary texts to protect the soul or Ka of the deceased by shooting her arrows to destroy the monsters and the enemies that they encountered in the Duat.
00:19:22
Speaker
Later, as a mother goddess, she became associated with protecting the organs of the deceased that were removed during the mummification process, along with the other mother goddesses, Isis, Nephes, and Serket. There are many ways that Nath could and should be researched through the lens of gender studies, but that would take a much longer episode than this. In fact, probably multiple episodes to delve into all of that.
00:19:50
Speaker
There are several other gods who were worshipped in Egypt as long as she was, and they didn't undergo as many changes as Nath did when it came to her iconography and even the gender that she was presented in. An interesting side note, Nath was compared to Athena by later Greek writers like Plato because they had so many similar traits.
00:20:11
Speaker
Using a bow and arrow or any weapon was seen as a masculine trait in both Ancient Egypt and Greece, but Athena and Nath were both depicted as women who were unmatched in their skill with a bow. Both are associated with the masculine domain of war as well as the feminine domain of weaving, traits rarely combined into a single deity.
00:20:33
Speaker
Curiously, in a few different stories, Athena was said to be either from Libya or to have spent some time there. It's possible that they both originated from the same Libyan goddess and then changed over time into these two different goddesses, one molded to fit into the Egyptian pantheon and the other into the Greek pantheon.
00:20:54
Speaker
Unfortunately, the evidence is circumstantial at best when it comes to trying to trace the origins of gods and goddesses this way. There are researchers who are working to piece it all together, but it is a lot of hard work. Next, we'll journey to West Africa, a region rich in diverse cultures, languages, and spiritual traditions.
Akan Beliefs and Death Deities
00:21:14
Speaker
Among them are the Akan people of modern day Ghana, Ivory Coast, and parts of Togo.
00:21:20
Speaker
Akan is a broad name for the language group that includes over 10 million people who speak it as their first language across several different ethnic groups in West Africa. They all share an overlapping yet distinct cultural belief system, so I will summarize the broader concepts, but they may not be the same for every cultural group within the Akan people umbrella.
00:21:44
Speaker
The Akan worldview is tied to interconnectedness with nature, community, and strong ancestral connections. Their spiritual practices differ from group to group, but overall they emphasize the interplay between supernatural and the natural as part of everyday life.
00:22:02
Speaker
Spirits of ancestors and the deities do have a realm of their own, but it's intertwined with the material world. Instead of existing in a realm completely separate and inaccessible to humanity, they can and do frequently interact with humans and the material world. The god of death in Akan beliefs is Owo, and his name is the Akan word for death.
00:22:25
Speaker
He's depicted as a formidable giant with a single piercing eye that sees through all illusions and lies. In some depictions he's shown as a cyclops who was one eyed from birth and in others he's shown as originally having two eyes with one now missing.
00:22:42
Speaker
He wields a sharp sword that kills anyone in one stroke, regardless of their power or virtue. He cannot be bribed nor tricked by mortals or even gods. In one myth, Owo even kills the creator god, who had believed he was immune to death.
00:23:01
Speaker
Owo's symbol is a ladder and a common Akan proverb is, death's ladder is not climbed by just one person, reflecting the inevitability and universality of death. Archaeological finds in Akan burial grounds near Kumasi have revealed ceremonial weapons just like the sword Owo wields.
00:23:24
Speaker
Myths portray him as indifferent to wealth, status, or power, and this reflects the way that the Akan people felt about death as an equalizer. His role has changed slightly in modern times through syncretic adoption of Christianity or Islam in some places, so he is no longer depicted in the same exact ways anymore. but but he is still an important part of the modern Akan belief system. Next is Amokye, the guardian of Asamondo, the Akan land of the ancestors. She's often depicted as an elderly woman awaiting newly departed souls at the riverbank that separates the living from the afterlife.
00:24:10
Speaker
To cross, the deceased must present gifts, usually jewelry or other valuables that were included in their burial rites, as payment in order to pass. But Amoke is discerning and just, and she won't let anyone who doesn't deserve it cross. In one myth, she refuses to allow Amanda Cross, who hadn't shared his wealth with his family or his community in life, even though he had the payment to enter.
00:24:37
Speaker
This reflects how important community and social responsibility are to the Akan people in life. Then there's Asaseya, and sometimes just Asase, the goddess of the earth who upholds truth, peace, and provides food, sustains life, and then reclaims all life into her grave embrace when it ends.
00:24:59
Speaker
She's depicted in two different forms. Her younger form represents fertility, farming, and love. And it's said that in this form, she's the mother of humanity because she shaped the first humans out of clay.
00:25:11
Speaker
Farmers invoke her blessings by pouring libations to the earth before digging into her soil, both when planting and then again when harvesting. Her older form represents the arid or barren places where food does not grow. In this form, she's said to be the mother of the dead, and families honor her as the personification of the earth, and therefore she is the resting place of the ancestors.
00:25:35
Speaker
There are burial mounds and sacred groves throughout Ghana that are seen as part of her and she's protecting them all the time. Asaseya embodies the Akan view that all living things are interconnected and it's a cycle of life that then returns to the earth.
00:25:53
Speaker
That's it for the very brief overview of the death gods of the Akan. There are many more fascinating deities and tales of their exploits that I highly recommend diving into. I will link a couple YouTube channels that helped me to learn more and most especially get better with my pronunciations. I'll put that in the show notes and on social media as well.
Episode Wrap-up and Additional Resources
00:26:15
Speaker
Join me for the next episode where we will continue learning about the gods of death from around the world. Until next time.
00:26:26
Speaker
Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe to keep up with new releases. Please leave a rating and a comment that helps the show reach others who may be interested in the past macabre. For access to bonus content from all archaeology podcast network shows, become a member at arcpodnet dot com slash members.
00:26:53
Speaker
You can find show notes for this and other episodes at arcpodnet
00:27:32
Speaker
The Archaeology Podcast Network is 10 years old this year. Our executive producer is Ashley Airy, our social media coordinator is Matilda Seabreck, and our chief editor is Rachel Rodin. The Archaeology Podcast Network was co-founded by Chris Webster and Tristan Boyle in 2014 and is part of CulturoMedia and DigTech LLC. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archpodnet.com. Contact us at chris at archaeologypodcastnetwork.com.