Home

Anqet, the Ancient Egyptian Water Goddess

Anqet (Anket, Anuket, Anjet, Anukis) was an Old Kingdom goddess related to the Nile in the Aswan area. She was called "She Who Embraces", a name indicating that she was probably thought to hold the Nile in her arms, and thus was related to the banks of the Nile as well. She was also a goddess of the hunt whose sacred animal was the gazelle.

 
Anqet was generally depicted as a woman wearing a tall headress made either of reeds or of ostrich feathers, often holding a scepter and the ankh symbol. She was very occasionally shown in the form of a gazelle. The water goddess' link to the gazelle was probably because the Egyptians saw these animals always around water. As a huntress, she was probably thought to be fleet of foot and agile like the gazelle.
 
As "She Who Embraces" she represented the banks of the Nile and the islands in the Aswan area. Her specific islands were Setet Island (Sehel Island) and Abu (Elephantine) Island. It is probable that she was of Nubian origin and that she was a goddess of everything south of the Egyptian border, but she had been worshipped by the First Cataract since the Old Kingdom. It is noted that she was also worshipped throughout northern Nubia, and was not a goddess confined to Egypt itself. Because of this, she was given the title of "Mistress of Nubia".
 
The yearly inundation of the Nile could also be linked to her name - the water of the Nile could be seen as 'embracing' the fields as it floods. She was linked to nourishment and fertility, offering life-giving waters to the land.
 
» login to post comments