 |
ANCIENT LUXOR
|
 |
|||||||
MERETSEGER |
|||||||||
Connie Tindale and Charles Woods |
|||||||||
"She who loves Silence" |
|||||||||
Meretseger was a goddess who came into her own during the 18th dynasty at a time when people first began to believe that gods and goddesses would hear their prayers and supplications and respond to them. She became a personal goddess in this respect, along with others such as Hathor, Ptah and Amun. During the 19th dynasty, stele began to appear which showed pictograms of ears on them. This really shows that during the New Kingdom era people were believing more and more in ‘personal’ gods with whom they could communicate. |
|||||||||
  |
|||||||||
....................................Meretseger's dwelling place. ........................................................................................................Meretseger. |
|||||||||
Meretseger was primarily the personal goddess of the workers in the workmen's village at Deir el Medina. Although she presided over the whole of the Theban necropolis, her dwelling place was the pyramidal peak in the Valley of the Kings, a lonely and desolate place uninhabited except by the occasional workmen and the deceased. For this reason she became known – as her name suggests – ‘she who loves silence’. Her fame was not to last for long, however, and she went out of vogue when the Theban necropolis ceased to be used for Royal burials after the 21st Dynasty. She was a goddess believed to strike those guilty of crimes with blindness, with stings from scorpions, and snake bites. She also had a forgiving side and there are a number of stelae which have been recovered from Deir el Medina recording the goddesses forgiveness with the recovery of various workmen. This made her a protectress but also greatly feared. |
|||||||||
   |
|||||||||
Meretseger with god Tawert............................Meretseger shown as a cobra ........ ..................................Paneb paying homage to Meretseger............ |
|||||||||
Meretseger can take a number of forms, but is usually shown as a rearing cobra and sometimes as a snake-headed woman as shown above. There are also one or two depictions of her as a scorpion with a female head. In other forms she may appear with various attributes upon her head, a modius with uraeus or may be seen wearing a horned sun-disc. She was often associated with Ptah who was the patron of craftsmen. The workmen of the Deir el Medina were superb craftsmen, cutting and decorating the royal tombs for the Pharaohs sp it was natural that the two deities would be linked. Meretseger would protect the workmen and punish those who sinned while Ptah would guide their hands while they worked on the tombs. A small rock cut shrine was made for the two gods between the Deir el Medina and the Valley of the Queens. The reliefs are in a poor state but the niches where offerings would be left are still clearly defined. |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
The rock-cut shrines to Ptah and Meretseger close to the Deir el Medina and the Valley of the Queens. |
|||||||||
