| Weneg in hieroglyphs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Weneg wng Weneg-plant Personal name, based on the Pyramid Texts | |||||
Weneg (also read as Uneg) was a sky and death deity from ancient Egyptian religion, who was said to protect the earth and her inhabitants against the arrival of the "great chaos".
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The first known mention of a god named Weneg appears in a spell from the Pyramid Texts from the Sixth Dynasty, where he is described both as a death deity and as the deceased king. He is addressed as "Son of Ra". The texts contain several prayers asking that the king receive safe travel across the sky together with Ra in his celestial barque. The king is addressed by the name of Weneg. [1]
PT 363; column 607c–d:
Ra comes, ferry the king over to yonder side,
as thou ferriest thy follower over,
the wng-plant, which thou lovest! [2]
PT 476; column 952a–d:
O thou keeper of the way of the king, who art at the great gate,
certify the king to these two great and powerful gods,
for the king is indeed the wng-plant, the son of Ra,
which supports the sky, which governs the earth
and which will judge the gods! [3]
Weneg as a deity is sparsely attested. He appears only in another Pyramid Texts spell from 6th Dynasty, where he is identified and equated with the sky god Shu. [4] [5] [6] The name ‘Weneg’ as a such is otherwise known only as the name of a king from the Second Dynasty, whose chronological position and length of reign is uncertain. [7]
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with many deities believed to be present in, and in control of the world. Rituals such as prayer and offerings were provided to the gods to gain their favor. Formal religious practice centered on the pharaohs, the rulers of Egypt, believed to possess divine powers by virtue of their positions. They acted as intermediaries between their people and the gods, and were obligated to sustain the gods through rituals and offerings so that they could maintain Ma'at, the order of the cosmos, and repel Isfet, which was chaos. The state dedicated enormous resources to religious rituals and to the construction of temples.
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Amunet or Imnt ; also spelled Amonet or Amaunet; Koinē Greek: Αμαυνι) is a primordial goddess in ancient Egyptian religion. Thebes was the center of her worship through the last dynasty, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, in 30 BC. She is attested in the earliest known of Egyptian religious texts and, as was the custom, was paired with a counterpart who is entitled with the same name, but in the masculine, Amun. They were thought to have existed prior to the beginning of creation along with three other couples representing primeval concepts.
The Ennead or Great Ennead was a group of nine deities in Egyptian mythology worshipped at Heliopolis: the sun god Atum; his children Shu and Tefnut; their children Geb and Nut; and their children Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. The Ennead sometimes includes Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis.
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Shesmu is an ancient Egyptian deity with a contradictory character. He was worshiped from the early Old Kingdom period.
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Weneg, also known as Weneg-Nebty, is the throne name of an early Egyptian king, who ruled during the Second Dynasty. Although his chronological position is clear to Egyptologists, it is unclear for how long King Weneg ruled. It is also unclear as to which of the archaeologically identified Horus-kings corresponds to Weneg.
Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. Deities represented natural forces and phenomena, and the Egyptians supported and appeased them through offerings and rituals so that these forces would continue to function according to maat, or divine order. After the founding of the Egyptian state around 3100 BC, the authority to perform these tasks was controlled by the pharaoh, who claimed to be the gods' representative and managed the temples where the rituals were carried out.
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