Renenutet - The Goddess of the Suckling, the Name, and Protection

Travel pictures from Egypt

by Günther Eichhorn

Goddess of the Suckling, the Name, and Protection. She was a cobra Goddess of nursing and rearing children, and the Protector of the Pharaoh. She was the protector of the clothing worn by the Pharaoh in the Underworld and was also linked to the mummy bandages. She was shown as a winged cobra, often with the Deshret, the Red Crown of Lower Egypt). While Meshkenet presided over the actual birth itself, Renenutet looked after the newborn child, nurtured it and gave it his/her secret name. The secret name was very important in ancient Egypt (see Mythology). As the story of Isis shows, if you know the secret name of somebody (Ra's name in Isis' case), you have great power over that person. With Geb, she was the mother of Nehebkau. She was considered the wife of the crocodile God Sobek.

Relief of Renenutet, the Winged Cobra (left), and Nekhbet, the Vulture Goddess (right), carved in pink granite, in the Karnak Temple in Luxor. (986k) Relief of Renenutet in the Karnak Temple in Luxor. (453k) Relief of Renenutet (left, with the Deshret, the Red Crown of Lower Egypt), and Horus in a Lion's body (right, with the Pshent) in the Temple of Kom Ombo. (437k) Colored relief of Renenutet as a winged Cobra with the Deshret or Red Crown (upper right), Nut (bottom left), and Horus with a lion's body (upper left), in the Temple of Kom Ombo. (451k)

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