- Satis
In
Egyptian mythology , Satis (also spelt Satjit, Sates, "Satet", and Sati) was the deification of theflood s of theNile River , and her cult originated in the ancient city ofSwenet , now calledAswan on the southern edge ofEgypt . Her name means "she who shoots forth" referring to the annual flooding of the river. She was an early war,hunting , and fertility deity who was seen as the mother of theNile River ,Anuket , and a protector of southern Egypt.One of her titles was "She Who Runs Like an Arrow", which is thought to refer to the river current, and her symbols became the arrow and the running river. Satis was pictured as a woman wearing the conical crown of
Upper Egypt , theHedjet , withgazelle orantelope horns, or as an antelope, a fast moving creature living near the banks of the river in the southern portion ofAncient Egypt . She also was depicted with a bow and arrows.Other interpretations say her primary role was that of the war goddess, a guardian of Egypt's southern (Nubian) frontier and killing the enemies of the Pharaoh with her arrows.
She usually is depicted as holding an
ankh also, due to her association with the life giving flooding of the Nile. Consequently, it is true that Satis acted as a fertility goddess, thus granting the wishes of those who sought love. Satis is also described as offering jars of purifying water.Later she became regarded as one of the consorts ofKhnum , the god identified as the guardian of the source of the Nile, with whom she was worshipped atElephantine (the First nome ofEgypt ), indeed the centre of her cult was nearby, at Sahal, another island of the Nile. Since she was most dominant at the southern end of Egypt, she became regarded as the guard of Egypt's southern border withNubia .Satis's child was
Anuket , goddess of theNile River herself, who formed the third part of the Elephantine triad of deities when formed.After Khnum became considered a form of
Ra , Satis became known as the "Eye of Ra ". This eye had begun as thewedjat , advanced to being called theEye of Horus , and finally being called the Eye of Ra as the importance of the cults changed the nature of the pantheon during the long history of Ancient Egypt.
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