| In Egyptian
mythology, Meretseger (also spelt Mertseger),
meaning she who loves silence, was a cobra-goddess,
who was originally a personification of
the dangers of the desert. Since the first
syllable of her name is the same as that
in the word pyramid, it became thought that
she lived on top of (or was) the pyramid-shaped
mountain which overlooked the Valley of
the Kings, where the Pharaohs' tombs were
located. This localisation ultimately prevented
her becoming anything more a local deity,
and when the valley ceased being in use,
so she ceased being worshipped. |
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As a cobra, she spat poison at anyone who tried to vandalise
or rob the royal tombs. She was also the patron deity of the
many workers who built these tombs, and punished those workers
who committed crimes, but healed those who repented. In art
she was portrayed as either a coiled Cobra, or as a woman-headed
Cobra, or rarely as a triple headed Cobra, where one head
was that of a Cobra, one of a woman, and one of a vulture.
Gods
and Goddesses Menu
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