December 13, 2013
Ink pen and colored pencil on acid free paper, 17.8 x 25.3 cm (7 x 10 in.),
Model is a detail of Ramesses II given life by the goddess Nekhbet, at the Louvre
I've often imagined this life-giving scene as I inhale deeply, taking in the gift of life from the god Set. There are many scenes of the pharaoh being blessed by both Horus and Set, one example here:
The larger scene from which that tiny crop is derived is from the New Kingdom, likely from the reign of Thutmose I.
Recently I discovered a Middle Kingdom text in which the subject calls to Set, 'great of awe' to give him air:
From Coffin Text 407, Spell for the 7 knots of Mehet-Weret:
"O Seth who is in his peaking moment, great longhorned ox who is in
From Breathing Flesh: Conceptions of the Body in the Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts,
Go Back to The Importance of the Name
Set Gives Life to Horus
the middle of the northern sky,
Give me air in the middle of the wtnw-flood, the resting place of Mehet-Weret!
O you who are loud of voice,
and great of awe,
who sits in the middle of darkness,
give me air in the middle of the wtnw-flood,
the resting place of Mehet-Weret.
by Rune Nyord, pages 313 and 314, page 315 not available via Google book search.
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© Joan Ann Lansberry:
