Renenūtet (also transliteratedErnūtet, Renen-wetet, Renenet) was a goddess of nourishment and the harvest in the ancient Egyptian religion. The importance of the harvest caused people to make many offerings to Renenutet during harvest time. Initially, her cult was centered in Terenuthis. Renenutet was depicted as a cobra or as a woman with the head of a cobra.
Pinch, Geraldine (2003). Egyptian mythology: a guide to the gods, goddesses, and traditions of ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN0195170245.
The verbs “to fondle, to nurse, or rear” help explain the name Renenutet. This goddess was a “nurse” who took care of the pharaoh from birth to death.
Flusser David, and Shua Amorai-Stark. (1993). “”The Goddess Thermuthis, Moses, and Artapanus.” Jewish Studies Quarterly 1, no. 3″: 217–33. JSTOR40753100.
Shai, in the Hall of Judgment on the left of the scales besides the deceased heart, and Meskhenet, the goddess as a birth-brick above Shai, along with the god Anubis opposite the scales weighing the heart against the Feather of Truth (Ma’at) and on top of scales is the god Babi
She was the female counterpart of Shai, “destiny”, who represented the positive destiny of the child. Renenutet was called Thermouthis or Hermouthis in Greek. She embodied the fertility of the fields and was the protector of the royal office and power.
Francoise Dunand and Christiane Zivie-Coche (trans. David Lorton). (2004). Gods and Men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. [hereafter: Gods and Men].
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Renenutet”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Feb. 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Renenutet. Accessed 25 January 2023.
Sobek, an ancient Egyptian crocodile god, often depicted with a crown composed of ram horns, a sun disk, and feathered plumes.
Sometimes, as the goddess of nourishment, Renenutet was seen as having a husband, Sobek. He was represented as the Nile River, the annual flooding of which deposited the fertile silt that enabled abundant harvests. The temple of Medinet Madi is dedicated to both Sobek and Renenutet. It is a small and decorated building in the Faiyum.
Francoise Dunand and Christiane Zivie-Coche (trans. David Lorton). (2004). Gods and Men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. [hereafter: Gods and Men].
Geb was the Egyptian god of the Earth and later a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis.
More usually, Renenutet was seen as the mother of Nehebkau who occasionally was also represented as a snake. When considered the mother of Nehebkau, Renenutet was seen as having a husband, Geb, who represented the earth.
Renenutet was the mother of the god Nepri.
Francoise Dunand and Christiane Zivie-Coche (trans. David Lorton). (2004). Gods and Men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. [hereafter: Gods and Men].
A representation of the Egyptian Deity Wadjet as a Snake with a Solar Disk, spreading her wings as he was depicted in The Tomb of Nefertari, 1255 BCE. This image contains some artistic liberties so that Wikipedia readers can tell her apart from the rest of the Egyptian Deities.
Later, as a snake goddess worshiped over the whole of Lower Egypt, Renenutet was increasingly associated with Wadjet, Lower Egypt’s powerful protector and another snake goddess represented as a cobra. Eventually Renenutet was identified as an alternate form of Wadjet, whose gaze was said to slaughter enemies. Wadjet was the cobra shown on the crown of the pharaohs.
Renenutet as a snake-headed woman seated in front of Nepit (left) and Hu (center) in the form of cobras
Stela with the Representation of the Goddess Renenutet, 1295–1069 B.C. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. The surface of this stela is slightly damaged, however, traces of yellow and red ochre paint is still visible. In the upper left corner, Renenutet, a snake goddess of the harvest and victuals is depicted wearing the double feather crown. She is also identified with the ureus-snake providing protection against enemies; her cult was particularly popular during the New Kingdom. On the right side of the register, a man is offering water and fowl to the goddess whom the vertical hieroglyphic inscription refers to as “Nekhbet-Renenutet”. Nekhbet, the protector goddess of Upper Egypt, was usually represented as a vulture or cobra. Similarly to Renenutet, she was responsible for sustenance and provided protection against enemies. In the lower register, there are three figures; from left to right, the wife and the sons of the man presenting offerings to the goddess above. A large, closed jar stands in front of them in which the family may have kept a living cobra thus Renenutet was worshipped not only in a temple cult but a house cult as well. The stela probably originates from Deir el-Medina, the purpose-built settlement of the craftsmen who prepared the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the New Kingdom.
Renenutet was depicted as a cobra, or as a woman with the head of a cobra and was also called the “Lady of Fertile Fields” and “Lady of Granaries.”
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