HOME | DD

Description

Here’s my take on Serket (called Selket or Selkis by the Greeks), the Egyptian goddess of medicine, and in particular of remedies for the venom of scorpions and snakes. But a more ambiguous interpretation of her role, subject to debate, also gives her the power to command these same animals, so that they attack malicious people. Her name alone can have different interpretations: sometimes it means “she who causes the throat to breathe”, sometimes “she who tightens the throat”; the venom of certain scorpions and/or certain snakes resulting, among other things, in paralysis of the respiratory tract, these names take on their full meaning.

Serket has been depicted in at least two different forms; the most widespread gave her the appearance of a woman wearing a scorpion (or a water scorpion, we will come back to that) on her head, and the other, of a woman wearing a solar disk surrounded by horns, with the abdomen and hind limbs of a scorpion. Her family ties also diverge: in her early days, under the 1st dynasty, she had neither parents nor partners; during the Middle Kingdom, she was considered a daughter of Ra; then, in the Low Period, she was designated as the wife of Horus, at least in Edfu, in Upper Egypt. Still, other sources make Serket the daughter of Neith (a complex goddess, sometimes considered creator of the world) and Khnum, the ram-headed god. In addition to her specific functions, Serket was associated with fertility, nature, and magic. She was also seen as the protector of magicians, even if it were doctors who sought her blessing and her teaching the most.

Several pharaohs once considered her their "patron saint", notably Scorpio I and Scorpio II, who reigned during the predynastic period (the last period of Egyptian prehistory). And millennia later, under the short reign of Tutankhamun (born around 1345 BC, died around 1327 BC), Serket remained a protective figure of the pharaoh, at least from the end of his life on earth. Indeed, in the tomb of the aforementioned sovereign, several representations of the “scorpion goddess” were found, including one on the alabaster chest containing the viscera. Furthermore, the canopic vase reserved for the pharaoh's intestines was precisely associated with Serket (while Isis was responsible for the vase containing the liver, and Nephthys for that of the lungs, etc.).

Her role as goddess protecting mortals and gods from venomous animals made her one of the recurring adversaries of Apophis, the serpent of chaos, sworn enemy of the Egyptian pantheon. But from the first millennium BC, like other goddesses, Serket was increasingly assimilated to Isis, whose personal cult grew, finally being imported to Greece, then to Rome.

There is a theory, according to which Serket would not be wearing a scorpion on her more human representations, but a water scorpion. Indeed, the front legs of this aquatic insect are very similar to the legs of the stylized form seen on certain representations of the goddess; moreover, the water scorpion being able to breathe under the surface of the water thanks to a caudal siphon, a parallel was established with one of the translations of the name Serket, "she who causes the throat to breathe". However, there are human representations of the goddess where her headdress is undeniably an earth scorpion, notably at the Temple of Horus located in Edfu.

Here's some fitting music : youtu.be/-exAw-fNKz8

Description

Here’s my take on Serket (called Selket or Selkis by the Greeks), the Egyptian goddess of medicine, and in particular of remedies for the venom of scorpions and snakes. But a more ambiguous interpretation of her role, subject to debate, also gives her the power to command these same animals, so that they attack malicious people. Her name alone can have different interpretations: sometimes it means “she who causes the throat to breathe”, sometimes “she who tightens the throat”; the venom of certain scorpions and/or certain snakes resulting, among other things, in paralysis of the respiratory tract, these names take on their full meaning.

Serket has been depicted in at least two different forms; the most widespread gave her the appearance of a woman wearing a scorpion (or a water scorpion, we will come back to that) on her head, and the other, of a woman wearing a solar disk surrounded by horns, with the abdomen and hind limbs of a scorpion. Her family ties also diverge: in her early days, under the 1st dynasty, she had neither parents nor partners; during the Middle Kingdom, she was considered a daughter of Ra; then, in the Low Period, she was designated as the wife of Horus, at least in Edfu, in Upper Egypt. Still, other sources make Serket the daughter of Neith (a complex goddess, sometimes considered creator of the world) and Khnum, the ram-headed god. In addition to her specific functions, Serket was associated with fertility, nature, and magic. She was also seen as the protector of magicians, even if it were doctors who sought her blessing and her teaching the most.

Several pharaohs once considered her their "patron saint", notably Scorpio I and Scorpio II, who reigned during the predynastic period (the last period of Egyptian prehistory). And millennia later, under the short reign of Tutankhamun (born around 1345 BC, died around 1327 BC), Serket remained a protective figure of the pharaoh, at least from the end of his life on earth. Indeed, in the tomb of the aforementioned sovereign, several representations of the “scorpion goddess” were found, including one on the alabaster chest containing the viscera. Furthermore, the canopic vase reserved for the pharaoh's intestines was precisely associated with Serket (while Isis was responsible for the vase containing the liver, and Nephthys for that of the lungs, etc.).

Her role as goddess protecting mortals and gods from venomous animals made her one of the recurring adversaries of Apophis, the serpent of chaos, sworn enemy of the Egyptian pantheon. But from the first millennium BC, like other goddesses, Serket was increasingly assimilated to Isis, whose personal cult grew, finally being imported to Greece, then to Rome.

There is a theory, according to which Serket would not be wearing a scorpion on her more human representations, but a water scorpion. Indeed, the front legs of this aquatic insect are very similar to the legs of the stylized form seen on certain representations of the goddess; moreover, the water scorpion being able to breathe under the surface of the water thanks to a caudal siphon, a parallel was established with one of the translations of the name Serket, "she who causes the throat to breathe". However, there are human representations of the goddess where her headdress is undeniably an earth scorpion, notably at the Temple of Horus located in Edfu.

Here's some fitting music : youtu.be/-exAw-fNKz8