(Also Anqet, Anquet, Anukis-Greek, Anket, Anjet)

”Embracing Lady”
“Lady of Heaven”
“Mistress of the Gods”
“Mistress of Nubia”

Anuket is an Egyptian goddess personifying the Nile, as the nourisher of the fields. As such, she is associated with the annual inundation of the river that deposited silt on the banks, as well as being a protector of the river itself. Because of this, she was linked to childbirth, growth and fertility, and was sometimes depicted suckling the pharaoh Ramses. She is also a goddess of the hunt. In later times she became a goddess of lust and sexuality.

This goddess is depicted most often as a woman wearing a tall headdress of reeds or ostrich feathers (the headdress is most likely Nubian, as it is commonly believed that this goddess is Nubian in origin). She holds an ankh and a scepter. Occasionally she is shown as a gazelle. This may be simply because Egyptians often saw gazelles around the banks of the Nile, or it might indicate that Anuket was fleet footed and agile as a huntress. The gazelle was also her sacred animal.

She was originally a daughter of Ra, but later became the wife or daughter of Khnum. She is linked in a triad with Khnum and Satet (Sati, Satis), though it appears that her association with the goddess came first. Together, the three water-related deities protected the Nile's cataracts, especially the area that the Egyptians thought was the source of the Nile, where it flowed up from the Underworld in the Aswan area. Her principle sanctuary was at Elephantine (Abu).

She was at later times identified with Nephthys due to Satet's link with Isis and Khnum's link with Osiris.

The feast of Anuket, which welcomed the rising of the Nile, is thought to have taken place during the twenty-first of July – 9th of Thuthi, though these dates are not historically verified.

Sources:
http://www.sk4p.net/egypt/gods.shtml
http://www.kemet.org/glossary/anket.html
http://www3.sympatico.ca/untangle/egyptian.html

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