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The tyet ( egy, tjt), sometimes called the knot of Isis or girdle of Isis, is an ancient Egyptian symbol that came to be connected with the goddess
The tyet ( egy, tjt), sometimes called the knot of Isis or girdle of Isis, is an ancient Egyptian symbol that came to be connected with the goddess Isis
Isis (; ''Δse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: π€π€, romanized: ΚΎs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...
. Its hieroglyphic depiction is catalogued as V39 in Gardiner's sign list
Gardiner's Sign List is a list of common Egyptian hieroglyphs compiled by Sir Alan Gardiner. It is considered a standard reference in the study of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Gardiner lists only the common forms of Egyptian hieroglyphs, but h ...
.
In many respects the ''tyet'' resembles an ankh
Progressive ankylosis protein homolog (ANK ilosis H omolog) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''ANKH'' gene.
This gene encodes a multipass transmembrane protein that is expressed in joints and other tissues and controls pyrophosphate ...
, except that its arms curve down. Its meaning is also reminiscent of the ankh, as it is often translated to mean "welfare" or "life".
The ''tyet'' resembles a knot of cloth and may have originally been a bandage used to absorb menstrual blood
Menstruation (also known as a period, among other colloquial terms) is the regular discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. The menstrual cycle is characterized by the rise and fall of ho ...
.Griffiths 2001, p. 190
An early example of a ''tyet'' sign comes from a First Dynasty tomb at Helwan
Helwan ( ar, ΨΩΩΨ§Ω ', , cop, Ο©β²β²β²β²©β²β², Halouan) is a city in Egypt and part of Greater Cairo, on the bank of the Nile, opposite the ruins of Memphis. Originally a southern suburb of Cairo, it served as the capital of the now de ...
, excavated by Zaki Saad in the 1940s. This example predates the first written references to Isis and may not have been connected with her at the time. In later times, it came to be linked with her and with the healing powers that were an important aspect of her character.
''Tyet'' amulets came to be buried with the dead in the early New Kingdom of Egypt
The New Kingdom, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the sixteenth century BC and the eleventh century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties of Egypt. Radioca ...
(c. 1550β1070 BC). The earliest examples date to the reign of Amenhotep III
Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-αΈ₯tp(.w), ''AmΔnΙαΈ₯Ε«tpΕ«'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...
, and from then until the end of dynastic Egyptian history, few people were buried without one placed within the mummy wrappings, usually on the upper torso.Andrews 1994, pp. 44β45 Ancient Egyptian funerary texts
The literature that makes up the ancient Egyptian funerary texts is a collection of religious documents that were used in ancient Egypt, usually to help the spirit of the concerned person to be preserved in the afterlife.
They evolved over time, ...
included many passages describing the use of different types of amulets and include spells to be recited over them. Chapter 156 of the Book of the Dead
The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, ππ€πππππ€ππππ»π
πππ
±π³π€, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ...
, a New Kingdom funerary text, calls for a ''tyet'' amulet made of red jasper to be placed at the neck of a mummy, saying "the power of Isis will be the protection of he mummy'sbody" and that the amulet "will drive away whoever would commit a crime against him." Such amulets were often made of red jasper or similarly colored materials, such as carnelian or red glass. However, many others were made of green materials such as Egyptian faience
Egyptian faience is a sintered-quartz ceramic material from Ancient Egypt. The sintering process "covered he materialwith a true vitreous coating" as the quartz underwent vitrification, creating a bright lustre of various colours "usually in ...
, whose color represented the renewal of life.
Another type of knot is sometimes called the "Isis knot": a large knot in a mantle worn by Egyptian women from the Late Period onward. It is associated with Isis because it often appeared on statues of her in Hellenistic and Roman times, but apart from the name it is not related to the ''tyet''.Bianchi 1980, pp. 10, 22β23
The ''tyet'' can be compared with the Minoan
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...
sacral knot, a symbol of a knot with a projecting loop found in Knossos
Knossos (also Cnossos, both pronounced ; grc, ΞΞ½ΟΟΟΟ, KnΕsΓ³s, ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city.
Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the na ...
, Crete.
See also
*Knot (hieroglyph)
The ancient Egyptian knot hieroglyph, or ''girdle knot'', Gardiner sign listed no. S24, portrays a reef knot. Besides its use as a hieroglyph, it has usage in statuary and reliefs. The knot hieroglyph is also an amulet, typically made of worked ...
References
Works cited
* * * * * *External links
Isis Egyptian mythology Egyptian hieroglyphs: rope-fiber-baskets-bags Egyptian amulets Ancient Egyptian symbols {{Egyptian-myth-stub