Weneg (Egyptian deity)

Weneg (Egyptian deity) in hieroglyphs
E34
N35
W11


Weneg
wng
Weneg-plant
Personal name, based on
the Pyramid Texts

Weneg (also read as Uneg) was a sky and death deity from ancient Egyptian religion, who was said to protect the earth and her inhabitants against the arrival of the "great chaos".

Mythology

The first known mention of a god named Weneg appears in a spell from the Pyramid Texts from the Sixth Dynasty, where he is described both as a death deity and as the deceased king. He is addressed as "Son of Ra". The texts contain several prayers asking that the king receive safe travel across the sky together with Ra in his celestial barque. The king is addressed by the name of Weneg.[1]

PT 363; column 607c - d:
Ra comes, ferry the king over to yonder side,
as thou ferriest thy follower over,
the wng-plant, which thou lovest![2]

PT 476; column 952a - d:
O thou keeper of the way of the king, who art at the great gate,
certify the king to these two great and powerful gods,
for the king is indeed the wng-plant, the son of Ra,
which supports the sky, which governs the earth
and which will judge the gods![3]

Weneg as a deity is sparsely attested. He appears only in another Pyramid Text spell from 6th dynasty, where he is identified and equated with the sky god Shu.[4][5][6] The name ‘Weneg’ as a such is otherwise known only as the name of a king from the Second Dynasty, whose chronological position and length of reign is uncertain.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Christian Leitz u.a.: Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen., vol. 7. Peeters, Leuven 2002, ISBN 90-429-1152-2, S. 418.
  2. ↑ Pyramid text 363; column 607c - d (english)
  3. ↑ Pyramid text 476; column 952a - d (english)
  4. ↑ Georg Hart: The Routledge dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Routledge 2005, ISBN 0415361168, page 162
  5. ↑ Stephen Quirke: Ancient Egyptian Religions. London 1992, ISBN 0714109665, page 22
  6. ↑ Adolf Erman: Die Ägyptische Religion. G. Reimer 2005, page 91
  7. ↑ Jochem Kahl: Ra is my Lord - Searching for the rise of the Sun God at the dawn of Egyptian history, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-447-05540-5, page 4–5.