Anti – One who Travels
Classification: Neter/God
Culture: North African Kemetic/Egyptian
Associated: Travel , Ferrymen
A Guardian deity associated with Egyptian upper kemit seems
to have been a associated as Horus was
His main role is one of the protectors of the eastern Sky in
which sun rises.
Anti is best known from coffin text circa 2000bce.
His worship is quite ancient, dating from at least the 2nd
dynasty, at which point he already had priests dedicated to his cult.
Originally, Anti appears to have been the patron of the ancient area around
Badari, which was the centre of the cult of Horus.
He is depicted as a falcon or a human with a falcon’s head.
he became considered simply as the god of ferrymen, and was
consequently depicted as a falcon standing on a boat, a reference to Horus, who
was originally considered as a falcon. As god of ferrymen, he gained the title
Nemty, meaning (one who) travels. His later cult centre Antaeopolis was known
as Per-Nemty (House of Nemty).
Anti appears in the tale The Contendings of Horus and Seth
which describes the settlement of the inheritance of Osiris, seen as a metaphor
for the conquest of Lower Egypt by Upper Egypt (whose patron was Seth), at the
beginning of the Old Kingdom.
In this tale, one of Seth's attempts to gain power consists
of his gathering together the gods, and providing good arguments, convincing
all of them (in later traditions, all except Thoth). Set fears magical
intervention by Isis, Horus' wife (in early Egyptian mythology), and so holds the
gathering on an island,
instructing Anti not to allow anyone resembling Isis to be
ferried there. However, Isis disguises herself as an old woman, and unknowingly
Anti takes her across after being paid a gold ring, having rejected the first
offer of gruel, resulting in the disruption of the council by her use of magic.
Anti is punished for his error, by having his toes cut off,
which is more severe than it appears, since as a falcon, he would no longer be
able to perch.
He would be appropriated into Greek myth as Antaeus.
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