Meretseger

**Meretseger**


 * Other Names:**

Ta-Dehnet, Meresger, Mert-Sekert


 * Meaning of Name:**

“She Who Loves Silence”


 * Hieroglyphics:**



**Titles:**

//Dehenet-Imentet// ("Lady of the Peak of the West")

"She Who is on Her Mountain"

Meretseger was a cobra goddess and protective deity of the necropolis. She was worshiped by the workers at the necropolis, and was believed to poison or blind anyone who committed a crime. Supposedly, this belief was intended to reinforce the taboo against desecrating or robbing the tombs. Figurines of her were often put into tombs for protection against grave robbers. She also hunted those who made false oaths. To the just, Meretseger was a benevolent deity, providing protection against serpents in the Duat. However, she was fierce in her pursuit of sinners, punishing them with illness and death.

Since the first syllable of her name was the same as that in the word “ pyramid ,” it was thought that Meretseger lived on top of the pyramid-shaped mountain which overlooked the Valley of the Kings, where the pharaohs' tombs were located. Hymns honoring the “Lion of the Peak” and warning men to “Beware the Peak of the West,” along with prayers and appeals for Meretseger’s mercy, have been found in the workmen's village at Deir-el-Medina, in the shadow of the Peak.

Meretseger’s hieroglyphics was sometimes written with a single letter - a cobra. The serpent and scorpion were among the few creatures to inhabit the remote desert sites and these were seen, therefore, as fitting symbols of the manifestation of this goddess. She was depicted as a cobra, a lioness, a scorpion with the head of a woman, or as a cobra with the head of a woman. Meretseger was sometimes represented by a cobra with three heads - one of a cobra, one of a woman, and one of a vulture.


 * Quotes from the Book of the Dead and other sources:**

Hymn to the Lady of the Peak (Hymn to Meretseger)

Egyptian Deities - M