Shrew

The Shrew in Ancient Egypt


 * Egyptian Name:**

//Arar or Amamu// ("Glutton")


 * Hieroglyphics:**

The African Giant Shrew, Greater Red Musk Shrew, Flower's Shrew, Somali Dwarf Shrew, and the Long-nosed Shrew were worshiped at Letopolis as representations of the nocturnal side of Horus, and as a form of the goddess Wadjet. Shrews were believed to be blind, and in the Book of the Dead shrews guided the deceased through the darkness of the //Duat//. //Horkhenty-Enirty// ("Blind Horus" - the god Horus was temporary blinded by his rival Set) was pictured as a shrew, called "The Blind and Seeing God."

Many bronze statuettes of shrews have been found, and as a divine animal it was often mummified and buried in tiny coffins, often with an image of a shrew on the lid. In a demotic papyrus a magician changes into a shrew. The shrew and the ichneumon were often linked - each morning, the blind shrew of darkness metamorphosed into the ichneumon, which represented the rising sun. Conversely, the ichneumon transformed at sunset into a shrew.

Other Animals of Ancient Egypt