Mythology of Andjety
The god Andjety (Egyptian “he of Andjet”) was the local god of the 19th Lower Egyptian nome centered at Busiris, the ancient Andjet or Djedu in the Delta. The deity seems to have been one of the precursors of Osiris in the sense that he was eventually absorbed by that god who took over his attributes and characteristics. In the Pyramid Texts he is one of the Egyptian gods with whom the deceased king is identified, and juxtaposed with Anubis, ruler of the west as “Andjety who presides over the eastern nomes” .
Judging by his insignia and the earliest textual evidence, it is possible that Andjety may have originally been a locally deified dead king of Busiris or somehow personified the concept of rulership. Andjety also had clear fertility aspects. Even in the Pyramid Texts we find the substitution of a stylized uterus for the two feathers in the writing of the name of Andjety which probaby reflects these aspects in some way, nd in the Coffin Texts in the Middle Kingdom Andjety is also given the epithet “bull of vultures”, doubtless based on a mythological role as the consort of seven early goddesses.
Iconography of Andjety
Andjety was worshipped in anthropomorphic form, apparently as a deified ruler, and his iconography clearly demonstrates his influence on Osiris. From the beginning of the 4th Dynasty he was depicted wearing a high conical crown decorated with two feathers very similar to the Atef Crown later worn by Osiris. Andjety also held two sceptres – a crook and flail – which likewise became Osirian insignia.
Worship of Andjety
The assimilation of Andjety by Osiris at an early date precludes a clear picture of the worship of the former god, but Andjety’s position in the Pyramid Texts indicates a wide-ranging influence and worship of the deity in Lower Egypt in early times. He did continue as an independent deity after the rise of Osiris, but the two gods are seldom far removed in later times and from New Kingdom times may be combined, as in the funerary temple of Sethos I at Abydos where the king is depicted presenting incense to Osiris-Andjety – a clear fusion of Osiris with the deity who was perhaps his most important forerunner.
