Nephthys (Nebthet) - The Goddess Of Death, Funeral Rituals & Darkness | Egyptian Mythology Explained

Nephthys was one of the original gods in the genealogy of Egyptian divinities defined by the priests of Heliopolis. Born from Geb and Nut she was the fourth one after Osiris, Isis, Seth and was the older sister of blind Horus. The goddess Nephthys features in the narratives as the devoted companion of her sister Isis, but she was also a protective deity in funerary rituals who attended mummies on their mortuary biers. In Egyptian mythology, Nephthys was usually pictured as a kite or as a woman with outstretched falcon wings, a symbol of protection, and the meaning of her Egyptian name is mistress of the house or Lady of the temple enclosure. Being the sister of Isis and especially Osiris, Nephthys is a deity who symbolizes the death experience just like Isis represented the birth experience. Alongside Isis, Neith and the scorpion goddess Selket, Nephthys guarded the remains of the dead, for they are mentioned in the Pyramid scriptures as the four goddesses watching over the pharaoh’s mummified body and organs, and their images were found inside the tomb of Tutankhamun as the guardians of his canopic vessels. Though she doesn’t appear in many stories, the goddess Nephthys is best known for the part she played in the Osiris myth as we cannot talk about it without mentioning her and Isis.