Mafdet
Mafdet was a goddess in the ancient Egyptian religion who was often depicted wearing a skin of a cheetah and protected against the bite of snakes and scorpions. She was the deification of legal justice, or possibly of capital punishment, and was associated with the protection of the king's chambers and other sacred places. In the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, she was mentioned as protecting the sun god Ra from venomous snakes.
↻ synthesized from 4 sources
When
- First attested
- 3000 BCE
- Attested period
- -3000 – 300
- Historical notes
- Prominent during First Dynasty of Egypt, especially during reign of pharaoh Den; mentioned in Palermo Stone and Pyramid Texts of Old Kingdom.
Relationships
- serves
- Ra
- co occurs with
- Seshat, Seshu, Meskhenet, Iunit, Raet-tawy, Beset, Anat, Kebechet, Nebethetepet, Iusaaset, Qed-her, Nehmetawy, Abaset, Khereduankh, Baalat Gebal, Hatmehit, Henet, Pelican, Iabet, Iat, Meret, Nehbet-anet, Ay, Nebtuwi, Ahmose-Nefertari, Ahti, Amathaunta, Amn, Anet, Anhefta, Anit, Anuke, Aperet-Isis, Bairthy, Besna, Esna, Hedetet, Heptet, Heret-Kau, Hert-ketit-s, Hert-Nemmat-Set, Hert-sefu-s, Heru-pa-kaut, Heset, Hetepes-Sekhus, Iaret, Ipy, Iw, Ken, Khefthernebes, Matit, Nakith, Perit, Pesi, Qerhet, Rekhit, Amesemi, Mehit, Qetesh, Astarte, Ammit, Meretseger, Mehet-Weret, Khensit, Ištar
- allied with
- Anubis
- served by
- Osiris
Mentioned by
Sources
Source passages
“During the New Kingdom, Mafdet was seen as ruling over the judgment hall in Duat where the enemies of the pharaoh were decapitated with Mafdet's claw. It was said that Mafdet ripped out the hearts of wrong-doers, delivering them to the pharaoh's feet”
#11079 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“Mafdet – Ancient Egyptian goddess of protection against snakes and scorpions”
#14110 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“One of these examples is arranged below, reading approximately: '(Year:) Creating (images of) Seshat and Mafdet.' This refers to the creation of the goddesses' cult images.”
#23687 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“Mafdet – A predatory goddess said to destroy dangerous creatures”
#24980 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5