glossaryclose

Khentekhtai

Khentekhtai.gif

Greek name for the Egyptian god Khentykhety, the god of Athribis in Lower Egypt. The sources link this god, of whom not much is known, with a falcon, a bull and a crocodile. As a falcon he is linked with Horus to form Horus-Khentekhtai, but from time immemorial a black bull was worshipped in Athribis, and it seems obvious that the two gods of this town were interwoven. Because Osiris is sometimes called 'the great bull of the west' and the black bull is thus regarded as a form of Osiris, we meet the god Osiris-Khentekhtai as early as the Middle Kingdom. Representations of Khentekhtai show him with the head of a falcon with a sun disk on top and the Osirian atef-crown plus bull's horns. A crocodile was also regularly linked to Athribis, as for example in the Book of the Dead. As a result there are also writings of the name of Khentekhtai with a crocodile, as well as depictions of the god with the head of a crocodile. Khentekhtai's cult increased in importance from the New Kingdom on.