Qebhet is often pictured as a serpent or an ostrich bringing water. Her grandmother, Nephthys, was known as "Friend of the Dead" and Qebhet came to be associated with this same kind of care and concern for the departed souls. To `open the windows of the sky' meant to liberate the soul from the body and Qebhet seems to have come to perform this service for all the dead, not just the royalty. Wilkinson writes how Qebhet personally tended the soul of the dead king and "refreshed and purified the heart of the deceased monarch with pure water from four nemset jars and that the goddess helped open the `windows of the sky' to assist the king's resurrection" (223). She was also thought to play an especially vital role in the revival of the soul after death. Further, the ritual cleansing of the body of the corpse by clean water was a vital element in the burial of the dead and Qebhet symbolized this purification. Qebhet, therefore, played an important role in the rituals of death in that she assured the still-living that their loved one was cared for and, furthermore, that they themselves would also be when it came their own time to stand in the hall of judgement. One of the most important aspects in honoring the dead in ancient Egypt (as well as Greece and elsewhere) was their remembrance and no one wished to think of their departed loved one thirsting while awaiting trial before the great god Osiris in the afterlife. Qebhet played an important role in the rituals of death in that she assured the still-living that their loved one was cared for. ![]() A large procession followed, and living and dead were thought to commune near the graves which became houses of the joy of the heart on that occasion. ![]() In it, the divine boat of Amun traveled from the Karnak temple to the necropolis of Western Thebes. There were festivals of the gods, of the king, and of the dead.The Beautiful Festival of the Wadi was a key example of a festival of the dead, which took place between the harvest and the Nile flood. They acted in a multiplicity of related spheres. Religious festivals actualized belief they were not simply social celebrations. Although it does not seem she ever had a cult following, she may have played a part or made some kind of appearance in religious events such as the Festival of the Wadi which was a celebration of the lives of the dead and of the living. Since the Egyptians held that the immortal soul had all the needs and desires it did in the body, it might well become thirsty standing in line in the Hall of Truth, and Qebhet would have tended to this need. This same paradigm held for all other aspects of the soul which was understood to behave just as one did while inhabiting a body on earth. The soul might become confused as to where it was and where it should go and could become lost. ![]() If someone died in Egypt, however great or humble, they were buried in the earth of their mother and so passed on to the afterlife with relative ease passage to the afterlife from somewhere outside of Egypt, it was thought, would present problems. One of the reasons Egyptians preferred not to campaign far from their land was their concern about dying and being buried somewhere beyond the boundaries of their native land and so not being able to pass on to the Hall of Truth and, from there, to the Field of Reeds. The Egyptians believed that the afterlife was a mirror image of life on earth in Egypt. Qebhet is never linked to Osiris as a daughter and the reference to "the king's sister" remains a mystery unless one accepts Anput, sometimes given as Anubis' consort, in this role. Osiris was considered the "first king" and often references to "the king" indicate this god but, in this case, it does not seem to make sense. Possibly the story of Qebhet formed an earlier tale involving Anubis in the role of Osiris and some other goddess in the part of Nephthys (possibly Anput). Anubis was an ancient god and judge of the dead before Osiris rose in popularity and replaced him. As Nephthys and Osiris were brother and sister is is possible that this story became mirrored in the conception of Qebhet.
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