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SATIS

Role: Goddess who protected the sources of the Nile and goddess of the cataract at the border of Egypt and Nubia

Appearance: A woman wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt with antelope horns on the sides.

Sacred animal: antelope

Center of worship: Elephantine

Relations with other gods: Khnum (husband), Anukis (daughter)

 

The border between Egypt and Nubia was roughly located at the northernmost cataract. A cataract is an area of waterfalls, whirlpools, or rapids that make travel by boat pretty much impossible. There were no cataracts at all through the Egyptian section of the Nile, but there were six throughout Nubia. This is why the Nubians didn't depend on the Nile for travel as heavily as the Egyptians did!

The island called Elephantine, located in the Nile just north of the first catarct, was where the worship of Satis originated. Since the Nile flows northward, the annual flood waters entered Egypt by passing Elephantine. The Nile god Hapy was believed to bring the desparately needed silt to the banks of the Nile on a yearly basis, making farming possible in the middle of the desert. The ancient Egyptians believed that Satis (along with her husband Khnum and daughter Anukis) decided how much of Hapy's silt would be delivered during each year's flood. Every year, Egyptian farmers would travel to her shrine at Elephantine to pray for an adequate flood.

 

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