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| Shai | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.svg) Modern depiction of Shai based on an image from thepapyrus of Ani | |||||||
| Name inhieroglyphs |
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| Genealogy | |||||||
| Spouse | Meskhenet (some accounts) Renenutet (some accounts) | ||||||
| Equivalents | |||||||
| Greek | Agathodaemon | ||||||
Shai (also speltSai, occasionallyShay, and in Greek,Psais) was the deification of theconcept offate inEgyptian mythology.[1] As a concept, with no particular reason for associating one gender over another, Shai was sometimes considered female, rather than the more usual understanding of being male, in which circumstance Shai was referred to asShait (simply the feminine form of the name). His name reflects his function, as it means(that which is) ordained.[2]
The Egyptians believed that Shai determined the length of each person’s life and was born with each person at their birth and remained at their side until they faced their final judgement before Osiris in the underworldDuat. In consequence, he was sometimes identified as the husband ofMeskhenet, goddess of birth, or, in later years, ofRenenutet, who assigned theRen, and had become considered goddess of fortune. Because of the power associated in the concept,Akhenaten, in introducingmonotheism, said that Shai was an attribute ofAten, whereasRamses II claimed to belord of Shai (i.e.lord of fate).
DuringPtolemaic Egypt, Shai, as god of fate, was identified with theGreek godAgathodaemon, who was the god of fortune telling. Thus, since Agathodaemon was considered to be aserpent, and the wordShai was also theEgyptian word forpig, in the Hellenic period, Shai was sometimes depicted as a serpent-headed pig, known to Egyptologists as theShai animal.
