| Unut | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The egyptian goddess Unut based on other hare-headed deities | |||||
| Name inhieroglyphs |
| ||||
| Major cult center | Hermopolis | ||||
| Symbol | Hare | ||||
| Consort | Wenenu | ||||
Unut, also known asWenut orWenet, was aprehistoricAncient Egyptianhare andsnakegoddess of fertility and new birth.[1]
Known as "The swift one", the animal sacred to her was the hare, but originally, she had the form of asnake. She came from the fifteenth UpperEgyptian province, theHare nome (called Wenet in Egyptian), and was worshipped withThoth at its capitalHermopolis (in Egyptian:Wenu). Later she was depicted with a woman's body and a hare's head.[2] She was taken into the cult ofHorus and later ofRa.
Her name can be represented with five differenthieroglyphs, but she rarely appears in literature and inscriptions. Her name was taken into the highest royal position just once in the long Egyptian history. Her male companion is Wenenu, who was sometimes regarded as a form ofOsiris orRa.[3]
The only king bearing her name wasUnas.
Unut is commonly portrayed as a woman with the head of the desert orCape hare,Lepus capensis ofEgypt. The Egyptians regarded the hare as an example of swiftness, alertness, and keen senses, but the animal’s form was also taken by certain underworld deities.[3] Amulets made in the shape of the hare may have related to some aspect of the creature’s nature or may have been symbolic of this goddess.[3]
