TYPE: Creator goddess
ORIGIN: Egyptian
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Circa 3000 BCE until the end of Egyptian history circa CE 400
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Sais (Sa el-Hagar) in the Nile delta
ART REFERENCES: Various sculptures, reliefs and wall paintings
LITERARY SOURCES: Pyramid Texts; A papyrus from Dynasty XX; etc.
INFORMATION: Neith is a goddess of Lower Egypt specifically associated with Sais but soon becoming part of the national pantheon with a sanctuary at Memphis. According to legend, when Neith emerged from the primeval ocean to create the world, she followed the course of the Nile down toward the sea and, on reaching the Delta, founded the city of Sais. She is also a birth goddess both of the cosmos and of other deities when she is depicted as the great celestial cow. She is the mother of Egyptian rulers.
Neith is depicted in human form wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt and in ancient times her preanthropomorphic symbol was a shield bearing crossed arrows. She was sometimes calles upon for advice and judgment, as in the case of the eighty-year battle of the gods between Seth and Horus, when she advised the sun god Re in favor of Horus. In other legends she becomes the consort of Seth and the mother of the crocodile god Sobek.