have you heard of the goddess who saw to the safety of ancient egyptian pharaohs
well there are several gods in egyptian mythology and it's understandable if you don't some of the
gods are so well known to have gained popularity in pop culture and the public imagination
gods like apophis raw anubis isis osiris and the likes have been the most talked about while some
have been relegated to little feature stories and one such lesser and not so talked about god
as math debt so in today's video we'll be talking about math dad the powerful being who was
entrusted with protecting the pharaohs of egypt and raw king of the gods her roles and her fall
who was maf dead maf dent was a goddess in the ancient egyptian religion often depicted in human
form with the head of a feline wearing a crown of snakes mafda is said to be the first of the feline
goddesses pre-dating based in sycamine she was dubbed the feline goddess whose ferocity conquered
snakes and scorpions adding to that she was in early glorification of legal justice in the form
of executions and was believed to make judgments at judgment halls in the underworld where those
who despise the pharaoh were decapitated with her lethal claw this means that if you are an enemy of
the pharaoh after you have been killed you would be decapitated in the afterlife as well mafta was
the goddess that resulted from the egyptians noticing that cats generally would drop dead
animals at people's feet and since mafta deposited the heart of wrongdoers at the feet of the pharaoh
hearts that she'd ripped out herself the people surmised that she was the goddess of them all
however her most important task was to protect the king his chambers and other sacred places
against venomous animals which were deemed as oppositions to truth balance order morality and
all things good according to the pyramid texts of the old kingdom the first egyptian dynasty
she was the protector of the sun god ra from venomous snakes what were her roles
mafda played various roles in egyptian mythology she was believed to be the goddess of justice
judgment and execution therefore she was featured in myths stories and legends where she was invoked
in rituals of those afflicted by the deadly venoms of snakes and scorpions she was also
worshiped as the warrior goddess of destruction sunset death rebirth and wisdom furthermore she
was the protector of raw the god of the sun whose weakness was snake bites and scorpion stings
and he journeyed to the underworld daily her claws were potent weapons against snake and scorpions
even in the underworld a mere scratch from her claw spelt the end for scorpions and snakes alike
so her claws were symbolically made into barbs of the king's harpoon which he used as a weapon as
he sailed through the perilous waters of the underworld before reaching the afterlife she
was closely associated with the underworld as she protected the pharaoh his burial chambers funeral
beer and tomb the people believed she'd hunt by night thus earning the moniker piercer of darkness
to ensure the drawing of a new day and when osiris the god of fertility was broken into pieces
maff debt protected him all the while helping to bind the pieces together her depictions or images
on royal tombs are associated with the symbol of anubis which has made people believe that mafda
accompanied the gods as a hunter or executioner while anubis performed his duties as a messenger
and attendant the connection between math debt and the funeral beer
before we look at the connection between mafta and the funeral beer let's start by explaining
what a beer is in the first place a beer is a movable frame on which a corpse or a coffin is
placed before burial so it was believed that maf dead and other feline headed gods and goddesses
guarded certain halls and gates in the underworld therefore they were strongly
associated with the dead and the underworld that's why many bears bore the head of a feline
lion or lioness and the foot of the bear was often adorned with a cat's tail so the deceased would
be granted entrance and safe passage into the underworld math dead as the first felon goddess
in ancient egyptian culture felines were one of the most revered creatures the earlier mentions
of cats in egypt dates as far back as 4000 bce the egyptians considered cats to be protectors
of the land and this notion was portrayed in their mythology the earliest felines in egyptian culture
protected the villagers from venomous snakes so to show appreciation the villagers would leave pieces
of food for the cats to keep them coming to the village and eventually led to the domestication
of felines like cheetahs links lions and wildcats in egypt and since the cats had such a protective
nature egyptians portrayed them as some of the fiercest goddesses in egyptian mythology
the feline's significant role in religion made them sacred creatures that were worshiped
and the feline deities were associated with the sun royalty and fertility these deities
held strong connections with raw the king of the gods and the sun god on the other hand stinks are
portrayed as villainous and decideful creatures of all the gods and goddesses associated with snakes
and egyptian myth apophis was one that stood out he was revered as an enemy of the high god raw
apophis was associated with famine and destruction in egypt hence mafda was a sworn enemy of apopthus
and all other gods associated with snakes her heroics in the house of pharaoh and egypt at
large earned her titles such as mistress of the house of life killer of snakes protector of raw
and protector of the pharaoh therefore mafda was the earliest recorded feline or cat goddess
even before goddesses like tefnet wadjet bastet sycamine and men hit
subsequently many of these ancient gods were absorbed into new gods and goddesses the practice
of creating new deities by fusing them with old gods is known as syncretism and at the time
thebes rose to prominence in ancient egypt the theban triad of gods were so powerful politically
and were a religious force so powerful that the goddess mutt absorbed aspects of other goddesses
and merged with minhet wadjet and mafdat who were all warrior feline goddesses the power of
math debt was also completely merged with mutts how she was worshipped a common depiction of
how math debt the felon goddess was worshipped included a temple that featured lotus flowers as
did the incense burner therefore it was believed that incense offerings were made on a daily basis
and this incent played a vital part in the temple people's daily lives and magical rituals
also only priests and priestesses and royalty were allowed into the temples while the regular
egyptians worshiped and made offerings at small shrines in their homes the people
could choose to put the statue of the goddess on the altar table or not on this altar the people
gave offerings and prayed to the goddess while kneeling on a reed mat the fall of maff debt
an ancient board game existed that connected mafda to not only raw but also the pharaohs of
the first dynasty in the game meehen who was the snake god coiled up around torah
meehan was mentioned in both the old kingdom and dynasty mythology the game also features maf death
as the one charged with protecting the pharaoh during his quest to free raw from the underworld
this game combined all that had been said about math dead in the religious aspects of egyptian
mythology she served as the royal protector the kings of egypt didn't only have the title of
pharaohs they became known as the sons of the sun and raw became associated with the kings
of egypt the pharaohs held a position that was upheld by the king of the gods although mafda
viciously guarded the royalty of egypt and its entirety there was an event that saw her become
an accomplice to the death of a pharaoh ultimately ending the bloodline of the god of the sun
osiris was a god believed to be the first pharaoh of egypt who was put under the
careful watch of maftet because of his role as ruler and great-grandson of roth however
osiris was gruesomely murdered by his own brother seth in an unfortunate turn of events this had
meant that maff debt had failed her most important task of all she was banished from the land and had
her power waned the interesting twist was that she was sexually involved with seth
hence she was deemed an accomplice regardless of her choice of sexual partner had it been
she had succeeded in her goal of protecting the pharaoh and raw's bloodline she wouldn't have
been implicated mafta was written out of history and subsequently replaced other feminine goddesses
well it's a wrap on the tale of math debt comment below if you believe any of this is true
do you also think she was harshly judged on the death of osiris or do you feel she had
something to do with the death share your thoughts with us in the comments section
don't forget to like the video subscribe to the channel and we'll see you in the next video bye