Anukis

In ancient Nubia, the name Anuket, in Greek Anukis, stood for the patron deity of the Nile River. This deity is normally depicted as a beautiful woman wearing a crown of reeds and ostrich feathers in the company of a gazelle.

Like many of the deities who found their way into the Egyptian pantheon from the South, the goddess Anuket was conceived of as a Nubian deity who was adopted by the Egyptians as one of the most important of the deities associated with the Nile River. For many ancient Egyptians, the Nile River seemed to originate at the sixth cataract (inaccurately called the first cataract) because of the vast cauldron of water that swirled around the huge stones in the river. There was a magnificent ...