Editing Neith (section)

{{short description|Ancient Egyptian goddess}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{more citations needed|date=March 2018}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=April 2010}}
}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Egyptian
| name = Neith
| image = Neith.svg
| alt = 
| caption = The Egyptian goddess Neith, the primary lordess, bearing her war goddess symbols, the crossed arrows and shield or sheath on her head, the ankh, and the [[was-sceptre|''was''-sceptre]]. She sometimes wears the [[Deshret|Red Crown]] of [[Lower Egypt]].
| hiero = <hiero>R24</hiero> <br> or
<hiero>n:t R25 B1</hiero>
| cult_center = [[Sais, Egypt|Sais]], [[Esna]]
| parents = None, self-created
| symbol = [[bow and arrow|bow]], [[shield]] or [[wikt:sheath|sheath]], [[arrow]]s, [[ankh]], [[loom]], [[mummy]] [[cloth]], [[click beetle]]<ref>{{cite book |title=The Symbolism and Significance of the Butterfly in Ancient Egypt |url=https://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/10019.1/79920/1/haynes_symbolism_2013.pdf}}</ref>
| consort = [[Khnum]],{{sfn|Najovits|2003|p=102}} [[Set (deity)|Set]]{{efn|According to some variations of the Horus and Set myth, Neith seduced Set while Horus healed after Set removed his eyes. Later she would give him the Semitic goddesses [[Anat]] and [[Astarte]] as consorts.}}
| offspring = [[Sobek]],{{sfn|Fleming|Lothian|1997|p=62}} [[Ra]],{{sfn|Lesko|1999|pp=60-63}} [[Apep]],{{efn|Due to his serpentine shape, Apep was said to have originated from Ra's umbilical cord. See [[Apep]].}} [[Tutu (Egyptian god)|Tutu]],{{sfn|Wilkinson|2003|p=183}} [[Serket]]
}}
[[File:Neith with Red Crown.svg|thumb|Neith with a [[red crown]].]]
'''Neith''' {{IPAc-en|'|n|iː|.|ɪ|θ}} ({{langx|grc-x-koine|Νηΐθ}}, a borrowing of the [[Demotic (Egyptian)|Demotic]] form {{langx|egy|nt}}, also spelled '''Nit''', '''Net''', or '''Neit''') was an [[ancient Egyptian deity]], possibly of [[Ancient Libya|Libyan]] origin.{{sfn|Lesko|1999}}{{page needed|date=December 2024}} She was connected with warfare, as indicated by her emblem of two crossed bows,{{sfn|Lesko|1999}}{{page needed|date=December 2024}} and with motherhood, as shown by texts that call her the mother of particular deities, such as the sun god [[Ra]] and the crocodile god [[Sobek]].{{sfn|Lesko|1999}}{{page needed|date=December 2024}}<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Pinch |first=Geraldine |title=Handbook of Egyptian mythology |date=2002 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-242-4 |series=Handbooks of world mythology |location=Santa Barbara, Calif}}</ref> As a mother goddess, she was sometimes said to be the [[Ancient Egyptian creation myths|creator of the world]].<ref name=":14"/> She also had a presence in [[Ancient Egyptian funerary practices|funerary religion]], and this aspect of her character grew over time: she became one of the four goddesses who protected the coffin and [[Canopic jar|internal organs]] of the deceased.<ref>Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). ''The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt''. Thames & Hudson. pp. 156–157</ref>

Neith is one of the earliest Egyptian deities to appear in the archaeological record; the earliest signs of her worship date to the [[Naqada II]] period ({{circa}} 3600–3350 BC).<ref>Hollis, Susan Tower (2020). ''Five Egyptian Goddesses: Their Possible Beginnings, Actions, and Relationships in the Third Millennium BCE''. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 8–9</ref><ref>Hendrickx, Stan (1996). "Two Protodynastic Objects in Brussels and the Origin of the Bilobate Cult-Sign of Neith". ''The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (82). p. 39</ref> Her main cult center was the city of [[Sais]] in Lower Egypt, near the western edge of the [[Nile Delta]], and some Egyptologists have suggested that she originated among the [[Ancient Libya|Libyan peoples]] who lived nearby.{{sfn|Lesko|1999|p=47}}<ref>Hollis, Susan Tower (2020). ''Five Egyptian Goddesses: Their Possible Beginnings, Actions, and Relationships in the Third Millennium BCE''. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 20</ref> She was the most important goddess in the [[Early Dynastic Period (Egypt)|Early Dynastic Period]] ({{circa}} 3100–2686 BC) and had a significant shrine at the capital, [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]]. In subsequent eras she lost her preeminence to other goddesses, such as [[Hathor]], but she remained important, particularly during the [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty]] (664–525 BC), when Sais was Egypt's capital. She was worshipped in many temples during the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom|Greek]] and [[Roman Egypt|Roman]] periods of Egyptian history, most significantly [[Esna]] in [[Upper Egypt]], and the Greeks identified her with their goddess [[Athena]].<ref>Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). ''The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt''. Thames & Hudson. pp. 158–159</ref>