= Article =
S. H. AUFRÈRE, « Taches lunaires, phases de la lune et fécondité des règnes. Lagomorphes, félins divins et hybridations en Égypte ancienne. Autour de la déesse hase Ounout du XVe nome de Haute-Égypte », Res Antiquae 1, Bruxelles, 2004, p. 3-66.
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This paper is dealing with the problem of the interpretation of lunar splashes and phases of the moon, and their relationship with Egyptian myths and their complexity, in particular some Hermopolite beliefs. It gives an overview of the conception of the lunations and it attempts to follow the speculation in the Egyptian thought, by virtue of which the Egyptians – basing themselves on the habits of this mammal, its aspects, the ancient beliefs on the reproduction cycle of this species – would have formally interpretated lunar splashes as forming the shape of an hare or a doe, a belief attested in many civilisations, on which are based many Oriental and Mediterranean legends. This paper shows the gradual change of the primordial Hermopolite goddess Unut, the doe-goddess, from the stage of her first occurence during the Old Kingdom to the one of the classical texts in which her alter ego, Nehemetauy, is considered as Isis Thesmophora or Hegemonis and Dikaiosunè, deities traditionnally associating moon, legislation and justice. Finally, the paper tries to shed a new light on the relationship between hare, cats and lions in mythological Egyptian texts.
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