Apert-re
fifth of the twelve goddesses who sing to Ra
Identified
Group: the twelve goddesses who sing to Ra, in the First Division of the Am-Tuat [budge-1905]. Budge: "Twelve goddesses, with their arms hanging by their sides, who are described as 'those who give praises.'"
1. Maa-neter-s · 2. Art-neter-s · 3. Hekent · 4. Net · 5. Apert-re · 6. Ab · 7. Nebt-het · 8. Hra-seni (?) · 9. Tefnut · 10. Nutet · 11. Amenit · 12. Ast
Look who is in it. Position 4 is Net — Neith. Position 7 is Nebt-het — Nephthys. Position 9 is Tefnut. Position 12 is Ast — Isis.
Four of the greatest goddesses in Egypt, standing in a line of twelve, singing. The Am-Tuat does this repeatedly and it is worth noticing: a roster is not a list of minor figures, and membership in one says nothing about a deity's standing elsewhere. Apert-re is in the same rank as Isis.
And they are described by their posture: arms hanging by their sides. The corpus now has three registers characterised by a stated bodily attitude — these twelve with arms down, the Sixth Division's four "seated, but without a throne" (sehith), and the Twelfth's twelve "with both hands raised in adoration" (neb-aa). Budge records the posture every time, and it differs every time.
Immediately before them stand the nine praisers of Ra — Ka-Tuat, Hetem-ab, Aka, Aau, Hemhem, Ka-neteru, Tuati, Hekennu-Ra, Aa-ater. Nine praising, then twelve singing.
Under the companies rule (C246) this is a pointer rather than an entry.
The name is also an Osiris shrine-name
"Asar Em Apert" is no. 63 in the Saite recension of the Names of Osiris — Osiris in Apert — where Apert is a place. Same element, different thing (C403/C406). The two are not connected here.
The record
Every claim above traces to a row here. Source, exact place in that source, and what it actually supports.
| Source | Locus | Attests |
|---|---|---|
[budge-1905] | *Book of Am-Tuat* I, **First Division**, p. 15 | **Apert-re**, fifth of "**twelve goddesses, with their arms hanging by their sides**… '**those who give praises**'"; the full roster including **Net, Nebt-het, Tefnut** and **Ast** |
[budge-1905] | *ibid.*, plate captions | "**The nine praisers of Ra**" and "**The twelve goddesses who sing to Ra**" |
[budge-1904] | *Gods of the Egyptians* II, Saite Osiris name-list, no. 63 | "**Asar Em Apert**" — **a different use of the element** |
Sources
[budge-1905]— Budge, The Book of Am-Tuat (1905), vol. I. Public domain, archived. He prints variants for four of the twelve names, which is unusual and suggests he had more than one manuscript.[budge-1904]— Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians (1904), vol. II. Public domain, archived.
Open questions
- Budge prints variants for nos. 1, 10 and 11. Recover them; variant readings are the corpus's best defence against the spelling problem that has cost it entries repeatedly.
- Why are Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Tefnut in a chorus of twelve? Either the roster is more important than it looks, or the names are being used as epithets of lesser figures. The passage does not say.
- Nine, then twelve. Establish whether the numbers are meaningful here or incidental.
- The other eleven are not in the census except the four majors (C397). Maa-neter-s, Art-neter-s, Hekent, Ab, Hra-seni, Nutet, Amenit all lack entries.
- Postures as a tracked feature. Arms down here, throneless in the Sixth, arms raised in the Twelfth. Worth a systematic pass — the corpus already tracks the reversed head this way (C299, C318).
Cite this entry
Research grade: ⇄duplicate — A second spelling or roster listing of a name entered elsewhere.
"Apert-re", The Egyptian God Corpus,
graded duplicate, retrieved 2026-08-10.