Nakith
one of the four knife-goddesses who guard the tombs of Osiris
What is claimed
The census carries this name with the following description, taken verbatim from the aggregate list it was extracted from:
A goddess in Duat
Accurate and uninformative — which is why the name could not be found by searching for it. The archive gives her a weapon, a post and a job.
Identified
Group: the four goddesses who guard the tombs of the four forms of Osiris [budge-1904]. Budge: "Behind the monster serpent stand four goddesses, each armed with a huge knife, whose duty it is to guard the tombs of the four forms of Osiris; the names of the four goddesses are: — Temtith, Tenith, Nakith, and Hetemitet."
And their second duty: "to drive away the enemies of Ra, and to hack in pieces with their awful knives the fiend Apep every day."
The four tombs are the useful part. Each is a rectangular building, and inside each is a bed or small mound of sand under which lie the dead souls of the god — Tem, Khepera, Ra, and Osiris [budge-1904]. Four buildings, four sleeping souls, four armed women standing over them.
So the set is not decorative. The sun's own four names are lying dead in four boxes, and these are the guards. Each goddess is posted to one of them.
The scene sits beside the passage in which Neha-hra blocks the boat's advance until isis enters, stands in the bows and speaks the words that make it move — and the monster is seized by serqet and Her-tesu-f, bound, and pinned to the ground with six knives.
Under the companies rule (C246) this is a pointer rather than an entry. Found by reading the scene whole rather than searching the name (C362).
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-1904] | *Gods of the Egyptians* I, the hour of Neha-hra and the four tombs | **Nakith** among the **four goddesses, each armed with a huge knife**, guarding the tombs of the four forms of Osiris |
[budge-1904] | *ibid.* | their duty "to drive away the enemies of Ra, and to **hack in pieces with their awful knives the fiend Apep every day**" |
[budge-1904] | *ibid.* | the four tombs: rectangular buildings, each holding under **a mound of sand** the dead souls **Tem, Khepera, Ra, Osiris** |
Sources
[budge-1904]— Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians (1904), vol. I. Public domain, archived. A transcribed roster with the scene described around it.
Open questions
- Which goddess guards which tomb? Four names, four tombs, and Budge pairs them with neither. If the source assigns them, the assignment is the most interesting thing here.
- Tenith and Hetemitet, the other two of the four, are not in the census. Check whether the roster is complete there.
- "Every day." Apep is hacked to pieces daily and is back tomorrow. Add to the maintenance dossier — the same logic as reret holding the Great Bear on a chain (C267).
- The mound of sand. The dead souls lie under sand inside a rectangular building. Compare the sand formula already open elsewhere in this corpus.
- Establish whether the four tombs appear in any other underworld book, or only here.
Cite this entry
Research grade: ⇄duplicate — A second spelling or roster listing of a name entered elsewhere.
"Nakith", The Egyptian God Corpus,
graded duplicate, retrieved 2026-08-10.