Renpetneferet (Ancient Egyptian: rnpt-nfrt) is a minor goddess who is credited as being either the sister or the wife of Imhotep in Late Period Egyptian texts. Kim Ryholt, The Assyrian invasion of Egypt in Egyptian literary tradition, in Assyria and Beyond, Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten 2004, , p. 501 Hurry, Jamieson Boyd. Imhotep. The Vizier and Physician of King Zoser and afterwards the Egyptian God of Medicine, p. 42. A. von Leiden in The Divine Father: Religious and Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity. Netherlands, Brill, 2014. There is no evidence of an individual by this name existing during the reign of King Djoser, although similar names were being used for women during the fourth dynasty. Jacques Kinnaer. "Rahotep and Nofret". Ancient-egypt.org. Archived from the original on 2012-04-14. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
Imhotep's Divine Family
The meaning of the name Renpetneferet is connected to the New Year, the adjective nefer lending connotations of youth and beauty. Renpet means year, and is often depicted as a minor goddess in her own right, connected with the God Heh from the Ogdoad in the iconography of the Shen Ring.Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003), "Renpet", The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, London: Thames & Hudson, pp. 164–6, This identification of the renpet with the Ogdoad and Heh is visible in the iconography associated with Seshat, the wife of Thoth. Seshat is depicted inscribing the count of the years into a renpet, or a palm frond which functioned as a register of time, and as the hieroglyph for the word year. This renpet emerges from a Shen Ring with a frog perched on top of it, the frog representing the Ogdoad.Seshat in Luxor. H. Peter Aleff. See also Huh (god).
As Imhotep, along with Amenhotep son of Hapu, was assimilated to Thoth during the Late Period, his wife and mother were also given divine status.Budde, Dagmar. Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen. Belgium, Peeters, 2002. Allen, James Peter (2005). The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt. Yale University Press. p. 12. ISBN 9780300107289. Retrieved August 17, 2016.Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003), "Renpet", The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, London: Thames & Hudson, pp. 164–6, ISBN 0-500-05120-8 This is a unique event in Egyptian history. Although Amenhotep son of Hapu's mother was deified, his wife/sister was not. A. von Leiden in The Divine Father: Religious and Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity. Netherlands, Brill, 2014. This "most holy of families" A. von Leiden in The Divine Father: Religious and Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity. Netherlands, Brill, 2014. was connected with the Hermopolitan reanalysis which occurred in the late period, and led to Thoth-Hermes. Bailey, Donald, "Classical Architecture" in Riggs, Christina (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt (Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 192. This is supported by the importance the Hermopolitan Cosmology had in the worship of Imhotep and Thoth during the Late Period. Smith, Mark (2002), On the Primaeval Ocean, p. 38
In Deir el-Bahari a temple to Amenhotep son of Hapu and Imhotep was created during the Ptolemaic period, where Hygieia was worshipped alongside Asclepius, a possible Greek association with Renpetneferet.Felde, Rolf. (2018) Gottheiten, Pharaonen und Beamte im alten Ägypten p. 129
In Egyptian literature A demotic papyrus from the temple of Tebtunis, dating to the 2nd century AD, preserves a long story about Imhotep.Kim Ryholt, 'The Life of Imhotep?', Actes du IXe Congrès International des Études Démotiques, edited by G. Widmer and D. Devauchelle, Bibliothèque d'étude 147, Le Caire, Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 2009, pp. 305–315. King Djoser plays a prominent role in the story, which also mentions Imhotep's family; His father the god Ptah, his mother Khereduankh, and his younger sister Renpetneferet. At one point Djoser desires Renpetneferet, and Imhotep disguises himself and tries to rescue her. The text also refers to the royal tomb of Djoser. Part of the legend includes an anachronistic battle between the Old Kingdom and the Assyrian armies where Imhotep fights an Assyria sorceress in a duel of magic.Kim Ryholt, The Assyrian invasion of Egypt in Egyptian literary tradition, in Assyria and Beyond, Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten 2004, , p. 501
See also Imhotep Thoth Seshat Renpet
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