akhbitbuto

Akhbit / Buto

Akhbit (Axbjt) ( Khemmis / Chemmis)

M15 (Ax) L2 (bjt) X1 (t) + 'town' det. O49

Akhbit's location is not known, but is probably somewhere in the north west Delta, in the vicinity of Buto.

"Site in the north Delta near Buto, revered as the birthplace of Horus." (J.P. Allen 2005: 425)

"Most of the local references to Horus associate him with Lower Egypt; specifically with Heliopolis, Pe, Djebawet and Khemmis. Further, the IIIrd Lower Egyptian nome had a falcon as the main feature of its sign. Of the Upper Egyptian localities connected with Horus, Nekhen stands out; and the archaeological discoveries at Hierakonopolis, together with the role of the goddesses of Pe and Nekhen in the royal titulary, make it extremely likely that Hierakonopolis was the Upper Egyptian capitol from which the followers of Horus achieved the dynastic union of Egypt. The 'Souls of Buto' and the 'Souls of Nekhen', whatever their precise reference, betoken the ancestral royal sanctity of these places. It is to the region of the North-west Delta that the Pyramid Texts dispose one to turn for the origins of the Horus cult; but the archaeological record, as it stands, makes him in origin Upper Egyptian." (Griffiths 1960: 144)

Akhbit mentioned in Old and Middle Kingdom Texts:

Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis who lived in Akhbit, was conceived in Pe, and born and raised as a young boy in Akhbit - Horus was awaited for in Pe for his cleansing, after he emerged from Akhbit. Cool Waters for the deceased came from Akhbit. (Dyn 6 Pyramid Texts)

During the reign of Pepi I (Dyn 6), Nekhebau was given the task of supervising the construction of ka-chapels between the 'City of Pools' in the 'Akhbit of Horus' in the northern Delta, and the pyramid of Pepi I at South Saqqara (29.85441 N; 31.21892 E), and in supervising the laying out and excavating a canal in the 'Akhbit of Horus'.

In Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts, the deceased as the Dual Lion (rwtj), received the throne of the West, and reigned in Akhbit - the uraeus issued from Akhbit.

Dynasty 6 text:

Text of Ankhmeryremeryptah called Nekhebau - tomb G 2381, Western Cemetery, Giza - Dynasty 6, Pepi I:

"His majesty sent me to direct the construction of soul chapels for his majesty in Lower Egypt, the ges-per of the mansion, my northern limit being in the City of the Pools in the Akhbit of Horus, and my southern limit being at the pyramid of Pepi I.......His majesty sent me to lay out a canal in the Akhbit of Horus and to excavate it. I excavated it in a period of three months, so that when I came back to the Residence it was already full of water." (Strudwick 2005: 265 - 6)

note: soul (kA) chapel

Pyramid Texts:

"....great Isis - she who tied the headband on her son Horus as a young boy in Akhbit, using her dress and censing before him so that he might cross the land in his white sandals and go and go to see his father Osiris." P 467 (PT 519) Sethe Vol 2: 182; §1214b

"Nemtiemzaf Merenre, your mother Nut has given birth to you from the west. After you descended into the west as a possessor of honour, your mother Isis gave birth to you in Akhbit." M 365 (PT 609) Sethe Vol 2: 399; §1703c

"Father Pepi Neferkare, stand up and receive these your first cool waters that come from Akhbit!" N 388 (PT 662) Sethe Vol 2: 458; §1877d

"Horus foremost of the Duat.........Horus has emerged from Akhbit. Pe has awaited Horus, so that he could become clean there. Clean Horus has come, that that [he might] tend [his father Osiris..." N 595 (PT 701A) Sethe Vol 2: 532; §2190a

Coffin Texts:

(Faulkner has Chemmis for Akhbit)

"Horus has given you his Eye, and the Akhbit-crown Eye of Horus (irt Hrw Axt)" CT 42 (note: in one coffin (B2B0), Axt has the det. S4, 'Red Crown of Lower Egypt')

"....I support the sky with my horns, I toe the earth with my sandals. I am the Double Lion, older than Atum, I take my throne which is in the deserts, and which is in Akhbit." CT 173

"O you plebs, look on me, the son of Isis; I was conceived in Pe and born in Akhbit (iwr i m P ms Axbjt) CT 286

"....I am the offspring of Osiris, I am Horus, son of Osiris, born of the divine Isis. I am king in Akhbit, my face is formed as that of a divine falcon;..." CT 313

"I am the Double Lion (rwtj), older than Atum, having received the throne of the West, king in Akhbit. " CT 438

"I am the Ab-flower which issued from the garden, I am the uraeus which issued from Akhbit." CT 581

"I am Isis (As(t)) [when she was] in Akhbit,...." CT 829

Buto (jmt) - 31.195555 N; 30.742222 E.

"Town in the north Delta, modern Tell el-Farain. The ancient town consisted of two parts, known as Pe (p) and Dep (dp). Cult centre of Wadjet, who was also known as "She of Buto'." (J:P: Allen 2005: 428)

Chris Tedder, Autumn 2008