View source for Tyet

{{Short description|Egyptian hieroglyph}}
{{for|the Latin trap group|The Tyets}}
[[File:tyet of Isis.svg|thumb|upright|right|A ''tyet'']]
{{Hiero|''tjt''<br/>Knot of Isis|<hiero>V39</hiero>|align=right|era=egypt}}
The '''tyet''' ({{langx|egy|tjt}}), sometimes called the '''knot of Isis''' or '''girdle of Isis''',  is an [[ancient Egypt]]ian symbol that came to be connected with the goddess [[Isis]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Allen|first=James Peter|author-link=James Peter Allen|title=Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6KUdBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA557|year=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-91709-4|page=557}}</ref> Its hieroglyphic depiction is catalogued as V39 in [[Gardiner's sign list]].

==History==
In many respects the ''tyet'' resembles an [[ankh]], except that its arms curve down. Its meaning is also reminiscent of the ankh, as it is often translated to mean "welfare" or "life".

The ''tyet'' resembles a knot of cloth and may have originally been a bandage used to absorb [[menstrual blood]].<ref name="Griffiths 190">Griffiths 2001, p. 190</ref>

An early example of a ''tyet'' sign comes from a [[First Dynasty of Egypt|First Dynasty]] tomb at [[Helwan]], excavated by Zaki Saad in the 1940s. This example predates the first written references to Isis and may not have been connected with her at the time.<ref>Griffiths 1980, p. 41</ref> In later times, it came to be linked with her and with the healing powers that were an important aspect of her character.<ref name="Griffiths 190"/>

''Tyet'' amulets came to be buried with the dead in the early [[New Kingdom of Egypt]] (c. 1550–1070 BC). The earliest examples date to the reign of [[Amenhotep III]], and from then until the end of dynastic Egyptian history, few people were buried without one placed within the mummy wrappings, usually on the upper torso.<ref name="Andrews 44">Andrews 1994, pp. 44–45</ref> [[Ancient Egyptian funerary texts]] included many passages describing the use of different types of amulets and include spells to be recited over them.<ref>Andrews 1994, p. 6</ref> Chapter 156 of the [[Book of the Dead]], a New Kingdom funerary text, calls for a ''tyet'' amulet made of red jasper to be placed at the neck of a mummy, saying "the power of Isis will be the protection of [the mummy's] body" and that the amulet "will drive away whoever would commit a crime against him."<ref>Goelet et al. 2015, pl. 32-B</ref> Such amulets were often made of red jasper or similarly colored materials, such as carnelian or red glass. However, many others were made of green materials such as [[Egyptian faience]], whose color represented the renewal of life.<ref name="Andrews 44"/>

Another type of knot is sometimes called the "Isis knot": a large knot in a mantle worn by Egyptian women from the [[Late Period of ancient Egypt|Late Period]] onward. It is associated with Isis because it often appeared on statues of her in Hellenistic and Roman times, but apart from the name it is not related to the ''tyet''.<ref>Bianchi 1980, pp. 10, 22–23</ref>

The ''tyet'' can be compared with the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] [[Minoan snake goddess figurines#Sacral Knot|sacral knot]], a symbol of a knot with a projecting loop found in [[Knossos]], Crete.

==See also==
*[[Knot (hieroglyph)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Works cited==
*{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6KUdBAAAQBAJ&q=allen%20middle%20egyptian&pg=PA557|title=Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs|last=Allen|first=James P.|date=2014-07-24|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-91709-4}}
*{{cite book |last=Andrews |first=Carol |title=Amulets of Ancient Egypt |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-292-70464-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/amuletsofancient00andr }}
*{{cite journal |last=Bianchi |first=Robert S. |title=Not the Isis-Knot |journal=Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar |volume=2 |date=1980 }}
* {{cite book |author1-last=Goelet, Jr. |author1-first=Ogden |author2-last=Faulkner |author2-first=Raymond O. |author2-link=Raymond O. Faulkner |author3-last=Andrews |author3-first=Carol A. R. |author4-last=Gunther |author4-first=J. Daniel |author5-last=Wasserman |author5-first=James |author5-link=James Wasserman |title=The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going forth by Day, Twentieth Anniversary Edition |year=2015 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=978-1-4521-4438-2 }}
*{{cite book|last=Griffiths|first=J. Gwyn|title=The Origins of Osiris and His Cult|year=1980|publisher=E.J. Brill|isbn=978-90-04-06096-8 }}
*{{cite book |chapter=Isis |author-last=Griffiths |author-first=J. Gwyn |editor-last=Redford|editor-first=Donald B. |title=[[Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt|The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt]]|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn=978-0-19-510234-5 }}

== Further reading ==
* Mohamed, Ghada (2024). ''„Und das Isis-Blut hat seine Arme in meine Richtung gereicht“. Darstellung, Bedeutung und Funktion des anthropomorphisierten Tit-Knotens im alten Ägypten'' [‘And the blood of Isis has reached its arms in my direction’. Representation, meaning and function of the anthropomorphised Tyet knot in ancient Egypt]. ''Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt'' '''60''', 1, pp. 227–246, [[DOI:10.5913/jarce.60.2024.a010]].

==External links==
{{commons category-inline|Knot of Isis (hieroglyph)}}

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[[Category:Isis]]
[[Category:Egyptian mythology]]
[[Category:Egyptian hieroglyphs: rope-fiber-baskets-bags]]
[[Category:Egyptian amulets]]
[[Category:Ancient Egyptian symbols]]