Editing Nephthys (section)

==Mythology and position in the pantheon==
[[File:Ankh-Wennefer 02.jpg|thumb|Nephthys on the outer coffin of Ankh-Wennefer]]
Though it commonly has been assumed that Nephthys was married to [[Set (mythology)|Set]] and they have a son [[Anubis]], recent Egyptological research has called this into question. Levai notes that while [[Plutarch]]'s ''De Iside et Osiride'' mentions the deities' marriage, there is very little specifically linking Nephthys and Set in the original early Egyptian sources. She argues that the later evidence suggests that:

<blockquote>while Nephthys's marriage to Set was a part of Egyptian mythology, it was not a part of the myth of the murder and resurrection of Osiris. She was not paired with Set the villain, but with Set's other aspect, the benevolent figure who was the killer of [[Apep|Apophis]]. This was the aspect of Set worshiped in the western oases during the Roman period, where he is depicted with Nephthys as co-ruler.<ref>Levai, Jessica.  "Nephthys and Seth: Anatomy of a Mythical Marriage", Paper presented at The 58th Annual Meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt, Wyndham Toledo Hotel, Toledo, Ohio, Apr 20, 2007.[http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p176897_index.html http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p176897_index.html]</ref></blockquote>

One of the few sources that explicitly identify Nephthys as the wife of Set within the context of the Osiris myth is Papyrus Berlin P. 8278. This text recounts an episodic part of the Osiris myth in which the men of Set and Horus engage in a military conflict, ultimately leading to Set’s expulsion from Egypt. After consuming the Eye of Horus and becoming intoxicated by it, Set attempts to anally penetrate Nephthys before being discovered by the gods and accused of murdering Osiris. Rather than responding to the accusations made by Isis or Thoth, Set instead laments that the gods have separated him from Nephthys, whom he refers to as the "female donkey," just as he had grabbed her by the tail and was about to penetrate her—insisting that she rightfully belonged to him as his wife.<ref>Gaudard, Francois (2012).Pap. Berlin P. 8278 and Its Fragments: Testimony of the Osirian Khoiak Festival Celebration during the Ptolemaic Period. In Forschungen in der Papyrussamlung: Eine Festgabe für das neue Museum. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. pp.270-272. </ref>

It is Nephthys who assists Isis in gathering and mourning the dismembered portions of the body of Osiris after his murder by the envious Set. Nephthys also serves as the nursemaid and watchful guardian of the infant Horus. The [[Pyramid Texts]] refer to Isis as the "birth-mother" and to Nephthys as the "nursing-mother" of Horus. Nephthys was attested as one of the four "Great Chiefs" ruling in the Osirian cult center of [[Busiris (Middle Egypt)|Busiris]] in the [[Nile Delta|Delta]]<ref>The Book of the Dead, Theban Recension</ref> and she appears to have occupied an honorary position at the holy city of [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]]. No cult is attested for her there, though she certainly figured as a goddess of great importance in the annual rites conducted, wherein two chosen females or priestesses played the roles of Isis and Nephthys and performed the elaborate "Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys". There, at Abydos, Nephthys joined Isis as a mourner in the shrine known as the Osireion.<ref>Byron Esely Shafer, Dieter Arnold, Temples in Ancient Egypt, p.&nbsp;112, 2005</ref> These "[[Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys]]" were ritual elements of many such Osirian rites in major ancient Egyptian cult centers.

As a mortuary goddess like Isis, [[Neith]], and [[Serket|Serqet]], Nephthys was one of the protectresses of the [[canopic jar]]s of Hapi. Hapi, one of the [[sons of Horus]], guarded the embalmed lungs.  Thus we find Nephthys endowed with the epithet "Nephthys of the Bed of Life"<ref>Tomb of Tuthmosis III, Dynasty XVIII</ref> in direct reference to her regenerative priorities on the embalming table. In the city of [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]], Nephthys was duly honored with the title "Queen of the Embalmer's Shop" and there associated with the [[jackal]]-headed god [[Anubis]] as patron.<ref>J. Berlandini, p. 41-62, Varia Memphitica, VI - La stèle de Parâherounemyef, BIFAO 82</ref>
[[File:Detail, Stela of Seba, scribe of the treasury of god Ptah. c. 1250 BCE. From Memphis, Egypt. Neues Museum, Berlin.jpg|thumb|Detail, Funerary stele of Seba. Osiris is flanked by Isis and Nephthys. New Kingdom, c. 1250 BCE. From Memphis, Egypt. Neues Museum, Berlin]]
Nephthys was also considered a festive deity whose rites could mandate the liberal consumption of beer. In various reliefs at [[Edfu]], [[Dendera Temple complex|Dendera]], and Behbeit, Nephthys is depicted receiving lavish beer offerings from the pharaoh which she would "return" using her power as a beer goddess "that [the pharaoh] may have joy with no [[hangover]]". Elsewhere at Edfu, for example, Nephthys is a goddess who gives the pharaoh power to see "that which is hidden by [[moonlight]]". This fits well with more general textual themes that consider Nephthys to be a goddess whose unique domain was darkness or the perilous edges of the desert.

Nephthys could also appear as one of the goddesses who assists at childbirth. An ancient Egyptian myth preserved in the [[Papyrus Westcar]] recounts the story of Isis, Nephthys, [[Meskhenet]], and [[Heqet]] as traveling dancers in disguise, assisting the wife of a priest of [[Amun-re|Amun-Re]] as she prepares to bring forth sons who are destined for fame and fortune.

Nephthys's healing skills and status as direct counterpart of Isis, steeped, as her sister in "words of power", are evidenced by the abundance of [[Egyptian faience|faience]] amulets carved in her likeness and by her presence in a variety of magical papyri that sought to summon her famously [[altruistic]] qualities to the aid of mortals.<ref>A. Gutbub, J. Bergman, Nephthys découverte dans un papyrus magique in Mélanges, Publications de la recherche, université de Montpellier, Montpellier, FRANCE, 1984</ref>