Editing Nephthys (section)

==New Kingdom cults==

[[File:A mummy rests on a sacred boat guarded by Anubis. Above, figures of Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys. Sandstone stela. From Egypt, 332 BCE to 395 CE. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, UK.jpg|thumb|A mummy rests on a sacred boat guarded by Anubis. Above, figures of Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys. Sandstone stela. From Egypt, 332 BCE to 395 CE. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, UK|upright]]
The [[Ramesside]] pharaohs were particularly devoted to Set's prerogatives and, in the [[Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt|19th Dynasty]], a temple of Nephthys called the "House of Nephthys of Ramesses-Meriamun" was built or refurbished in the town of [[Sepermeru]], midway between [[Oxyrhynchus]] and [[Heracleopolis Magna|Herakleopolis]], on the outskirts of the [[Fayyum]] and quite near to the modern site of Deshasheh. Here, as [[Papyrus Wilbour]] notes in its wealth of taxation records and land assessments, the temple of Nephthys was a specific foundation by [[Ramesses II]], located in close proximity to (or within) the precinct of the enclosure of Set. To be certain, the House of Nephthys was one of fifty individual, land-owning temples delineated for this portion of the Middle Egyptian district in [[Papyrus Wilbour]]. The fields and other holdings belonging to Nephthys's temple were under the authority of two Nephthys [[prophet]]s (named Penpmer and Merybarse) and one (mentioned) wa'ab priest of the goddess.

While certainly affiliated with the "House of Set", the Nephthys temple at Sepermeru and its apportioned lands (several acres) clearly were under administration distinct from the Set institution.<ref>'Land Tenure in the Ramesside Period' by S. Katary, 1989</ref> The Nephthys temple was a unique establishment in its own right, an independent entity. According to Papyrus Wilbour,<ref>Section 1. 28</ref> another "House of Nephthys of Ramesses-Meriamun" seems to have existed to the north, in the town of Su, closer to the Fayyum region.

Another temple of Nephthys seems to have existed in the town of Punodjem. The Papyrus Bologna records a complaint lodged by a prophet of the temple of Set in that town regarding undue taxation in his regard. After making an introductory appeal to "[[Re Horakhty|Re-Horakhte]], Set, and Nephthys" for the ultimate resolution of this issue by the royal Vizier, the prophet (named Pra'emhab) laments his workload. He notes his obvious administration of the "House of Set" and adds: "I am also responsible for the ship, and I am responsible likewise for the House of Nephthys, along with a heap of other temples."<ref>Papyrus Bologna 1094, 5, 8-7, 1</ref>

As "Nephthys of Ramesses-Meriamun", the goddess and her shrines were under the particular endorsement of [[Ramesses II]]. The foundations of the Set and Nephthys temples at [[Sepermeru]] finally were discovered and identified in the 1980s and the Nephthys temple was a self-sustaining temple complex within the Set enclosure.<ref>'Les Deesses de l'Egypte Pharaonique', R. LaChaud, 1992, Durocher-Champollion</ref>

There can be little doubt that a cult of Nephthys existed in the temple and great town of [[Heracleopolis Magna|Herakleopolis]], north of Sepermeru. A near life-sized statue of Nephthys (currently housed in the [[Louvre]]) boasts a curiously altered inscription. The [[basalt]] image originally was stationed at [[Medinet Habu|Medinet-Habu]] as part of the cultic celebration of the pharaonic "Sed-Festival", but was transferred at some point to Herakleopolis and the temple of [[Heryshaf|Herishef]]. The cult-image's inscription originally pertained to "Nephthys, Foremost of the Sed [Festival] in the Booth of Annals" (at Medinet-Habu), but was re-inscribed or re-dedicated to "Nephthys, Foremost of the [Booths of] Herakleopolis". A "prophet of Nephthys" is indeed attested for the town of Herakleopolis in the [[Thirtieth dynasty of Egypt|30th Dynasty]].<ref>Forgeau, 'Pretres Isiaques,' BIFAO 84, 155-157</ref>