438 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



" the lady of the abode," consists of a bowl or 

 basket, called neb, placed upon a house, answering 

 to ei or tei. These she wears upon her head ; 

 as Isis has the throne, her hieroglyphic emblem. 



She is frequently styled the Sister Goddess, re- 

 ferring to her relationship to Isis and Osiris; and 

 I have met with an instance of her being called 

 •*Nephthys, the Saviour Sister Goddess, Anouke."* 

 This connects her with Anouke theEgyptian Vesta, 

 and accords with the Greek notion of Vesta being 

 the daughter of Saturn and Rhea, who answered 

 to the Seb and Netpe of the Egyptian Pantheon. 

 In another hieroglyphic inscription over a door at 

 Dakkeh, the Ethiopian King Ergamun is said to be 

 *' a son of Osiris, born of Isis, and nursed by Neph- 

 thys ; " and the two triads, of which she was a 

 member, frequently occur in the Egyptian tombs. 

 She is sometimes called '* a daughter of the Sunt," 

 though Plutarch t supposes her begotten by Saturn; 

 and the same author gives to her the names of 

 Teleute (or the end), Aphrodite, and Nike. He 

 considers her§, in one of her characters, ** the 

 lower and invisible, as Isis was the upper and 

 visible, parts of the world ; " and he says ||, that 

 " the Sistrum having the face of Isis on one side and 

 of Nephthys on the other, symbolically represents 

 generation and corruption." This idea, like that 

 previously expressed respecting the contradistinc- 

 tion of Isis and her sister, did not convey the im- 



* Plate 35. Part 2. t Plate 35, Part 2. 



X Plut. de Is. s. 12. ^ Pint, de Is. s. 44. 



II Plut.de Is.s.63. 



