Abtu

What it is

Abtu is a fish regarded as sacred in Egyptian mythology. One name did three jobs: ꜣbḏw named the fish, named the city of Abydos, where Osiris and Egypt's first rulers were buried, and served as the everyday word for the west. In story the creature works for the sun, going with Ra's boat at daybreak and helping to pull it over the sky. The goddess Isis was held to take its shape, honoured as 'Abtu, Great Fish of the Abyss', and was identified with the fish of the Osiris legend told at Oxyrhynchus, a city named for a sharp-nosed fish. Cults honouring the creature spread widely through Egypt, and a hymn to the rising sun asks to see it when its time comes.

Where it comes from

The creature belongs to ancient Egypt, where one name wove several things together. ꜣbḏw meant the west, read as the point where the sun's daily crossing ends, the spot where the sun dies and goes down into the underworld. The same word named Abydos, burial place of Osiris and the country's early kings. That the fish itself was held sacred rests on a hymn praising Ra at his rising in the eastern sky, which asks to see the Abtu when its time comes; one English rendering, by Robert Guisepi in 1984, gives the line. Isis's taking of the fish's form may be what earned the creature its honour, and cults in its name reached many parts of Egypt.

What it is for

In myth the creature has a job: at daybreak it goes with Ra's boat and helps draw the sun on its way. People also hoped to see the fish itself. One hymn, sung to Ra as he rises in the east, asks to look on the Abtu when its proper time comes, which suggests that catching sight of the fish was thought to matter to the one praying. Isis's adoption of its shape may be what gave the creature its sacred rank.

Peoples and places

Ancient Egypt is the home the Abtu belongs to. Its cult was not tied to one town: worship of the sacred fish reached many parts of the country. Two places carry the theme in their names. Abydos bore the very word Abtu and held the burials of Osiris and the land's first rulers. Oxyrhynchus, whose Greek name means 'sharp nosed fish', was called after its own sacred fish, the one that figures in the Osiris legend told in that city. The hymn asking for a sight of the creature speaks in a single worshipper's voice, addressed to Ra at daybreak.

What people believe

Egyptian myth gave the sun a full daily life. The west, the sense folded into the fish's name, was the end of the day's crossing: there the sun was understood to die and go down into the underworld's dark. Dawn belonged to the Abtu, which was said to meet Ra's boat as the sun rose and help tow it across the sky, standing at the start of the journey whose end its name marked. Isis was believed to take the fish's shape: as 'Abtu, Great Fish of the Abyss' she was identified with the fish that, in the Osiris story told at Oxyrhynchus, swallowed the god's phallus, a link that may explain the creature's sacred standing.

When it is done

The fish keeps sun time. In story it attends Ra's boat at sunrise, so it belongs to each day's beginning, and the hymn that asks for it praises Ra as he rises in the eastern sky. That hymn also asks to see the Abtu when its proper time arrives, which points to a season of its own beyond the daily round. The name's other face looks to day's end: the west was understood as where the sun was thought to die, the door into the underworld's dark.

Compare and confuse

Three names run together here. Abtu served for both the fish and the city of Abydos, where Osiris and Egypt's early kings were buried. Oxyrhynchus, 'sharp nosed fish' in Greek, took its name from a sacred fish of its own, and in the Osiris legend told in that city Isis as the Abtu was identified with the fish of the story. Fish, goddess and two towns are easy to tangle.

Questions people ask about Abtu

Good reading and sources

• Abtu on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data