N: Naacals to Nyoe 199
Neith
Very ancient, possibly pre-dynastic Egyptian goddess, at whose Nile Delta
temple in Sais the history of Atlantis was inscribed on memorial pillars. She was,
in fact, worshiped as the oldest of all deities. One of her titles, Tehenut(“Of
Libya”), according to Imel, “suggests a Western origin.” Although Plato only
mentions Neith in passing, the preservation of Atlantean records at her temple
was appropriate in many respects.
While never entirely forgotten, her worship over the centuries had declined
almost to nothing until it was spectacularly revived during the XXVI Dynasty,
when Neith’s city was elevated to the capital of Egypt. Pharaohs like Psamtik and
Ahmose were leading a national revival after generations of neglect. To reassert
their country’s ancient greatness, they reopened and remodeled old temples to
restore general respect and enthusiasm for Egyptian heritage. Everything important
from the past was resurrected and honored. It was during this cultural house-
cleaning that the Atlantis story was either installed with prominence at Egypt’s
most important temple, or dusted off where it had been kept for at least eight
hundred years. Coincidentally, Solon, the Greek legislator on holiday along the
Nile, visited the Temple of Neith. There he learned the account first-hand from
Psonchis, the high priest.
Among her numerous godly duties, Neith was the divine patroness of history
and prophesy, as indicated by the words inscribed on the wall of her temple: “I am
all that has been, that is and that will be.” In sacred art, she was symbolized by a
cow in the company of 19 stars. These were the Atlantises, or daughters of Atlas:
the seven he had by Pleione, the Pleiades; another seven, the Hesperides; and
five by Arethusa, the Hyades. Her cow form was also known as Meh-urt, literally,
“the Great Flood.”Nemed
Described by the Sumerian scholar Neil Zimmerer as “a grandson of Noah,”
leader of the eponymous Nemedians, survivors from the 17th-century B.C. cata-
clysm that almost destroyed Atlantis. He led his followers to Ireland, where they
were opposed by the resident Fomorach, themselves descended from Atlantis.
The Nemedians were defeated, but allowed to remain, so long as they paid an
onerous annual tribute to their conquerors. Eventually, Nemed staged a bloody
rebellion, seizing the Formorach stronghold of Tor Conaind. Losses were so
heavy, however, the Nemedians lost their tribal identity and faded into the resident
population.
(See Fomorach)