Mythology

The twin divine lion gods known as Ruty (Egyptian ru. ty, ‘the pair of lions’) were linked from early times with the Heliopolitan deities Shu and Tefnut (PT 447), but because lions typically inhabited the desert margins to the east and west of the Nile Valley, the animals came to be associated with the eastern and western horizons. The general identification of leonine deities with the sun god strengthened this association, and in the 17th chapter of the Book of the Dead Ruty thus became the double lion over whose back the sun rose each day. The twin lions were associated with a number of deities, however. In the Pyramid Texts they may be equated with Atum (PT 2081) and in the Coffin Texts we find associations with Geb, Nut, Re and other gods (CT 1,8; II, 204; II, 175; etc.). In the Book of the Dead they arc equated collectively with Atum and also, individually, with Re and Osiris.

Iconography

Although Ruty could be depicted as a single lion or lion-headed god, the twin deity was most frequently shown as two lions, often positioned back to back and with the sun disk or horizon hieroglyph (akket) depicted between them. Because the two animals respectively faced the sunset and sunrise they could thus replace the mountains on either side of the horizon hieroglyph in some representations. The well-known ivory headrest found in the tomb of

Faired Horn here called ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’-may represent tlie hmn lion god Ruty, the double lion god Aker or other gods such as Re or A turn. I9th dynasty. Papyrus of Anhai, British Museum.

Tutankhamun which has a figure of the air god Shu supporting the head of the king is flanked by small linages of the lions of the eastern and western horizon. so that the king slept symbolically between the -guardians of yesterday and tomorrow.