Nekhebt
In prepatriarchal Egypt, the Goddess Nekhebt, the Vulture was worshiped in Upper Egypt, and Ua Zit, the Cobra Goddess, in Lower Egypt. Nekhebt was the inventor of agriculture, a great healer and physician, and the bringer of laws and justice. Egypt was strongly matriarchal. From about 3000 BC onward the Goddess was said to have existed when nothing else had been created. She was known as Nut, Net, or Nit which was probably derived from Nekhebt. According to Egyptian mythology, it was the Goddess who first put Ra, the sun god, in the sky.
Other texts of Egypt tell of the Goddess as Hathor in this role as creatrix of existence, explaining that She took form as a serpent at the time. In Egypt the concept of the Goddess always remained vital. Eventually, the Goddess evolved into a more composite Goddess known as Isis. Isis (Au Set) incorporated the aspects of both Ua Zit and Hathor. Isis was also closely associated with the Goddess as Nut, who was mythologically recorded as Her Mother; in paintings Isis wears the wings of Nekhebt.
After the invasion of Egypt by Indo-Europeans around 3000 B.C., Lower and Upper Egypt were united under a newly instituted kingship, and the Dynastic Era began. The invaders, calling themselves the "Followers of Horus," formed an master race, that ruled over all Egypt. The word pharaoh (means "great house") was applied to the royal male alone. Male deities quickly then rose to power over the Egyptian Goddesses. Horus, the "God of Light," was transformed into the official son of the Great Mother Isis.
