(Khentekhtai) The translation of the name Khenty-khety, whose name is rendered in Greek as Kentechthai, is uncertain, although the meaning of the khenty– element is clear; it means ‘head’ or ‘chief’, and is found in numerous divine names and epithets. Khenty-khety, who had his cult center at Athribis (Tell Atrib) in Lower Egypt, is depicted as a crocodile, or a crocodile-headed man, or, later, as a hawk-headed man. His consort is Khuit. A calendar cites the 23rd day of the month of Khoiak as “the day on which was found the heart [of Osiris] which was in the possession of a crocodile who watched over it: this is Khenty-khety. He had hidden it under his own heart at Athribis,” (Papyrus Jumilhac 136). Similarly, in a spell to heal a cat (no. 87 in Borghouts), the operator affirms “You cat here—your heart is the heart of Khenty-khety, the lord of Athribis, the chief of the Gods who keeps hearts and breasts firmly in their places. He has kept your heart in its place, your breast in its frame.” Accordingly, Khenty-khety is sometimes associated with the judgment of the deceased by the “weighing of the heart” in spell 125 of the Book of the Dead. Khenty-khety is often fused with Osiris or with Horus as Horus-Khenty-khety, Khenty-khety-Osiris or Osiris-Khenty-khety, or even with both at once, under the names Horus-Khenty-khety-Osiris-residing-in-Athribis or variants.
Borghouts, J. F. 1978. Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Vandier, Jacques. 1961. Le Papyrus Jumilhac. Paris: Musée du Louvre.
Henadology 