The two tombs of Inerkhau , (TT359 and TT299).

The following scene represents Inerkhau, standing, his arms raised in a sign of worship. An immense snake, named Sata (= literally "Son of the land"), faces him (view 13bis).
These reptiles play an ambiguous role in Egyptian mythology. Sometimes, they embody hostile, dangerous and unverifiable strengths, sly adversaries of the created world; sometimes they are the embryonic shapes of divine beings, or even the greatest gods imaginable before the spreading of the creation of the universe. Sata belongs to this last category, and §87 of the Book of the Dead (to which this image could serve as a vignette but which doesn't correspond to the text reproduced here) has clearly assimilated the nocturnal sun, which it then regenerates in the beyond before being born again at dawn. This is why Inerkhau addresses a hymn to it and venerates such a great god.

The two tombs of Inerkhau , (TT359 and TT299).

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