Serket

Serket (Serqet or Selkis) is the venerable scorpion goddess of the prophylactic healing of venomous bites, of respiratory relief, of funerary protection for the dead, and one of the four sacred Canopic guardians of the chest of Osiris in ancient Egypt. Worshipped since the Predynastic Period and the Thinite Era (associated with the archaic scorpion king Serket I), she is represented as a noble crowned maiden wearing a water scorpion or desert scorpion with an arched tail and a raised stinger, curiously without legs and without a visible venomous sting, to signal that her magical power neutralizes the deadly toxicity of venomous creatures. She stretches out her winged or protective arms to bless beds and drive away affliction. An essential protector of children in the myths of the Khemmis marshes, when she sent her seven sacred scorpions to escort the goddess Isis and the infant Horus against the spies of Seth, Serket was the divine patroness of field physicians and toxicologist surgeons (the Sa-Serqet), embodying the medicinal power that turns lethal venoms into healing balms and unobstructed breath. Her medical art and her outstretched protective arms secure the breath of life, the healing of afflictions and everlasting peace for all human beings. She is the vigilant healer who frees beds from poison and ensures the breath of life for the sick with infinite mercy.

14 min read · Reviewed on September 28, 2026 · How we research

The scorpion, the ankh, the scepter and the canopic jars

Primary sources

• Raymond O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. translation: British Museum Publications, 1985.
• James P. Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. translation: SBL, 2005.
• E. A. Wallis Budge, Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations. translation: 1912, II — The Narrative of Isis. read

Studies

• Carol Andrews, Amulets of Ancient Egypt. British Museum Press, 1994.
• Barry J. Kemp, Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization. Routledge, 2006.