Ren (rn)

True name

Ren — the true name, conferred at birth and inscribed everywhere the deceased wishes their existence to persist. To know a being's true name is to have power over them; the famous Isis-and-Re myth turns on Isis tricking Re into revealing his ren. Conversely, to erase a name (damnatio memoriae) is to destroy a component of the person — which is why pharaohs of disfavoured dynasties are systematically chiselled out of monuments.

Khat (ẖt)Ka (kꜣ)Ba (bꜣ)Akh (ꜣḫ)Ren (rn)Ren (rn)Sheut (šwt)Ib (jb)Sahu (sꜣḥ)Sekhem (sḫm)

Point 5 of 9 in Egyptian Nine-Part Soul

Cross-tradition overlaps

No overlapping points are registered for this point.

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Sources

Papyrus Turin 1993 — 'The Legend of Isis and the Name of Re' (primary_canonical)

Translated in Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature vol. 2.

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