The Tyet, Knot of Isis: The Red Amulet of Ancient Egypt
The tyet or knot of Isis: shape, meaning and red materials of the amulet, chapter 156 of the Book of the Dead and the Isiac knot of the Roman period.
It looks like an ankh with its arms folded downwards, but it is something else. The tyet, also called the knot of Isis, is one of the most characteristic Egyptian amulets, recognisable also by its colour, which is almost always red. Its original meaning remains partly obscure, but texts and contexts clearly show its link with the goddess Isis and with the protection of the deceased on the journey to the afterlife.
A knot of cloth
The shape probably reproduces a knot of fabric, similar to those used to tie the garments and girdles of the gods. The sign is attested from the Old Kingdom and in hieroglyphs could convey an idea close to “life” or “well-being”, akin to the ankh. Some scholars have proposed different readings, for example a link with menstrual blood or with childbirth, but these are hypotheses the texts do not directly confirm.
The blood of Isis
The connection with Isis becomes explicit in chapter 156 of the Book of the Dead, which associates the amulet with a tyet of red jasper and calls it the “blood of Isis”. The formula invokes the goddess and her magical power to protect the deceased. For this reason tyet amulets are usually made of carnelian, red jasper, red glass or warm-toned faience: the colour was an integral part of the meaning.
In the vignettes of the Book of the Dead and in Late Period mummies, the tyet was placed on the neck or chest. It often appears paired with the djed pillar, so that the deceased received at once the protection of Isis and the stability of Osiris, the wife and husband of the myth.
A decorative motif
Outside the strictly funerary sphere the tyet was a widely used decorative motif. Alternating friezes of tyet and djed adorn the walls of temples, shrines and furniture, such as some of the pieces found among the burial goods of Tutankhamun. The sign also appears held by deities, like the ankh, and on pendants worn in life, a sign that its power was not reserved for the dead alone. Some New Kingdom coffins also bear the tyet painted on their sides, placed symmetrically to the djed.
Isis beyond Egypt
When the cult of Isis spread through the Greek and Roman world, from the Hellenistic age onwards, statues of the goddess began to show a knot on the chest tying the fringed mantle. This “Isiac knot” is considered by many scholars a reworking of the tyet, although direct continuity is not entirely certain. Priestesses and devotees shown on Roman funerary reliefs wear the same knot as a sign of belonging to the cult.
The tyet shows how much the meaning of an Egyptian amulet depended on the combination of shape, material and colour. A knot of cloth translated into red stone became the blood of a goddess, and that blood, in ancient belief, could accompany and defend its wearer along the path leading to the kingdom of Osiris.