NEPHTHYS (Νέφθυς).  Greek form of Egyptian Nebt-het (q.v.), meaning "lady of the house."

    Nephthys.  Sister goddess to Isis, and wife of Set.  She helped Isis in her search for the body of the slain Osiris, and in her lamentations over him.  Therefore she is always associated with Isis in funerary scenes.  The two stand facing each other with wings outspread on either side of the mummy, or they are carved at each end of sarcophagi, or painted on coffins and mummies.  Nephthys, or Nebt-het, is the daughter of Seb and Nut, and as a nature goddess represents, probably, the sunset.  She is depicted as a woman, her only distinguishing feature being her head-dress.  According to Plutarch's legend, she was the mother of Anubis. (A Concise Dictionary of Egyptian Archaeology, Brodrick, 1902).

NEPHTHYS, the sister of Isis, and the goddess of the lower firmament.  Her emblem was a dish or basin.  Her office was, together with Isis, to introduce and perfect the souls of the deceased in the Judgment Hall of Osiris.  She was the special deity of the town of Tsebets, or Aphroditopolis.  According to the tradition of the Greeks this goddess was also the wife of Set, and on the death of Osiris, she as the guardian of the mummy protected his remains.  Hence she was always represented as standing at the foot of the sarcophagi, while Isis stood at the head.  Often also she was figured shielding the mummy with her wings, or as weeping over the deceased kneeling on her knees with her face shielded in her hands. (An Archaic Dictionary, Cooper, 1876).