damn reporters!

[Summoned Shadows]

did anyone hear about that comet that is supposed to hit us in like, thirty years? they named it Apophis..and, for their explanation, they called her, and i quote "the Egyptian GOD OF DESTRUCTION"!! what the ********!? she's the Serpent of night!  

[Rennie`]

If I'm correct then Sekhmet is the Goddess of war and destruction eek But all these comets and planets are named after the Greeks and Romans. Heck, the planets are named after Roman Gods!  

[Summoned Shadows]

Rennie`

If I'm correct then Sekhmet is the Goddess of war and destruction eek But all these comets and planets are named after the Greeks and Romans. Heck, the planets are named after Roman Gods!

well..Sekhmet is the goddess of war and medicine.. Set is the one they ought to have used for the comet... but no! they used the wrong Goddess  

[Nevira Shadowfire]

First of all, it's not a comet, it's an asteroid (there is a difference) wink

Considering Apophis is the serpent that tried to devour the sun, and the asteroid is on a path to hit Earth (plunging it into darkness, in a sense), I would consider it aptly named.

And as for the mistitle...I wouldn't fret about it too much. They're astronomers. (not astrologers; that annoys the heck outta me when people mix them up stressed ) They're too busy getting a crick in their necks staring up into an insanely-high-powered telescope looking at space junk to check the Earth-bound facts. 3nodding

The asteroid itself...I also wouldn't fret about it hitting the Earth. There's all this math and logistics that have to be worked out, like the asteroid coming in too shallow and skipping off the atmosphere, coming in too deep and missing entirely, hitting another piece of space junk throwing off its trajectory, etc. ...

Wow, I'm really mellow about something I should probably be freaking out about. confused  

[WebenBanu]

*nods* I agree with Nevira- although I think that naming something with that much destructive potential after a creature like Ap/p is a really bad idea... thematically, at least, they're not completely out of line. Ap/p (or Apophis, to use the Greek version^_^) is not a goddess at all- it was a mistake, accidentally created by Nit at the same time that the rest of the world was created when Her spittle dribbled into the primordial waters of the Nun. Ever since, it has been bent on the complete annihilation of this world- not simply dissolution, but uncreation. In most cases, it appears to be male- or at least be grammatically masculine.

I have not seen it associated with the night, although if the night sky was considered to be a view of the surrounding primordial ocean than you could say that this is a view of a part of the ocean where it came into being- though I've no proof that the ancients ever thought this way. wink The night was created by Nut swallowing the sun, not Ap/p- Ap/p has never succeeded in swallowing the sun and never will, because Stkh is there in the prow of Ra's boat to strike him down every time he tries.

Thanks for the heads up about the meteor- that is interesting!