Meretseger protected the Theban Necropolis, the Valley of the Kings and all
other tombs in Western Thebes. She dwelt at the pyramid shaped peak. There is
a shrine to her near the Valley of the Queens.
She is generally portrayed as a cobra with a woman's head. She was worshiped
locally by the Workmen of Deir el Medina.
Meretseger is one of the lesser gods. She is not well known because she
was a god that never left her geographic locale. Her job was to protect
the Theban Necropolis and her worshipers were the New Kingdom workmen
who built the tombs of the Pharaohs and his nobles. When the workmen's
village was shut down during the time of the later Ramesses Kings, she
was forgotten.
During the New Kingdom, from the time of Ahmose and the reunification
until the decline of the last of the Rameses, Meretseger's cult center
was well tended by the priests and the local workmen's village.
The lesser gods were worshiped by common Egyptians during their daily
lives. These gods were often local and connected with natural landscape
features, nature, or they were remnants of older religious beliefs that
were still cherished when official religion changed.
The tombs of the workmen have sometimes been a better source of the religious
beliefs held by the common Egyptians than the tombs of the Pharaoh's.

Sennedjem, one of the tomb workers, lives forever on his tomb walls with
his wife and Nut giving them the bounty of the Tree of Life.
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