Neith figured prominently in the Egyptian pantheon from the earliest period as a primordial goddess associated with water. Subsequently she became a goddess of war, before finally developing into a protective deity associated with domesticity and marriage. As such, royal women often named themselves after her. The cult of Neith was centered in the Nile Delta city of Sais. Herodotus relates the inscription at the entrance of her temple: “I am all that has been, that is, and that will be. No mortal has yet been able to lift the veil that covers me.”