Nut (goddess)

Goddess of the sky, stars

Nut is a daughter of Shu and Tefnut. Her brother and husband is Geb. She had four children – Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys – to which is added Horus in a Graeco-Egyptian version of the myth of Nut and Geb. She is considered one of the oldest deities among the Egyptian pantheon, with her origin being found on the creation story of Heliopolis. She was originally the goddess of the nighttime sky, but eventually became referred to as simply the sky goddess. Her headdress was the hieroglyph of part of her name, a pot, which may also symbolize the uterus. Mostly depicted in nude human form, Nut was also sometimes depicted in the form of a cow whose great body formed the sky and heavens, a sycamore tree, or as a giant sow, suckling many piglets (representing the stars).

Some scholars suggested that the Egyptians may have seen the Milky Way as a celestial depiction of Nut.

Origins

A sacred symbol of Nut was the ladder used by Osiris to enter her heavenly skies. This ladder-symbol was called maqet and was placed in tombs to protect the deceased, and to invoke the aid of the deity of the dead. Nut and her brother, Geb, may be considered enigmas in the world of mythology. In direct contrast to most other mythologies which usually develop a sky father associated with an Earth mother (or Mother Nature), she personified the sky and he the Earth.

Nut appears in the creation myth of Heliopolis which involves several goddesses who play important roles: Tefnut (Tefenet) is a personification of moisture, who mated with Shu (Air) and then gave birth to Sky as the goddess Nut, who mated with her brother Earth, as Geb. From the union of Geb and Nut came, among others, the most popular of Egyptian goddesses, Isis, the mother of Horus, whose story is central to that of her brother-husband, the resurrection god Osiris. Osiris is killed by his brother Set and scattered over the Earth in 14 pieces, which Isis gathers up and puts back together.

Portrayal in Ancient Greek sources

In his De Iside et Osiride, the Greek philosopher Plutarch, who lived in the first century CE, presents a narrative likely inspired by real Egyptian mythology regarding the birth of Nut's children. In this work, Plutarch draws parallels between Egyptian and Greek deities.The early Egyptologist E. A. Wallis Budge argued that Plutarch's description of Ancient Egyptian beliefs incorporated elements that appear to be either imaginative embellishments or are based on misinformation. The account describes how Rhea, secretly consorting with Saturn, was cursed by the sun-god Helios to never give birth during any day of the year. Mercury, enamored with Rhea, intervened by gambling with the moon-goddess Selene and winning a seventieth portion of her moonlight, creating five additional days. These days were added to the 360-day calendar and became known in Egypt as the "Epact" or intercalary days, celebrated as the birthdays of the gods. Plutarch likely equated Rhea with the Egyptian goddess Nut. She had five children on each of the five days: Osiris, later ruler of the gods and then god of the dead, Horus the Elder, Set (equated with Typhon), Isis and Nephthys. The first two children were fathered by Helios, Isis by Mercury, and Set and Nephthys by Saturn. The third of the additional days, considered Sets birthday, was deemed to be an omen of bad luck. According to Plutarch, Set married Nephthys, while Isis and Osiris married even before birth, and conceived Horus the Elder in some traditions. The Ancient Egyptian texts barely reference this episode, offering only a subtle hint that it was Nut's father, not her husband as Plutarch proposed, who was responsible for the pregnancy. Another ancient Egyptian text describes the moment as occurring "when the sky was full with gods, unknown to men, while the great Ennead slept."

Titles

Some of the titles of Nut were:

• Coverer of the Sky: Nut was the goddess of the visible sky which is why she's depicted on all fours arching her back upward in a "covering" position that encompasses the semi-sphere of the visible sky as it can be observed from the perspective of the earth; and beneath her lies her brother Geb as the earth itself at her feet thus simulating the ground. As such she "covers" the rest of the sky which is not visible from the earth with her presence because of her role as the visible sky. During night time her body was believed to be covered in stars which were projected on her since she encompassed the earth shielding it from the open sky, and as such the stars would touch her instead and become visible on her body.
• She Who Protects: Among her jobs was to envelop and protect Ra, the sun god.
• Mistress of All or "She who Bore the Gods": Originally, Nut was said to be lying on top of Geb (Earth) and continually having intercourse. During this time she birthed four children: Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. A fifth child named Arueris is mentioned by Plutarch. He was the Egyptian counterpart to the Greek god Apollo, who was made syncretic with Horus in the Hellenistic era as 'Horus the Elder'. The Ptolemaic temple of Edfu is dedicated to Horus the Elder and there he is called the son of Nut and Geb, brother of Osiris, and the eldest son of Geb.
• She Who Holds a Thousand Souls: Because of her role in the re-birthing of Ra every morning and in her son Osiris' resurrection, Nut became a key goddess in many of the myths about the afterlife.

Role

Nut was the goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, a symbol of protecting the dead when they enter the afterlife. According to the Egyptians, during the day, the heavenly bodies—such as the Sun and Moon—would make their way across her body. Then, at dusk, they would be swallowed, pass through her belly during the night, and be reborn at dawn.

Nut is also the barrier separating the forces of chaos from the ordered cosmos in the world. She was pictured as a woman arched on her toes and fingertips over the Earth; her body portrayed as a star-filled sky. Nut's fingers and toes were believed to touch the four cardinal points or directions of north, south, east, and west.

Because of her role in saving Osiris, Nut was seen as a friend and protector of the dead, who appealed to her as a child appeals to its mother: "O my Mother Nut, stretch Yourself over me, that I may be placed among the imperishable stars which are in You, and that I may not die." Nut was thought to draw the dead into her star-filled sky, and refresh them with food and wine: "I am Nut, and I have come so that I may enfold and protect you from all things evil."

She was often painted on the inside lid of the sarcophagus, protecting the deceased. The vaults of tombs were often painted dark blue with many stars as a representation of Nut. The Book of the Dead says, "Hail, thou Sycamore Tree of the Goddess Nut! Give me of the water and of the air which is in thee. I embrace that throne which is in Unu, and I keep guard over the Egg of Nekek-ur. It flourisheth, and I flourish; it liveth, and I live; it snuffeth the air, and I snuff the air, I the Osiris Ani, whose word is truth, in peace.''

Book of Nut

The Book of Nut is a modern title of what was known in ancient times as The Fundamentals of the Course of the Stars. This is an important collection of ancient Egyptian astronomical texts, perhaps the earliest of several other such texts, going back at least to 2,000 BC. Nut, being the sky goddess, plays the primary role in the Book of Nut. The text also tells about various other sky and Earth deities, such as the star deities and the decans deities. The cycles of the stars and planets, as well as time keeping are also covered in the book.