Ancient Egyptian goddess Nut: what is this deity

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Mythology has always been probably the most interesting part of Egyptian culture, however, not only Egyptian.

Tales about the gods and their deeds are very informative, while reading all kinds of myths has always been liked not only by young children, but also by adults. There were many gods in Ancient Egypt. Now I want to tell you who the goddess Nut is.

Pedigree

This character has a very high origin: Nut is the granddaughter of Ra himself, the paternal god of the sun. She is the daughter of Tefnut, the goddess of moisture, who was depicted as a cat, and Shu, the god of air. At the same time, Nut is the wife and twin sister of the earth god Geb.

Name

The very name of the goddess is interesting. Nut means "sky" in translation. The root of the word from which this name was formed is indicated by a hieroglyph, which means “vessel” in translation. Therefore, this deity was often depicted with a vessel on its head (in a standing pose).

Purpose

Nut is the goddess of the sky, she personifies the firmament that spreads over the earth and covers the earth. The ancient Egyptians believed that allstars and planets are in the sky, as in water, in free swimming. According to beliefs, the sun passed along the body of the goddess every day, in the evening she swallowed it in order to give birth again in the morning. At dawn, she swallowed the moon and stars, so that they would appear again only in the evening. That is why among the Egyptians she also became a funeral goddess, because everyone wanted to die like the sun, and then be born a star and live in the sky. Over time, it began to be depicted on the ceilings of burials, as well as in burial graves on covers. Such drawings were considered evidence that the goddess Nut would take each deceased to her Heaven.

Picture

How did the Egyptians represent this deity? As a rule, the goddess Nut was depicted naked, which is rarely seen in Egyptian mythology. Basically, she was a woman with an elongated and curved body in the form of a firmament, leaning her hands and feet on the ground. So the inhabitants imagined the heavens, to which the sun god Ra rises daily. It is worth noting that, despite the fact that her palms in the drawings are, as it were, compressed, she must point to four different cardinal points with each of her fingers on her hand and foot. If you look at the tomb of Ramesses VI, the pharaoh of Egypt, then the goddess Nut is depicted there simultaneously in two guises - night and day. These bodies are arranged with their backs to each other, one is covered with stars (night) and the other is decorated with twelve suns - one for each daytime hour.

Less often, Chickpeas are depicted in a standing pose orsitting, in which case she has a large jug on her head. Then she can be both naked and in a tight dress. Sometimes the goddess was depicted as a sycamore tree (very often such drawings can be seen on burial tombs: the Egyptians believed that the deceased could drink water in the afterlife) or a pig that devours its children - the sun, moon and stars. The image of a cow (which is also characteristic of this goddess) was considered very valuable symbolically in ancient Egypt. So, after deciphering the texts on the walls of the pyramids, it became clear that the pharaohs are the sons of the sacred cow, whom she gives birth to. And the goddess herself is far beyond the tangibility of an ordinary person, protecting everyone from the evil forces of chaos.

Attributes

Egyptian goddess Nut does not have many attributes. From the main thing is a dress strewn with stars (or a naked body), as well as a vessel with which she is depicted in a sitting position. When the goddess was portrayed in a standing pose, she held an ankh (the cross of life) in her hands, as well as a wand of uas (a rarity for a female deity).

Epithets

The Egyptian goddess Nut, when people addressed her, was always called "Mother of the Stars", "Birth of Gods" or simply "Great" - these epithets belonged only to her. She was represented as the protector of the world from the forces of chaos that are trying to break through her body that covers the earth.

Legend

An interesting is the legend that concerns the goddess Nut. In this case, she appears in the image of the Heavenly Cow. One day Ra is a godthe sun - he wanted to climb it to Heaven. But before he had gone halfway, Nut felt a breakdown, her head began to spin, and she was ready to fall. Therefore, Ra called for help eight gods, who should support her legs, and the god Shu - the abdomen. This plot was often used to create drawings. The goddess was depicted as a cow, whose legs are supported by the gods. Ra himself swims under her belly in his wonderful boat, right under the stars.

Cosmology

Notable is the fact that the Egyptians were interested in space and everything connected with the abyss of heaven. That is why the goddess Nut is of such great importance to them. Very often, near her images, one could see the hieroglyph “heh”, which means “million deities” in translation. In fact, these are just stars, which, according to the beliefs of the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt, were the souls of the dead.