Editing Nut (goddess) (section)

== Portrayal in Ancient Greek sources==
[[File:Goddess Nut 2.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Nut swallows the Sun, which travels through her body at night to be reborn at dawn.]]
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 (mythology)|Rhea]], secretly consorting with [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]], was cursed by the sun-god [[Helios]] to never give birth during any day of the year. [[Mercury (mythology)|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 month (Egypt)|intercalary days]], celebrated as the birthdays of the gods. Plutarch likely equated Rhea with the Egyptian goddess Nut.<ref>{{cite book |last=Plutarch  |author-link=Plutarch |title=Plutarch's Moralia (Loeb)/Isis and Osiris |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Plutarch%27s_Moralia_(Loeb)/Isis_and_Osiris |page=12 |translator1-last=Babbitt |translator1-first=Frank}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Budge |first=E. A. Wallis |author-link=E. A. Wallis Budge |date=1908 |title=Books on Egypt and Chaldaea: Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VW8wAQAAMAAJ |access-date=September 4, 2019 |publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd. |location=London |edition=3rd  |pages=42–44}}</ref> 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 (deity)|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.<ref>Griffiths, J. Gwyn, ed. (1970). ''Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride''. University of Wales Press, pp.135-137</ref> 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."<ref>Meeks, Dimitri; Favard-Meeks, Christine (1996) [French edition 1993]. ''Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods''. Translated by G. M. Goshgarian. Cornell University Press.p.78. ISBN 978-0-8014-8248-9</ref>