Editing Nut (goddess)

{{short description|Egyptian goddess of the sky}}
{{About|the Egyptian sky goddess|the goddess in the cosmology of Thelema|Nuit}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Egyptian
| name = Nut
| image = Nut.svg
| alt = 
| caption = The [[goddess]] Nut, wearing the water-pot sign (nw) that identifies her.
| hiero = <hiero>W24*t:N1</hiero>
| cult_center = 
| symbol = [[Sky]], [[Stars]], [[Cows]]
| parents = [[Shu (Egyptian god)|Shu]] and [[Tefnut]]
| siblings = [[Geb]]
| consort = [[Geb]]
| offspring = [[Osiris]], [[Isis]], [[Set (deity)|Set]], [[Nephthys]], [[Horus the Elder]]
| Greek_equivalent = [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://mythnerd.com/greek-gods-vs-egyptian-gods/#Uranus_and_Nut | title=Greek Gods vs Egyptian Gods: What are the Differences? | date=November 2021 }}</ref>
}}
'''Nut''' {{IPAc-en|'|n|U|t}}<ref>{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Nut |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127092440/https://www.lexico.com/definition/nut |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 January 2020 |title=Nut |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> ({{langx|egy|Nwt}}, {{langx|cop|Ⲛⲉ}}{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}), also known by [[#Names|various other transcriptions]], is the [[goddess of the sky]], stars, cosmos, mothers, astronomy, and the universe in the [[ancient Egyptian religion]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Pinch |first=Geraldine |title=Handbook of Egyptian Mythology |series=Handbooks of World Mythology |date=2002 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |pages=173–174 |isbn=1-57607-763-2}}</ref> 

She was seen as a star-covered nude woman arching over the Earth,<ref name="Cavendish">{{cite book |last=Cavendish |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Cavendish (occult writer) |title=Mythology, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of the Principal Myths and Religions of the World |isbn=1-84056-070-3 |year=1998|publisher=Tiger Books International }}</ref> or as a [[cow]]. She was depicted wearing the water-pot sign (nw) that identifies her.

{{anchor|Etymology|Name}}

== Names ==
The pronunciation of [[Egyptian language|ancient Egyptian]] is uncertain because vowels were long omitted from its writing, although her name often includes the unpronounced [[determinative]] [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyph]] for "[[sky (hieroglyph)|sky]]". Her name ''{{lang|egy|Nwt}}'', itself also meaning "Sky",<ref>{{citation |title=Wörterbuch der Ägyptischen Sprache |trans-title=Dictionary of the Egyptian Language |editor1-first=Adolf |editor1-last=Erman |editor2-first=Hermann |editor2-last=Grapow |display-editors=1 |page=214 |date=1957 |language=de}}</ref> is usually transcribed as "Nut" but also sometimes appears in older sources as '''Nunut''', '''Nenet''', '''Nuit''' or '''Not'''.<ref name="budge">Budge, ''An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary'' (1920), [https://archive.org/stream/egyptianhierogly01budguoft#page/350/mode/2up p. 350].</ref>

She also appears in the hieroglyphic record by a number of [[epithet]]s, not all of which are understood.

== Goddess of the sky, stars ==
[[File:Goddes nut inside the coffin of peftjauneith (rmo leiden, egypt 26d 664-525bc) (3977549159).jpg|left|thumb|upright|Nut, personification of the night-sky, speckled with stars, from inside the coffin of Peftjauneith.]]
{{Ancient Egyptian religion}}
Nut is a daughter of [[Shu (Egyptian deity)|Shu]] and [[Tefnut]]. Her brother and husband is [[Geb]]. She had four children{{snd}}[[Osiris]], [[Set (deity)|Set]], [[Isis]], and [[Nephthys]]{{snd}}to which is added [[Horus]] in a Graeco-Egyptian version of the myth of Nut and Geb.<ref>Hart, George (200t). ''The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses''. Routledge. p. 110</ref> She is considered one of the oldest deities among the Egyptian pantheon,<ref name="Ancient Egypt 2001" /> with her origin being found on the creation story of [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]]. She was originally the goddess of the [[night (hieroglyph)|nighttime]] [[sky (hieroglyph)|sky]], but eventually became referred to as simply the sky goddess. Her headdress was the hieroglyph of part of her name, a [[pottery|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 [[Ficus sycomorus|sycamore tree]], or as a giant [[Suidae|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.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.sciengine.com/JAHH/doi/10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2024.01.02;JSESSIONID=0abf35c9-4105-46fb-b80f-9cd99f95ebf6 | doi=10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2024.01.02 | title=The Ancient Egyptian Personification of the Milky Way as the Sky-Goddess Nut: An Astronomical and Cross-Cultural Analysis | date=2024 | last1=Graur | first1=Or | journal=Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage | volume=27 | pages=28–45 | arxiv=2404.01458 }}</ref>

== 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 [[tomb]]s 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 goddess|Earth mother]] (or [[Mother Nature]]), she personified the sky and he the Earth.<ref>Women of Ancient Egypt and the Sky Goddess Nut, by Susan Tower Hollis ''[[The Journal of American Folklore]]'' 1987 [[American Folklore Society]].</ref>

Nut appears in the creation myth of [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]] which involves several goddesses who play important roles: [[Tefnut]] (Tefenet) is a personification of moisture, who mated with [[Shu (Egyptian deity)|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==
[[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>

== 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.<ref name="Ancient Egypt 2001">The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, by [[Leonard H. Lesko]], 2001.</ref>
* ''Mistress of All'' or "She who Bore the Gods": Originally, Nut was said to be lying on top of [[Geb]] (Earth) and continually having [[Sexual intercourse|intercourse]]. During this time she birthed four children: [[Osiris]], [[Isis]], [[Set (deity)|Set]], and [[Nephthys]].<ref>Clark, R. T. Rundle. ''Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt''. London: [[Thames and Hudson]], 1959.</ref> A fifth child named Arueris is mentioned by [[Plutarch]].<ref>The Moralia – Isis & Osiris, 355 F, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Isis_and_Osiris*/A.html Uchicago.edu]</ref> He was the Egyptian counterpart to the Greek god [[Apollo]], who was made syncretic with Horus in the Hellenistic era as 'Horus the Elder'.<ref>[[Encyclopædia Britannica]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=U21BAAAAcAAJ&q=Arueris%2C+the+Apollo+of+the+Egyptian+mythology&pg=PA384 Google Books]</ref> The [[Ptolemaic dynasty|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.<ref>Emma Swan Hall, Harpocrates and Other Child Deities in Ancient Egyptian Sculpture, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt Vol. 14, (1977), pp. 55–58, retrieved from [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40000367 JSTOR.org]</ref>
* ''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.<ref name="Ancient Egypt 2001"/>

==Role==
[[File:Nut1.JPG|thumb|left|The sky goddess Nut depicted as a [[cow]]]]
[[File:Goddess Nut.png|thumb|right|Nut depicted as a naked woman with stars on her body forming an arc]]
Nut was the goddess of the sky and all [[Astronomical object|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.<ref>Hart, George ''Routledge dictionary of Egyptian gods and goddesses'' Routledge; 2 edition (15 March 2005) {{ISBN|978-0-415-34495-1}} p.111 [https://books.google.com/books?id=bMtbUplsCNwC&dq=egyptian+goddess+nut+chaos&pg=PA110 Books.google.co.uk]</ref>

Nut is also the barrier separating the forces of [[Chaos (cosmogony)|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."<ref name="Ani page 57">"Papyrus of Ani: Egyptian Book of the Dead", Sir Wallis Budge, NuVision Publications, page 57, 2007, {{ISBN|1-59547-914-7}}</ref>

[[File:Shu separating Geb and Nut.svg|thumb|Nut, goddess of sky supported by Shu the god of air, while the earth god [[Geb]] reclines beneath.]]
She was often painted on the inside lid of the [[sarcophagus]], protecting the deceased. The [[Burial vault (tomb)|vaults]] of [[tomb]]s 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.<nowiki>''</nowiki>

=== 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.<ref>Alexandra von Lieven: ''Grundriss des Laufes der Sterne. Das sogenannte Nutbuch''. The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Eastern Studies, Kopenhagen 2007.</ref>

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite book |last1=Collier |first1=Mark |last2=Manley |first2=Bill |title=[[How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs]] |edition=Revised |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |location=Berkeley |year=1998}}
* {{cite book |last=Leeming |first=David |title=Egyptian goddesses: The Oxford Companion to World mythology |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2004}}
* {{cite book |last=Budge |first=Wallis |title=Papyrus of Ani: Egyptian Book of the Dead |publisher=NuVision Publications |year=2007}}
* {{cite book |last=Lesko |first=Leonard H. |author-link=Leonard H. Lesko |title=The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt |year=2001}}
* {{cite book |last=Hollis |first=Susan Tower |title= Women of Ancient Egypt and the Sky Goddess Nut |year=1987}}
* {{cite book |last=Willems |first=Harco |title=Chests of Life: A Study of the Typology and Conceptual Development of Middle Kingdom, Standard Class Coffins |year=1988 |publisher=Ex Oriente Lux |isbn=978-90-72690-01-2}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last=Lesko |first=Barbara S. |title=The Great Goddesses of Egypt |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |date=1999 |isbn=0-8061-3202-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/greatgoddessesof00lesk}}
* {{cite book |last=Billing |first=Nils |title=Nut, the Goddess of Life: In Text and Iconography |year=2002 |publisher=Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, [[Uppsala University]] |isbn=	91-506-1653-6}}
* {{cite journal |last=Billing |first=Nils |title=Writing an Image—The Formulation of the Tree Goddess Motif in the Book of the Dead, Ch. 59 |journal=Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur |volume=32 |date=2004 |pages=35–50 |jstor=25152905}}
* {{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Alison |title=My Heart My Mother: Death and Rebirth in Ancient Egypt |publisher=NorthGate Publishers |year=2000 |isbn=0-9524233-1-6 }}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nut (Goddess)}}
[[Category:Egyptian goddesses]]
[[Category:Sky and weather goddesses]]
[[Category:Life-death-rebirth goddesses]]
[[Category:Mother goddesses]]
[[Category:Night goddesses]]
[[Category:Stellar goddesses]]
[[Category:Queens of Heaven (antiquity)]]
[[Category:Personifications]]
[[Category:Cattle deities]]