Nut
Nut
Nut is the Egyptian goddess of the sky in ancient Egyptian mythology. Her arched body, scattered with stars, forms the celestial vault that protects the earth. She swallows the sun each evening and gives birth to it again each morning.
Key Facts
- Nut is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts (c. 2400–2300 BCE), among the oldest known written religious texts
- According to Egyptian textual tradition, she is the daughter of Shu (god of air) and Tefnut (goddess of moisture), and wife of Geb (god of the earth)
- She is the mother of Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys — the major deities of the Heliopolitan Ennead
- Her arched body, depicted as a woman whose hands and feet touch the four corners of the earth, symbolizes the starry celestial vault
- She plays a central role in funerary beliefs: sarcophagus lids bear her image to protect the deceased and ensure their rebirth
Works & Achievements
The ceiling of Seti I's burial chamber features the most complete and masterly depiction of Nut arched over the world. This masterpiece of Egyptian funerary art is preserved in the Valley of the Kings.
This circular bas-relief depicts Nut surrounded by constellations, planets, and the zodiac. The original is housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris, while a copy still adorns the Temple of Dendera in Egypt.
This Coptic papyrus held in Copenhagen is the most comprehensive compilation of astronomical and cosmological traditions associated with Nut. It describes in detail the cycle of stars within the body of the goddess.
The first major textual attestation of the myth of Nut, carved on the walls of the burial chamber of Pharaoh Unas at Saqqara. These magical spells invoke Nut to ensure the king's resurrection.
This sarcophagus at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo illustrates the narrative sequences of the myth of Nut with rare precision, combining texts and images to guide the soul of the deceased toward resurrection.
Anecdotes
Nut is often depicted as a woman whose arched body stretches across the earth, her fingers and toes touching the four corners of the world. This striking image adorns the ceilings of many royal tombs, particularly in the Valley of the Kings, where she welcomes the deceased into her celestial embrace.
According to myth, Nut and Geb (the earth) were inseparable, locked in a perpetual embrace. Ra, the sun god, ordered Shu (the air) to separate them, creating the space between sky and earth. Geb and Nut were left forever longing for each other, never able to touch.
Each evening, Nut swallows the sun at the western horizon and carries it through her body during the night, giving birth to it again at dawn. This metaphor of the solar cycle explained the daily return of daylight to the Egyptians and nourished their hope of resurrection after death.
Thoth, god of wisdom, played dice with the Moon and won five extra days for Nut, defying Ra's prohibition. During these five epagomenal days, Nut was able to give birth to Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephthys, and Horus the Elder — the great deities of the Egyptian pantheon.
In the Pyramid Texts, Nut is called 'the Great Sow who devours her piglets' — her star-children, whom she swallows at sunrise and releases again at nightfall. This image, surprising to modern readers, reflects the ancient Egyptians' cyclical, non-linear conception of time.
Primary Sources
O Nut, you have spread yourself over your father Geb, you have placed your splendor above him. You have covered him with your limbs in your form as Mystery of the Sky.
Nut the Great, mother of the gods, receive the deceased in her arms and guide him toward the Fields of Ialu.
I am Nut, I was born from nothingness. My body is the path of millions of stars. I am she who gives birth to the gods.
O Mother of the Sky, receive the king within you. He lives, he lives, he is renewed like the stars within you.
Nut completes her course in 365 days. She swallows the stars at dawn and gives birth to them at nightfall. Her body is the sky and her life is measured by the stars.
Key Places
A major theological center of ancient Egypt, Heliopolis was the birthplace of the Ennead, the group of nine deities of which Nut is a part. The priests of Heliopolis developed and transmitted the cosmogonic myths in which she plays a central role.
The pyramid of Unas at Saqqara contains the oldest known Pyramid Texts, in which Nut is invoked as celestial mother and protector of the deceased pharaoh. It is one of the earliest written attestations of the myth.
The royal tombs of the New Kingdom, particularly those of Seti I and Ramesses VI, feature the most stunning depictions of Nut arched across the ceiling, welcoming the pharaohs into her starry embrace.
The astronomical ceiling of the Temple of Dendera, dating from the Ptolemaic period, depicts Nut surrounded by constellations and planets, reflecting the blend of mythology and practical astronomy practiced by Egyptian priests.
The temple at Abydos, dedicated to the Osirian deities, portrays Nut in her role as mother of the gods — most notably Osiris and Isis, the central figures of Abydos's funerary cult.
Gallery
Spijkenisse kunstwerk baken
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 — Wikifrits
20140626 Visarendhorst door Nout Visser Meerkoetenweg Lelystad
Wikimedia Commons, CC0 — Gouwenaar
Voorschoten kunstwerk van hier naar daar
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikifrits
Hellevoetsluis kunstwerk natuurstenen poort
Wikimedia Commons, CC0 — Wikifrits
Salon illustré
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Société des artistes français Société nationale des beaux-arts (France) Société des artistes français. Salon Sociét
Obelisk Nout Visser Bizonspoor Maarssenbroek Maarssen
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 — Brbbl
Soest kunstwerk beelden hofstedering
Wikimedia Commons, CC0 — Wikifrits
Soest kunstwerk spantenbeeld
Wikimedia Commons, CC0 — Wikifrits
Windroos Rijswijk
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Djsgmnd
A matrix element of a solid state ultrasonic image converter using a light emitting diode in a non-scanning display.
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Trump, Peter Arnold.