Mut

**Mut**


 * Other Names**

Maut, Mout, Mewet, Mwt


 * Meaning of Name:**

"Mother"


 * Hieroglyphics:**

or


 * Titles:**

“World Mother”

"Queen of the Gods"

“Eye of Ra”

“Lady of Heaven”

“Mistress of Crowns”

“Mother of the Gods”

“She Who Gives Birth, But Was Herself Not Born of Any”


 * Family:**

Mut was thought to be the wife of Amun and the mother of Khonsu and Montu. She was sometimes considered to be the mother of Shu, Tefnut, Ra, Bast, and Sekhmet.

The ancient Egyptian link between vultures and motherhood led to Mut’s name becoming the ancient Egyptian word for mother – //mwt//. Strongly associated with royal women, statues of queens were shown being embraced from behind by Mut in the form of a great vulture, similar to how in statuary pharaohs were embraced by the divine falcon, Horus. Each new king absorbed the power to rule from his mother, Mut. Hymns praise her for creating the inundation from the sweat of her body, and caring for all people.

Mut was sometimes thought to have given birth to the sun. She was believed to lend her strength to pregnant women and to ensure the safe delivery of their children. As a goddess who cared for the young, schools were attached to Mut’s temples. Amulets of Mut, made of gold and faience, were popular. During the Festival of Mut, a statue of the goddess was placed on a golden barque and sailed around the small crescent-shaped sacred lake at her temple at Ipet-Isut (Karnak). There was also a celebration during the New Year festival when a statue of Amun traveled from his temple at Luxor down to Karnak to visit Mut's shrine.

Mut was pictured as a woman with the wings of a vulture, wearing a dress of bright red or blue, often with a pattern suggestive of feathers, wearing the Vulture Headdress and holding a shen ring. As the Mistress of the Crowns, Mut was also portrayed wearing the Double Crown of Egypt, the only goddess to do so. In some instances she was shown as a cobra, a lioness-headed woman, a four-winged goddess, a cow, a vulture, a cat, or as a lioness. One unusual deception shows Mut as a woman with a phallus, wings, and three heads – that of a lioness, a vulture, and a woman.


 * Feast and Holy Days:**

June 12 (Festival of Mut: Feeding of the Gods)


 * Quotes from the Book of the Dead and other sources:**

The Pyramid Text says of Mut that she is “The Mother of Mothers, who gives birth to every god, the wonderful Snake who wound herself around her father Ra and placed him on earth as Khonsu.”


 * Egyptian Names Honoring This Deity:**

Mutemonet, Mutirdis, Muthetepti, Mutiry, Besenmut, Mut-Tuy, Pasherenmut, Nekhemut, Mutemheb, Mut-muti, Tabekenmut, Mutaat, Pedemut, Kasmut ("Spirit of Mut"), Senenmut (“Brother of Mut”), Mutnodjmet (“Mut is Sweet”), Mutemwia ("Mut in Her Divine Barque"), Mutnofret ("Beautiful of Mut"), Akhmut ("May Mut Live"), Baketmut ("Maiden of Mut"), Sa-Mut (“Son of Mut”) Merytnmut ("Beloved of Mut")


 * Outside of Egypt:**

The Greeks associated Mut with their own mother goddess, Hera.

Egyptian Deities - M