Nut

**Nut**


 * Other Names:**

Newet, Neuth, Nuit


 * Meaning of Name:**

“Night”


 * Hieroglyphics:**


 * Titles:**

“Coverer of the Sky”

“She Who Protects”

"Eye of Ra"

“Grand Horizon”

"Lady of the Date Palm"

“Mistress of All”

“She Who Holds a Thousand Souls”


 * Family:**

Nut was thought to be the daughter of Shu and Tefnut, the sister-wife of Geb, and the mother of Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Occasionally she was thought to have given birth to Horus. Sometimes Nut was considered to be the daughter-wife of Ra.

One of the Ennead, Nut was the goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, a symbol of resurrection and rebirth. According to the ancient Egyptians, the heavenly bodies would enter her mouth, traverse her skies and be reborn with dawn out of her womb. Thunder was said to be her laughter, and rain was her tears.

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 said 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.”

Nut was thought to be the barrier separating the forces of chaos from the ordered cosmos in the world. She was pictured as a woman with braided hair, arched on her toes and fingertips over the earth - her body, a star-filled sky (often thought to be the Milky Way). Nut’s fingers and toes were believed to touch the four cardinal points or directions. Her head lay to the West, her lap and legs to the East. Nut was nearly always portrayed as naked, which was very unusual for an Egyptian deity. She may have been pictured this way because she was thought of as a woman about to give birth.

Nut was painted on the inside lid of the sarcophagus, protecting the deceased; the vault of the tomb was often painted dark blue with stars as a representation of Nut. Her image was also found on offering tables. Her headdress was the hieroglyphic of part of her name, a water pot (which may represent a womb.) The sky of Nut was often thought of as a watery region in which the stars and planets might swim like fish or sail in barques.

Sometimes Nut appeared in the form of a cow whose great body formed the sky and heavens, or as a sycamore tree, a woman with wings, a honeybee, or as a giant sow suckling many piglets, which represent the stars. People annually prayed for Nut to protect their deceased relatives. 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 tombs to protect the deceased, and to invoke the aid of the god of the dead. Her sacred stone was lapis lazuli, which was likened to a dark, star-filled sky.

The place names of the sun’s voyage inside Nut suggest aspects of the goddess’s anatomy: “winding waterway,” “nurse canal,” “field of reeds,” “secret cavern,” and “doors thrown open.” Such double entendres are commonly found in New Kingdom love songs and the Pyramid Texts. Nut was thought to give birth to the sun each morning (the red dawn sky being the blood of this birth.) The ancient Egyptians said that every woman was a //nutrit// (“little Nut” – i.e., a little goddess.)

As the “Mistress of the Sycamore,” Nut was associated with the wood of the coffin. The Egyptians favored sycamore wood for their own coffins, and often had a tree planted in front of their tombs as well. The sacred sycamore was often drawn with images of breasts being offered to the deceased. Sometimes Nut was pictured with her torso rising out of a sycamore tree, offering a tray of wine and bread, or with a tree growing out of the top of her head.


 * Feast and Holy Days:**

August 6th (Festival of Nut) August 27 (Holy Day of Nut)

January 4th (Day of Nut Proceeding Southward)

February 1st (Feast of Nut)

February 2nd (Birthday of Nut)

February 26th (Holy Day of Nut)


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

Hymns of Nut


 * Egyptian Names Honoring This Deity:**

Penrennut, Nutemhab, Nefernut ("Beautiful of Nut"), Senusert (“Man of the Great Goddess Nut”)


 * Outside of Egypt:**

The image of Nut adorns the stone sarcophagi of the Persian Period (5th century B.C.E.), and was adopted by the Greeks and Romans as well.

Egyptian Deities - N