Mythology has always been probably the most interesting part of Egyptian culture, however, not only Egyptian.
Tales of the gods and their deeds are very informative, while reading all kinds of myths has always been liked not only by young children, but also by adults. There were a great many gods in ancient Egypt. Now I want to tell you who the goddess Nut is.
Pedigree
This character has a very high origin: Nut is the granddaughter of Ra himself - the god of the sun on his paternal side. She is the daughter of Tefnut, the goddess of moisture, who was portrayed as a cat, and Shu, the god of air. At the same time, Nut is the wife and at the same time the twin sister of the earth god Hebe.
Name
The name of the goddess is interesting. Translated "Nut" means "heaven." The root of the word from which the given name was formed is indicated by a hieroglyph, which means “vessel” in translation. Therefore, often this deity was depicted with a vessel on his head (in a standing position).
Destination
Nut is the goddess of heaven, she personifies the firmament, which is spread over the earth and covers the earth. In ancient Egypt, it was believed that all the stars and planets are in the sky, as in water, in free swimming. According to beliefs, the sun passed along the body of the goddess every day, in the evening she swallowed it in order to give birth again in the morning. At dawn, she swallowed the moon and stars, so that they would appear again only in the evening. That is why among the Egyptians she also became a funeral goddess, because everyone wanted to die like the sun, and then be born a star and live in heaven. Over time, they began to depict it on the ceilings of burials, as well as in funeral graves on the covers. Similar drawings were considered evidence that the goddess Nut would take every dead person to heaven.
Picture
How did the Egyptians represent this deity? As a rule, the goddess Nut was portrayed naked, which is rarely seen in Egyptian mythology. Basically, she was a woman with an elongated and curved body in the form of the firmament, resting her arms and legs on the ground. So the inhabitants imagined the heavens to which the solar god Ra rises daily. It is worth noting that, despite the fact that her palms in the drawings are as if squeezed, she must point to four different cardinal points with each of her fingers on her hand and foot. If you look at the tomb of Ramses VI, the pharaoh of Egypt, then there the goddess Nut is depicted simultaneously in two guises - night and day. These bodies are located with their backs to each other, one is covered with stars (night), and the other is decorated with twelve suns - one for every day hour.
Less commonly, Nut is portrayed in a standing or sitting position, in which case she has a large jug on her head. Then she can be both naked and in a tight dress. Sometimes the goddess was portrayed in the form of a sycamore tree (very often such drawings can be seen on funeral tombs: the Egyptians believed that the deceased could drink water in the afterlife) or a pig who devours its children - the sun, moon and stars. The image of a cow (which is also characteristic of this goddess) was considered to be very valuable symbolically in Ancient Egypt. So, after deciphering the texts on the walls of the pyramids, it became clear that the pharaohs are the sons of the sacred cow that she gives birth to. And the goddess herself is far beyond the tangibility of an ordinary person, protecting everyone from the evil forces of chaos.
Attribute
The goddess of Egypt Nuth does not have many attributes. From the main thing - this is a dress strewn with stars (or a naked body), as well as a vessel with which she is depicted in a sitting position. When the goddess was portrayed in a standing position, in her hands was ankh (the cross of life), as well as a wasas rod (a rarity for a female deity).
Epithets
The Egyptian goddess Nut, when people turned to her, was always called the “Mother of the Stars”, “The Birth of the Gods” or simply “Great” - these epithets belonged only to her. She was represented as the protector of the world from the forces of chaos, which are trying to break through her body covering the earth.
Legend
An interesting legend is that of the goddess Nut. In this case, she appears in the image of a Heavenly Cow. Once Ra - the god of the sun - wanted to climb it to Heaven. But before he had even halfway to go, Nuth felt a breakdown, her head was spinning, and she was ready to fall. Therefore, Ra called for help eight gods who should support her legs, and the god Shu - the area of the abdomen. This plot is often used to create drawings. The goddess was portrayed in the form of a cow, whose legs are supported by the gods. Ra himself swims under her belly in her wonderful boat, right under the stars.
Cosmology
It is noteworthy that the Egyptians were interested in space and everything connected with the heavenly abyss. That is why the goddess Nut is of such great importance to them. Very often near her images one could see the hieroglyph "heh", which in translation means "a million deities." In fact, these are just stars, which, according to the beliefs of the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt, were the souls of the dead.