We show you the most exciting legends of Nut, the oldest goddess of Egypt. Surprise yourself with her most exciting stories.
Nut, Egyptian Goddess
Nut goddess of the sky is revered by people of all cultures throughout the millennia have spent their nights gazing at the stars and wondering about their nature and purpose. Almost every culture has some sort of astrological tradition that plays an important role in their daily lives. For the ancient Egyptians, the heavens above were the body of a great goddess named Nut, and her story is fascinating.
Nut was originally known as the goddess of the daytime sky, but over time she became associated with the sky as a whole. She was one of the oldest and most influential goddesses in Egyptian religion at the time. She is seen as a great mother, having given birth to some of the most significant gods of ancient Egyptian times. As well as Zeus in Greek mythology.
In a sense, Nut reverses a common tradition in many cultures where the sky is associated with a male god and the earth with a female one. In Egyptian mythology, the earth god is male, with Nut as his counterpart. She was widely seen as a protective god and, as she had given birth so many times, also as a mother figure. She was a protector of the dead, and her special symbol was a ladder that was often painted inside the lid of coffins, in order to protect the dead on their way to the afterlife.
Appearance
For the most part, Nut is depicted simply as a human female with no special or supernatural features. Sometimes her human form is adorned with wings, but this is more likely symbolic than literal. She is commonly shown as a naked woman with a body covered with stars, crouching over the earth. This symbolizes her as the night sky. Like many Egyptian gods, she is also shown in non-human forms with symbolic significance. She may be shown as a large cow or as a sycamore tree. Sometimes, she is depicted as a large sow, and the piglets on her teats represent the many stars.
Family
His parentage is of the highest level. His father Shu is the god of air. Her mother Tefnut is the goddess of moisture or water. The nut is therefore the product of air and water, which resulted in her being the goddess of the sky. Some accounts say that she is the granddaughter of Atum and Ra, but another popular myth states that she is the mother of Ra. She has a brother named Geb. In addition to being the god of the earth, Geb is also the husband of Nut.
Nut and Geb together produced Set, Osiris, Nepthys and Isis. Isis, in turn, gave birth to Horus. These divine children were the object of intense devotion in Egypt and are some of the most important of all the Egyptian gods. There is some indication that she had a fifth son named Arueris, also known as Horus the Elder. Nut and Geb copulated and produced children until their father Shu came between them to stop this process under the orders of Ra. That is why the air (Shu) is between the sky (Nut) and the earth (Geb).
Origin and history of Nut goddess of the sky
The story of Nut is part of the myth of the creation of Heliopolis. This is the name of a city that today is recognized as one of the oldest cities in Egypt. Heliopolis served as a religious center for many Egyptian cults over the years. It was here that the main myths about Nut and her family were written. One of the main symbols of Nut is a stairway to heaven known as a “maqet”. The story behind this staircase is fascinating, and is central to Egyptian mythology as a whole.
His daughter Isis took the god Osiris as her husband. Osiris is also the brother of Isis, along with the god Set. He murdered Osiris and cut his body into 14 pieces. Isis put Osiris back together and then climbed a ladder to her mother for safety. Nut seemed a very accommodating goddess, as it is not only Osiris who resides within her. Ra the sun god also travels through her every day in his chariot. Some myths say that she gives birth to Ra every morning in a continuous cycle of resurrection.
365 days year
It is also thanks to a disagreement between Nut and Ra that the year is 365 days long. Ra was getting a little nervous about all the powerful gods that Nut was giving birth to, and as ruler of the gods, he banned her. Specifically, he told Nut that she was not allowed to bear children on any day of the year. This did not sit well with Nut, who turned to the god of wisdom. This god, named Thoth, came up with a great idea.
If Nut could not give birth on any of the 360 days of the year, they simply needed more days that were not part of that year. To do this, Thoth bet on moonlight with the moon god and won enough times to create five additional days for the year.
On these days, Nut could give birth to more children. It was because of this deception that Ra ordered Shu to separate Nut and Geb. The Egyptians considered these five days to be separate from the rest of the year, and traditionally celebrated them. Some five days were considered unlucky, while the days of Horus and Isis were considered fortunate.
In modern times
Although the religion of the ancient Egyptians is no longer practiced in any real way, we remain fascinated by the history and culture of ancient Egypt as one of the first truly great and complex civilizations. Modern spiritualists have also breathed new life into the myth of Nut and her celestial companions, incorporating it into new age practices. Thanks to the extensive writing and record keeping of ancient Egypt, it is unlikely that we will ever forget these characters
