Nut is the name of an Egyptian mother goddess and, unusually, a goddess of the sky. She is often shown as an arch over the earth and as a protector and nourisher of the dead.
Nut is the sun, Re's mother, whom she produces daily and swallows nightly. She is also mother of the stars which are shown inside her. She is part of the Ennead. In the theology of Heliopolis [see Egyptian Gods and Goddesses: Family Tree of the Gods of Heliopolis], Nut is a daughter of Shu and Tefnut, granddaughter of Atum, and mother of Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. Another version has Nut the mother of the "epagomenal" [Source: www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/glossary.aspx?id=148] gods who were born in the ominous days between the end of one calendar year and the start of the next. These 5 are:
- Osiris,
- Horus,
- Seth,
- Isis, and
- Nephthys.
Nut's husband and brother is Geb. In a story somewhat similar to that of the Greek cosmogony, Geb and Nut, the male and female positions reversed, had to be separated from each other. Instead of Cronus wielding a sickle to castrate his father, Geb's father lifted Nut up, separating her from her brother, at least during the daytime.
References:
- "Women of Ancient Egypt and the Sky Goddess Nut"
Susan Tower Hollis
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 100, No. 398, Folklore and Feminism (Oct. - Dec., 1987), pp. 496-503. - "Isis and Demeter: Symbols of Divine Motherhood"
Vincent Arieh Tobin
Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 28 (1991), pp. 187-200. - "Nancy Spero's Museum Incursions: Isis on the Threshold"
Deborah Frizzell
Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Fall - Winter, 2006), pp. 24-32. - Crystal Links - Nut
