Nut is the Egyptian sky goddess, the mother of the stars, and the barrier between the ordered world and the primordial chaos beyond it. She was most often depicted as a naked woman arched over the earth god Geb, her body studded with stars, swallowing the sun each evening and giving birth to it each morning.
Who Was Nut in the Egyptian Pantheon?
Nut (also spelled Nuit, Newet, or Neuth) belonged to the Ennead of Heliopolis, the nine primary deities worshipped at that city. Her genealogy is consistent across most major sources, including the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts. She was the daughter of Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. Her brother and husband was Geb, the earth god. Together they produced four children: Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. In some versions, the elder Horus (Horus the Elder) is also listed as their child.
Her role as the sky was not merely symbolic. Egyptians believed her body physically formed the vault of heaven. Her fingers and toes touched the four cardinal points, and her body arched over Geb, creating the space in which humans lived. The stars were written on her body, and she was often called the “mother of the stars” or “she who gives birth to the gods.”
Why Did Nut Swallow the Sun?
The most famous myth involving Nut explains the daily solar cycle. According to the Pyramid Texts and later New Kingdom sources, Nut swallowed the sun god Ra at dusk. She passed him through her body during the night, and he was reborn from her womb at dawn. This was not seen as destruction but as a necessary cycle of death and rebirth. The sun’s journey through her body at night was also the journey through the Duat, the underworld, where Ra had to defeat the serpent Apep to be born again.
This myth made Nut a central figure in funerary religion. The deceased hoped to be reborn like Ra, so they prayed to be placed in Nut’s body. The Coffin Texts contain spells addressed to Nut asking her to embrace the dead as her own children. The inside of many coffin lids was painted with Nut’s image, so the deceased literally lay beneath her protective body.
The Myth of the 360-Day Calendar
One of the most detailed myths about Nut explains why the Egyptian calendar had 360 days instead of 365. The story appears in the Ptolemaic-era texts, particularly the Brenner-Rhind papyrus, though it draws on older traditions. Nut had fallen in love with Geb, but Ra, her father or grandfather depending on the version, was angry. He cursed her so that she could not give birth on any day of the year.
Thoth, the god of wisdom, took pity on Nut. He gambled with the moon god Khonsu and won five extra days, which were not part of the original 360-day year. These five days, called the Epagomenal days, were added at the end of the year. On these days, Nut gave birth to her five children: Osiris on the first day, Horus the Elder on the second, Set on the third, Isis on the fourth, and Nephthys on the fifth. This myth neatly explained the odd number of days in the solar year and gave each of Nut’s children a specific birth date.
How Was Nut Depicted in Art?
Nut’s artistic depictions are among the most recognizable in Egyptian art. The standard image shows her as a woman with an elongated, arched body, her hands touching one horizon and her feet the other. She is often painted deep blue, symbolizing the night sky, and covered with five-pointed stars. In some depictions, she wears a headdress shaped like a water pot, which was the hieroglyph for her name.
There are three main artistic contexts where Nut appears:
- Coffin lids: From the Middle Kingdom onward, the inside of wooden coffins was painted with Nut’s image, her body stretched across the lid. The deceased lay directly under her, symbolically inside her womb.
- Ceiling of temples and tombs: The ceiling of the tomb of Ramesses VI and many New Kingdom royal tombs show Nut arched over the sky, with the sun and stars moving along her body.
- The Book of Nut: This is not a book in the modern sense but a collection of texts and diagrams found in tombs, particularly the Osireion at Abydos. It describes the movements of the sun, moon, and stars and uses Nut’s body as a map of the sky.
In some late-period depictions, Nut is shown as a sow with stars on her belly, or as a cow. The cow form connects her to Hathor, another sky goddess, and to the myth of the celestial cow that carried the sun god across the sky.
Nut vs. Hathor: Two Sky Goddesses
Egypt had several sky deities, and Nut and Hathor are often confused. Hathor was also a sky goddess, but her primary domains were love, music, fertility, and motherhood. Nut’s domain was more specifically the physical sky, the stars, and the cycle of the sun. Hathor was often depicted as a cow or a woman with cow horns, while Nut was depicted as a naked arched woman. In some periods, the two were syncretized, and Nut was shown with cow horns or as a cow. However, their cults were distinct: Hathor had major temples at Dendera and was a popular goddess of the people, while Nut had no major temple of her own but was central to funerary texts and royal theology.
What Was Nut’s Role in Death and Rebirth?
Nut’s most important role for ordinary Egyptians was as a protector of the dead. Because she gave birth to the sun each morning, she was seen as the mother who could give birth to the deceased as well. The Pyramid Texts, which date to the Old Kingdom (c. 2400 BCE), contain spells that identify the dead king with Nut’s child. For example, the king is called “the son of Nut” and is promised that she will “spread herself over him” and protect him from hunger and thirst.
In the New Kingdom Book of the Dead, Nut appears in spell 180, where she is asked to give the deceased air and water. The deceased says, “O Nut, spread yourself over me, that I may be placed among the imperishable stars.” The “imperishable stars” were the circumpolar stars that never set, and they were seen as the souls of the blessed dead. Nut was thus the gateway to eternal life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Nut the same as the sky goddess of other cultures?
No. Nut is specifically Egyptian. However, she shares similarities with other sky goddesses like the Greek Gaia (earth) or the Mesopotamian Tiamat (salt water), but those deities are not equivalent. Nut is unique in that she is the sky itself, not just a goddess who lives in the sky. Her closest parallel might be the Greek goddess Nyx (night), but Nyx was not depicted as an arched body over the earth.
Did Nut have any temples?
Nut did not have a major cult temple like Karnak or Dendera. Her worship was primarily integrated into funerary contexts and the solar cult. However, she was honored in the temple of Hathor at Dendera, where the ceiling of the outer hypostyle hall shows her arched over the sky. The Osireion at Abydos also contains a detailed ceiling depiction of her.
Why is Nut shown with stars on her body?
The stars were literally the sky. Egyptians believed the stars were attached to Nut’s body or were her children. The five-pointed stars painted on her are a direct representation of the night sky. The “imperishable stars” (the northern circumpolar stars) were especially associated with her, and the deceased hoped to join them.
What is the difference between Nut and Ra?
Ra is the sun god. Nut is the sky. Ra travels through Nut’s body each night. In some myths, Nut is Ra’s daughter or granddaughter; in others, she is his mother. The relationship varies by text and period. What remains constant is that Nut is the medium through which the sun travels, and she gives birth to it each morning.
Did Nut have any symbols or animals?
Her primary symbol was the water pot (the hieroglyph “nw”), which was also the sign for her name. She was associated with the sycamore tree, which was sacred to her and Hathor. She was also linked to the cow, the sow, and the vulture. The sycamore was often planted at tombs, and Nut was said to offer food and water to the dead from its branches.
Is Nut still worshipped today?
Nut is not worshipped in any organized religion today. Ancient Egyptian religion died out by the 6th century CE. However, she appears in modern Kemeticism, a revival of ancient Egyptian religious practices. In that context, she is honored as a goddess of the sky and the cycle of time, but this is a modern reconstruction, not a continuous tradition.
Common Misconceptions About Nut
A frequent error is confusing Nut with the earth goddess Geb. In Egyptian myth, Geb is the earth and is male; Nut is the sky and is female. This is the opposite of many other mythologies, such as Greek (where Gaia is earth and Uranus is sky). Another misconception is that Nut was a moon goddess. She was not. The moon was associated with Thoth and Khonsu. Nut was the sky, and the moon traveled across her body, but she was not the moon itself. Finally, some modern sources claim Nut was a “mother goddess” in the sense of a fertility goddess. While she was a mother, her role was cosmic and funerary, not agricultural or sexual. Her motherhood was about the rebirth of the sun and the dead, not about harvests.
Related
- Hindu Gods of Music: Saraswati, Krishna and Shiva
- Greek Gods of Agriculture: Demeter, Dionysus and More
- Greek Gods of Beauty: Aphrodite and Other Deities
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