Nut

Nut is a name from ancient Egyptian religion, identified as the goddess of the sky. Her most well-known depictions show a woman with an elongated body stretched across the heavens, her hands and feet touching the ground, arching protectively over the world below.

The name 'Nut' was written in a hieroglyphic sign often accompanied by a symbol resembling a water pot. Egyptologists classify Nut among a group of deities described in creation myths from Iunu (Heliopolis).

Role in creation mythology

In the Heliopolis creation account, Nut is described as the daughter of Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture). She is the twin of Geb, who represents the earth. According to the myths, Shu separated Nut and Geb, thereby creating distance between sky and earth. Their children included Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys.

Stars and the sun's journey

Ancient texts describe Nut as swallowing the sun each evening and carrying it through her body at night before giving birth to it each morning. This mythological pattern was used to explain the daily cycle of the sun and also represented hope for the rebirth of the dead.

Use in funerary art

Depictions of Nut were commonly placed inside coffins and on the ceilings of tombs. The underlying concept was that the deceased lay within the body of the goddess, as though resting in a mother's womb. The Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts are among the earliest sources containing such references.