Mut

The Divine Mother

Domain: Motherhood, Kingship & Sky
Alignment: Lawful Good
Element: Light
Relics of Power: Double Crown of Egypt

Speak with Mut

The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Ancient Egyptians

Region

Nile Valley, Egypt

Period

c. 3100 BC – 400 AD

The Egyptian gods were worshipped for over three millennia along the banks of the Nile, with monumental temples at Karnak, Luxor, and Heliopolis. The pharaohs were held to be divine, and life revolved around cosmic order (Maat) and preparation for the afterlife. The cult endured until the rise of Christianity in Roman Egypt.

At the Opet festival, Amun's sacred barque sailed from Karnak to Luxor amid celebrating crowds. In the temples, priests woke, dressed, and fed the god's statue every day, and the Beautiful Festival of the Valley carried the deities to visit the shore of the dead.

At a glance

Mut (Egyptian Mwt, "mother") is the goddess of the Theban triad, companion of Amun-Ra and mother of Khonsu. Budge, in 1904, describes her as the great "world-mother", whose temple stood in the sacred district of Asher, south of Karnak. The texts gathered by Breasted show Mut beside Amun and Khonsu in offering scenes, in donation decrees and in tomb curses, from the New Kingdom to the Third Intermediate Period. A name "Mut" already appears in the Pyramid Texts (Unas, line 181), but Budge admits the reading is debated. The sources used here are editions from the early twentieth century; what is said about the date of each text follows the dating of those editions.

9 min read · Reviewed on October 14, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

The vulture, the double crown, the lion and the sky

Family

Mut

Unions

Amun

Children

Khonsu

Genealogy according to Budge, Gods of the Egyptians II, pp. 28 e 33 (Mut como contraparte de Amon-Rá; Khonsu, filho de Amon-Rá e Mut); Breasted, Ancient Records III e IV (tríade Amon, Mut e Khonsu). Pais e irmãos não foram verificados.

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Breasted, James Henry (ed. and trans.), Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. I. read
Breasted, James Henry (ed. and trans.), Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. III. read
Breasted, James Henry (ed. and trans.), Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. IV. read
Budge, E. A. Wallis (trans.), The Gods of the Egyptians, vol. I (Pyramid Texts and Book of the Dead, quoted passages). read
Budge, E. A. Wallis (trans.), The Gods of the Egyptians, vol. II. read

Studies

Budge, E. A. Wallis, The Gods of the Egyptians, or Studies in Egyptian Mythology, vol. II (1904). open
Global Egyptian Museum, Record M11809 (statues of Sekhmet, temple of Mut, Karnak). open

Name and epithets

Mut, the Divine Mother of Thebes Mut wrt nbt Išrw: Mut, the great, lady of Asher (Ishru); Budge translates "great lady of Ashert". nbt pt, hnwt ntrw: lady of heaven, queen of the gods.

In the ancient sources

Pyramid Texts, Old Kingdom; reading of the name debated. According to Budge, the passage says Unas "has had union with the goddess Mut" and "drawn unto himself the flame of Isis".

The myths

Mut in the Pyramid Texts. Budge looks for the goddess's origin in the Pyramid Texts. In Unas, line 181, the text asks the god Ra to be good to the king "this day as yesterday" and goes on: the king has had union with th…

Worship and archaeology

The centre of the cult, according to Budge, was the Theban quarter of Asher, where the temple of Mut stood south of Karnak, with a bow-shaped sacred lake and processions of boats.

How the god was depicted

Budge describes the most common form: a woman with the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, holding the papyrus sceptre and the symbol of life.

What scholars debate

Mut as an ancient goddess or a New Kingdom formation. Budge argues that Mut is the oldest form of a Nile goddess, counterpart of Nu, and that the name is already present in Unas 181.

After antiquity

The Western image of Mut comes from Budge's treatment (1904), which presented her as a "world-mother" linked to Nut, Sekhmet and Bast.

Did you know?

According to Breasted, Queen Nefertari, wife of Ramesses II, is called "beloved of Mut" in the inscriptions of the smaller temple at Abu Simbel, and Hrihor uses a similar epithet in the 21st Dynasty.

Codex relic

Double Crown of Egypt. The crown of Upper and Lower Egypt she wears as queen of the gods and lady of the two realms.

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