Nut

The Egyptian name is transliterated nwt and usually appears in English as Nut. Ancient writing did not record vowels in the way modern languages do; the familiar form is therefore a reading convention, not a pronunciati…

Pyramid Texts, Old Kingdom inscriptions; passages with a varied transmission. Spells addressed to the dead king in which Nut acts as mother, shelter, and path to rebirth.

The cow who raised Re. In the Book of the Heavenly Cow, Re grows weary of living among human beings and decides to withdraw. Nun calls Nut to carry the god; she assumes the form of a cow, and Re climbs onto her back.

The evidence assembled here shows Nut above all in funerary texts and objects and in cosmological images. In the royal spells of the pyramids, her protection is invoked so that the dead person may live, be purified, and…

Nut's best-known form is an arched woman resting on her hands and feet over the earth. Her body marks the reach of the sky; Shu appears below with raised arms, while Geb corresponds to the earth beneath the scene.

Layers of sources. The Pyramid Texts are early funerary spells, the Book of Nut is known through later scenes and captions, and Plutarch records a Greek version from the Roman period.

Nut's continued presence can be traced through objects and texts of different dates, not only through modern reproductions of the starry goddess.

Nestawedjat's coffin has Nut with open wings on its lid, but also includes Isis, Nephthys, Geb, Horus, and other protectors: funerary protection was shared among deities.

Mantle of Stars. The starry firmament itself, arched over the world, swallowing the sun at dusk and birthing it at dawn.