Egyptian

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Egyptian

Shu

The God of Air and Light

Domain: Air, Wind & Light
Alignment: Lawful Good
Element: Air
Relics of Power: Plume of Upholding

Speak with Shu

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

Shu is the Egyptian god of air and of the space between sky and earth, son of Atum and twin brother of Tefnut. The Pyramid Texts, carved in royal chambers of the Old Kingdom, show him in three roles: first child generated by the creator, helper of the king rising to the sky, and a figure tied to the dead man's food. Later images draw him with raised arms beneath the arched body of Nut. This study starts from the utterances translated by Faulkner and Mercer and separates what the text says from what modern tradition summarizes.

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

Sacred symbols

The ostrich feather, the air, the light and the raised arms

Family

Parents

Atum

Siblings

Tefnut

Shu

Unions

Tefnut

Children

Geb Nut

Genealogy according to Textos das Pirâmides, fórmulas 527, 600, 601, 660 e 684

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Pyramid Texts; translation by Raymond O. Faulkner (1969), The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, formulas 219 to 715 cited. read
Pyramid Texts; translation by Samuel A. B. Mercer, Formulas 526 and 527. read
Pyramid Texts; translation by Samuel A. B. Mercer, Formula 600. read
Pyramid Texts; translation by Samuel A. B. Mercer, Formula 601. read
E. A. W. Budge (trans.), The Book of the Dead, introduction (Project Gutenberg). read
Greenfield Papyrus, Vignette of Geb, Nut and Shu. read

Studies

University College London, Gods and goddesses in ancient Egypt: creation. open
University College London, Ancestor cult. open
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Shu Amulet. open
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sarcophagus of Wereshnefer. open

Name and epithets

Egyptologists connect the name Shu with the idea of dryness and emptiness; University College London relates it to the Egyptian word for 'to be dry'.

In the ancient sources

Pyramid Texts, Old Kingdom (royal pyramids of the 5th and 6th Dynasties). Atum, coming into being in On, generates the twins Shu and Tefnut, and they set the king between them. Pyramid Texts, Old Kingdom.

The myths

The generation of Shu and Tefnut. Utterance 527 opens with Atum, 'he who came into being', in On. He takes his own member in hand to produce orgasm, and from it the twins Shu and Tefnut are born.

Worship and archaeology

The Pyramid Texts place Shu in the theological circle of Heliopolis (On). Utterance 600 lists the Great Ennead of On: Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys, and 601 repeats a litany of divine name…

How the god was depicted

In the Greenfield Papyrus, Shu appears between Geb and Nut with raised arms, helped by two ram-headed figures, according to the British Museum description.

What scholars debate

Ritual text and cosmological image. The Old Kingdom utterances call on Shu to act for the king and already mention his arms under the sky.

After antiquity

The Pyramid Texts, Utterances 526, 323, 253 and 565, present Shu as support for the king’s ascent; Utterances 339 and 325 link his action with food, water and wind.

Did you know?

In Utterance 255 the king threatens to push aside 'the arms of Shu which support the sky', the image of a god holding up the sky with his arms.

Codex relic

Plume of Upholding. The plume he raises to separate sky from earth and uphold the celestial vault forever.

The rest of this scroll is sealed

The legends, the myth, the cult and relics are part of the full Codex. You can open 1 full entry for free every day; to open all 500 deities with no limits and no ads, subscribe to Codex PRO.

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