The Goddess Tefnut

Tefnut (Egyptian: tfn.t) is a goddess of moisture, moist air, dew and rain in Ancient Egyptian religion. She is the sister and consort of the air god Shu and the mother of Geb and Nut.

Etymology

Literally translating as "That Water", the name Tefnut has been linked to the verb 'tfn' meaning 'to spit' and versions of the creation myth say that Ra (or Atum) spat her out and her name was written as a mouth spitting in late texts.

Like most Egyptian deities, including her brother, Tefnut has no single ideograph or symbol. Her name in hieroglyphics consists of four single phonogram symbols t-f-n-t. Although the n phonogram is a representation of waves on the surface of water, it was never used as an ideogram or determinative for the word water (mw), or for anything associated with water.

Mythological origins

Tefnut is a daughter of the solar god Ra-Atum. Married to her brother, Shu, she is mother of Nut, the sky and Geb, the earth. Tefnut's grandchildren were Osiris, (Wesir) Isis, (Aset) Set, Nephthys, (Nebthet) and in some versions, Horus the Elder (Heru Wer). She was also a great grandmother of Horus the Younger (Heru-sa-Aset). Alongside her father, brother, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchild, she is a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis.

There are a number of variants to the myth of the creation of Tefnut and her twin brother Shu. In all versions, Tefnut is the product of parthenogenesis, and all involve some variety of bodily fluid.

In the Heliopolitan creation myth, the solar god Atum masturbates to produce Tefnut and Shu.

Atum was creative in that he proceeded to masturbate himself in Heliopolis. He took his penis in his hand so that he might obtain the pleasure of orgasm thereby. And brother and sister were born - that is Shu and Tefnut. Pyramid Text 527

In some versions of this myth, Atum also swallows his semen, and spits it out to form the twins, or else the spitting of his saliva forms the act of procreation. Both of these versions contain a play on words, the tef sound which forms the first syllable of the name Tefnut also constitutes a word meaning "to spit" or "to expectorate".

The Coffin Texts contain references to Shu being sneezed out by Atum from his nose, and Tefnut being spat out like saliva. The Bremner-Rind Papyrus and the Memphite Theology describe Atum masturbating into his mouth, before spitting out his semen to form the twins.

Iconography

Tefnut is a leonine deity, and appears as human with a lioness head when depicted as part of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis. The other frequent depiction is as a lioness, but Tefnut can also be depicted as fully human. In her fully or semi anthropomorphic form, she is depicted wearing a wig, topped either with a uraeus serpent, or a uraeus and solar disk, and she is sometimes depicted as a lion headed serpent. Her face is sometimes used in a double headed form with that of her brother Shu on collar counterpoises.

During the 18th and 19th Dynasties, particularly during the Amarna period, Tefnut was depicted in human form wearing a low flat headdress, topped with sprouting plants. Akhenaten's mother, Tiye was depicted wearing a similar headdress, and identifying with Hathor-Tefnut. The iconic blue crown of Nefertiti is thought by archaeologist Joyce Tyldesley to be derived from Tiye's headdress, and may indicate that she was also identifying with Tefnut.

Cult centres

Heliopolis and Leontopolis (modern Tel el-Muqdam) were the primary cult centres. At Heliopolis, Tefnut was one of the members of that city's great Ennead, and is referred to in relation to the purification of the wabet (priest) as part of the temple rite. Here she had a sanctuary called the Lower Menset.

"I have ascended to youwith the Great One behind me
and <my> purity before me:
I have passed by Tefnut,
even while Tefnut was purifying me,
and indeed I am a priest, the son of a priest in this temple." Papyrus Berlin 3055

At Karnak, Tefnut formed part of the Great Ennead and was invoked in prayers for the health and wellbeing of the Pharaoh.

She was worshiped with Shu as a pair of lions in Leontopolis in the Delta.

Mythology

Tefnut was connected with other leonine goddesses as the Eye of Ra. As a lioness she could display a wrathful aspect and is said to escape to Nubia in a rage from where she is brought back by Thoth. In the earlier Pyramid Texts she is said to produce pure waters from her vagina.

The history of Nut

Nut (Nuit, Nwt) was the personification of the sky and the heavens. She was the daughter Shu and Tefnut and the granddaughter of the creator god (Atum or Ra). Her husband/brother was Geb the earth god. However, she could also be said to be the mother of Ra. The Coffin Texts refer to her as "she of the braided hair who bore the gods". In one myth Nut gives birth to the Sun-god daily and he passes over her body during the day before being swallowed at night only to be reborn the next morning. According to another myth Ra used the Atet (or Matet) boat to travel across her body until noon and then used the Sektet boat until sunset.

She was also thought to be the mother of five children on the five extra days of the Egyptian calendar known as the "epagomenal days of the year". Apparently, Ra became annoyed because Geb and Nut were locked in a perpetual embrace so he asked Shu to sperarate them. He also decreed that Nut should not bear children on any day in the calendar, but Thoth won the five "epagomenal" days days from the moon and Nut had five children: Osiris who was born on the first day, Horus the Elder on the second, Set on the third, Isis on the fourth, and Nephthys the last born on the fifth day. These days were a time of celebration all over Egypt.



She was a cow goddess who adopted some of the attributes of Hathor. When Ra became tired of ruling, she up into the heavens on her back in the form of a cow. However, she generally takes the form of a naked woman covered with stars, holding her body up in an arch, facing downwards. Her arms and legs were the pillars of the sky, and hands and feet were thought to touch the ground at the four cardinal points on the horizon. Geb is often depicted beneath her (sometimes ithphallyically). She was just portraid as a woman wearing one of the hieroglyphs that made up her name, a round Egyptian pot.

Because of her role in the rebirth of the sun, she became a mother-like protector of the dead who was often painted on the inside lid of the sarcophagus, protecting the mummy. Her symbols, a wooden "maqet" ("ladder") charm, was placed inside the tomb to help the deceased climb to the heavens. There were many festivals to Nut through the year, including the "Festival of Nut and Ra" and the "Feast of Nut" and she appears in numerous depictions, yet no temples or specific cult centres are linked to her.