Mut and Nu
From what has been said above it appears that Mut was originally the female counterpart of
Nu, and that she was "never born," i.e., that she was self-produced. Her association with Nu
suggests that she must be identified with some of the characteristics of a remarkable
goddess who is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts {Unas, line 181} under the same of Mut, a
variant spelling of which is Mauit,. Her name occurs in a passage in which a prayer is made on
behalf of Unas that "he may see," the following is the petition, "O Ra, be good to him on this
day since yester-"day" {sic} ; after this come the words, "Unas hath had union "with the
goddess Mut, Unas hath drawn unto himself the flame "of Isis, Unas hath united himself to the
lotus," etc. The only mention of Mut in the Theban Recension Book of the Dead is found in a
hymn to Osiris, which forms the clxxxiiird Chapter ; the deceased is made to say to the god,
Thou risest up like an "exalted being upon thy standard, and thy beauties exalt the face of
man and make long footstep{s}. I have given unto thee the sovereignty of the father Seb, and
the goddess Mut, thy mother, who gave birth to the gods, brought thee forth as the first-born
of five gods, and created thy beauties and fashioned thy members." The papyrus which
contains this passage was written during the region of Seti I., about B.C. 1370, and it was
identified with Nut, and that she was made to be the female counterpart of Seb.
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