Shu (Egyptian god)
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Shu (Egyptian deity)
)| Shu | |
|---|---|
Heliopolis, Leontopolis | |
| Symbol | the ostrich feather |
| Personal information | |
| Parents | Ra or Atum and Iusaaset or Menhit[2] |
| Siblings | Tefnut Hathor Sekhmet Bastet |
| Consort | Tefnut |
| Offspring | Nut and Geb |
| Equivalents | |
| Greek equivalent | Atlas[3] |
Shu (
Heliopolis cosmogony.[4] He was the god of peace, lions, air, and wind.[citation needed
]
Family
In Heliopolitan theology,
.Myths
| Part of a series on |
| Ancient Egyptian religion |
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 Ancient Egypt portal |
As the air, Shu was considered to be a cooling, and thus calming, influence, and pacifier. Due to the association with dry air, calm, and thus
Ma'at[5] (truth, justice, order, and balance), Shu was depicted as the dry air/atmosphere between the Earth and sky, separating the two realms after the event of the First Occasion.[6] Shu was also portrayed in art as wearing an ostrich feather. Shu was seen with between one and four feathers. The ostrich feather was symbolic of lightness and emptiness. Fog and clouds were also Shu's elements and they were often called his bones. Because of his position between the sky and Earth, he was also known as the wind.[7]
In a much later myth, representing a terrible weather disaster at the end of the
Old Kingdom, it's said that Tefnut and Shu once argued, and Tefnut left Egypt for Nubia (which was always more temperate). It was said that Shu quickly decided that he missed her, but she changed into a cat that destroyed any man or god that approached. Thoth
, disguised, eventually succeeded in convincing her to return.
The
According to the Heliopolitan cosmology, Shu and
(Earth) apart there would be no way for physically-manifest life to exist.Shu is mostly represented as a
.See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-500-05120-7.
- ^ "archive.org"
- ^ ISBN 9781438131801. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ^ van Dijk, Jacobus. "Myth and mythmaking in ancient Egypt" (PDF). Simon & Schuster. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-03-13. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
- ^ Lazaridis, Nikolaos (2008). "Ethics". UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
- ISBN 978-0801488535. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9781402746239. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
Further reading
- Hans Bonnet: Lexikon der ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6, S. 685-689 → Shu
- Adolf Erman: Die Aegyptische Religion, Verlag Georg Reimer, Berlin 1909
- ISBN 3-447-04027-0, S. 269f. → Shu
- ISBN 0-8014-8853-2
- Jacobus Van Dijk, Myth and Mythmaking in Ancient Egypt, ed. J.M. Sasson, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1995.