Mut
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225825505
2008-07-15T16:02:21Z
MattieTK
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Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/Pink!Teen|Pink!Teen]] to last version by Elmondo21st (using [[WP:HG|Huggle]])
[[Image:10 luxor museum - Mut - dated 19 dynasty c 1279 to 1213 BC.JPG|thumb|Nineteenth dynasty statue of '''Mut''', part of a double statue, c. 1279-1213 BC, Luxor Museum]]
{{Hiero|Mut|<hiero>G14-t:H8-B1</hiero>|align=right|era=egypt}}
{{Otheruses}}
'''Mut''', which means ''mother'', was an [[ancient Egypt]]ian [[mother goddess]] with multiple aspects that changed over the thousands of years of the culture. An alternate spelling is '''Mout'''. She was depicted as a [[Egyptian vulture|white vulture]] most often. She was considered a primal deity, associated with the waters from which everything was born through [[parthenogenesis]]. She also was depicted as a woman with the crowns of Egypt upon her head. The rulers of Egypt each supported her worship in their own way to emphasize their own authority and right to rule through an association with Mut.
Some of Mut's many titles included ''World-Mother'', ''[[Eye of Ra]]'', ''Queen of the Goddesses'', ''Lady of Heaven'', ''Mother of the Gods'', and ''She Who Gives Birth, But Was Herself Not Born of Any''.
Most of these titles reveal the worship of her as the primary mother goddess deity of ancient times.
==Changes of mythological position==
Mut was a title of the primordial waters of the cosmos, [[Naunet]], in the [[Ogdoad]] cosmogony during what is called the [[Old Kingdom]], the third through sixth dynasties, dated between 2,686 to 2,134 B.C. However, the distinction between motherhood and cosmic water later diversified and lead to the separation of these identities, and Mut gained aspects of a [[Creator deity|creator]] goddess, since she was the ''mother'' from which the cosmos emerged.
The hieroglyph for Mut's name, and for ''mother'' itself, was that of a white [[Egyptian vulture|vulture]], which the [[Egyptians]] believed were very maternal creatures. Indeed, since Egyptian white vultures have no significant differing markings between female and male of the species, being without [[sexual dimorphism]], the Egyptians believed they were all females, who [[conception|conceived]] their offspring by the wind herself, another parthenogenic concept.
[[Image:Statuette of Mut.jpg|right|thumb|100px|Schist statuette of Mut, [[Late Period of ancient Egypt|Late Period]], [[Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt|Dynasty XXVI]], c. 664-525 BC]]
Much later new myths held that since Mut had no parents, but was created from nothing, consequently, she could not have children and so adopted one instead.
Making up a complete ''triad'' of deities for the later pantheon of Thebes, it was said that Mut had adopted [[Menthu]], god of war. This choice of completion for the triad should have proved popular, but because the ''isheru'', the sacred lake outside Mut's ancient temple in [[Karnak]] at Thebes, was the shape of a crescent [[moon]], [[Khonsu]], the moon god eventually replaced Menthu as Mut's adopted son.
[[Lower Egypt|Lower]] and [[Upper Egypt|upper]] Egypt both already had patron deities–[[Wadjet]] and [[Nekhbet]]–respectively, indeed they also had lioness protector deities–[[Bast (goddess)|Bast]] and [[Sekhmet]]–respectively. When Thebes rose to greater prominence, Mut absorbed these warrior goddesses as some of her aspects. First, Mut became ''Mut-Wadjet-Bast'', then ''Mut-Sekhmet-Bast'' (Wadjet having merged into Bast), then Mut also assimilated [[Menhit]], who was also a lioness goddess, and her adopted son's wife, becoming ''Mut-Sekhmet-Bast-Menhit'', and finally becoming ''Mut-Nekhbet''.
Later in ancient Egyptian mythology deities of the pantheon were identified as equal pairs, female and male counterparts, having the same functions. In the later [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]], when [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] grew in importance, its patron, [[Amun]] also became more significant, and so [[Amaunet]], who had been his female counterpart, was replaced with a more substantial mother-goddess, namely Mut, who became his wife. In that phase, Mut and Amun had a son, [[Khonsu]], another moon deity.
The authority of Thebes waned later and Amun was assimilated into [[Ra]]. Mut, the doting mother, was assimilated into [[Hathor]], the cow-goddess and mother of [[Horus]] who had become identified as Ra's wife. Subsequently, when Ra assimilated [[Atum]], the [[Ennead]] was absorbed as well, and so Mut-Hathor became identified as [[Isis]] (either as ''Isis-Hathor'' or ''Mut-Isis-Nekhbet''), the most important of the females in the Ennead (''the nine''}, and the patron of the queen. The Ennead proved to be a much more successful identity and the compound triad of Mut, Hathor, and Isis, became known as ''Isis'' alone—a cult that endured into the 600s A.D. and spread to Greece, Rome, and Britain.
==Depictions==
In [[art]], Mut was pictured as a woman with the wings of a white [[Egyptian vulture|vulture]], holding an [[ankh]], wearing the united [[crown]] of Upper and Lower Egypt and a dress of bright red or blue, with the [[feather]] of the goddess [[Ma'at]] at her feet.
Alternatively, as a result of her assimilations, Mut is sometimes depicted as a [[cobra]], a [[cat]], a [[cow]], or as a [[lion]]ess as well as the white vulture.
==In Karnak==
[[Image:Mut Temple Map.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Precinct of Mut at the [[Karnak]] temple complex]]
There are temples dedicated to Mut all over modern-day Egypt and Sudan, reflecting the wide-spread worship of her, but the center of her cult became the temple in [[Karnak]]. That temple had the statue that was regarded as an embodiment of her real ''[[Egyptian soul|ka]]''. Her devotions included daily rituals by the [[pharaoh]] and her [[priestess|priestesses]]. Interior reliefs depict scenes of the priestesses, currently the only known remaining example of worship in ancient Egypt that was exclusively administered by women.
Usually the queen, who always carried the royal lineage among the rulers of Egypt, served as the chief priestess in the temple rituals. The pharaoh participated also and would become a deity after death. In the case when the pharaoh was female, records of one example indicate that she had her daughter serve as the high priestess in her place. Often priests served in the administration of temples and oracles where priestesses performed the traditional religious rites. These rituals included music and drinking.
The pharaoh [[Hatshepsut]] had the ancient [[Precinct of Mut|temple to Mut]] at Karnak rebuilt during her rule in the [[Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|Eighteenth Dynasty]]. Previous excavators had thought that [[Amenhotep III]], her grandson, had the temple built because of the hundreds of statues found there of [[Sekhmet]] that bore his name. However, Hatshepsut, who completed an enormous number of temples and public buildings, had completed the work seventy-five years earlier. She began the custom of depicting Mut with the crown of both Upper and Lower Egypt. It is thought that Amenhotep III removed most signs of Hatshepsut, while taking credit for the projects she had built.
[[Image:Mut.svg|thumb|A contemporary image of Mut, depicted as a woman wearing the double crown plus a royal vulture headdress, associated with [[Nekhbet]]]]
Hatshepsut was a pharaoh who brought Mut to the fore again in the [[Egyptian pantheon]], identifying strongly with the goddess. She stated that she was a descendant of Mut. She also associated herself with the image of [[Sekhmet]], as the more aggressive aspect of the goddess, having served as a very successful [[warrior]] during the early portion of her reign as pharaoh.
Later in the same dynasty, [[Akhenaten]] suppressed the worship of Mut as well as the other deities when he promoted the monotheistic worship of his sun god, [[Aten]]. Tutankhamun later re-established her worship and his successors continued to associate themselves with Mut afterward.
[[Ramesses II]] added more work on the Mut temple during the [[nineteenth dynasty of Egypt|nineteenth dynasy]], as well as rebuilding an earlier temple in the same area, rededicating it to Amun and ''himself''. He placed it so that people would ''have'' to pass his temple on their way to that of Mut.
[[Kushite]] pharaohs expanded the Mut temple and modified the Ramesses temple for use as the shrine of the celebrated birth of Amun and Khonsu, trying to integrate themselves into divine succession. They also installed their own [[priestess]]es among the ranks of the priestesses who officiated at the temple of Mut.
The Greek [[Ptolemaic dynasty]] added its own decorations and priestesses at the temple as well and used the authority of Mut to emphasize their own interests.
Later, the Roman emperor [[Tiberius]] rebuilt the site after a severe flood and his successors supported the temple until it fell into disuse, sometime around the [[300 AD|third century A.D.]] Some of the later Roman officials used the stones from the temple for their own building projects, often without altering the images carved upon them.
==References==
* Jennifer Pinkowski - ''Egypt's Ageless Goddess'' (''Archaeology'' magazine September/October 2006)
==External links==
* [http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mut.html Mut Article on Pantheon.org]
{{Ancient Egypt topics}}
[[Category:Egyptian goddesses]]
[[Category:Fertility goddesses]]
[[Category:Mother goddesses]]
[[Category:Creator goddesses]]
[[als:Mut (Göttin)]]
[[ar:موط]]
[[bg:Мут]]
[[ca:Llista de personatges de la Mitologia Egípcia#M]]
[[da:Mut]]
[[de:Mut (Ägyptische Mythologie)]]
[[et:Mut]]
[[el:Μουτ]]
[[es:Mut]]
[[fr:Mout]]
[[it:Mut]]
[[lt:Muta]]
[[hu:Mut]]
[[nl:Moet]]
[[ja:ムト]]
[[no:Mut]]
[[pl:Mut]]
[[pt:Mut]]
[[ru:Мут]]
[[sk:Mut]]
[[sr:Мут]]
[[sh:Mut]]
[[fi:Mut]]
[[sv:Mut]]