Mut

Mythology of Mut

Mut was the great mother and queen of the Egyptian gods who ruled in Thebes. Her origins are somewhat uncertain and while she is not known in textual or representational sources before the end of the Middle Kingdom, she may have been established in the Theban region or elsewhere at an earlier date. Some Egyptologists believe that Mut was virtually 'invented' as a wife for Amun while others feel that she was more likely a minor or little known deity who rose to prominence alongside the god. At some point, however, Mut displaced Amaunet, the original consort of Amun, to become the god's chief wife and the adopted mother of Khonsu in the great Theban triad. The goddess's name, which was written with the hieroglyphic depiction of the griffin vulture (Gyps fulvus), may possibly represent her earliest form, but this is doubtful as the word mut and the vulture used to write in mean 'mother' and this deity was regarded both generally as a mother goddess and as the mother of the king in particular. She was also identified with the ancient Egyptian queen, and in the New Kingdom queens usually wore headdresses made in the form of the vulture which were also symbolic of divine motherhood.

From at least New Kingdom times, however, the primary mythological association of Mut was with the lioness. In this form she was the southern counterpart of the northern lioness goddess Sekhmet and was also related to the cat goddess Bastet - with whom she was joined as Mut-Bastet. Her leonine aspect also made her one of the goddesses regarded as a savage 'Eye of Ra' along with Sekhmet, Tefnut and others. She was associated with Ra in other ways and part of a ritual in her honor asserts that she was present 'at the splitting of the ished tree together with Ra in Heliopolis'. Mut was also associated with the god Ptah of Memphis.. Unlike most of ancient Egypt's other major goddesses Mut played a relatively little part in funerary beliefs, and her mythological sphere of influence was mainly centered on the world of the living. Nevertheless, she is described in some versions of Chapter 164 of the Book of the Dead as a goddess who delivers souls and bodies from 'the abode of the demons which are in the evil chamber', showing her power could also extend to the netherworld. A final aspect of Mut's absolute and rather terrifying power is seen in the fact that by the latter part of the New Kingdom rebels and traitors who plotted against the king were destroyed by fire in the brazier of Mut - perhaps portraying a goddess who not only protected the person of the king but also the state itself with a power which was as fierce as it was final.

Iconography of Mut

Picture: Head of the goddess Mut, detail of a calcite pair statue of Amunand Mut from the Luxor Cachette. Reign of Tutankhamun,reinscribed in the 19th Dynasty. Luxor Museum. Although the earliest known representation of Mut - dating around 1700 BC - depicts her as a lioness-headed goddess, her primary representational form in later times was anthropomorphic. In this female human form Mut is depicted wearing a dress often brightly colored in red or blue and marked with a pattern suggestive of feathers. She is distinguished by the vulture headdress surmounted by either the White Crown of Upper Egypt or the Double Crown of the combined Two Lands - the only goddess usually depicted in this composite crown. In this form she may be depicted standing or enthroned - often holding a papyrus or lily-headed staff - with Amun and Kkhonsu or, in seated representations, nursing an infant to symbolize her motherly role. She is represented in this manner in many amulets, though these can usually only be distinguished from similar amulets of Isis by the presence of the crown or an inscriptional label. Because of her leonine aspect Mut was sometimes depicted as lion-headed and is in essence linked with Sekhmet in the many famous lion-headed statues of that goddess that were placed in the precincts of the temple of Mut at Karnak. Interestingly, this leonine aspect is also mirrored in some images of Amun, as in one of the side chapels of the temple of Khonsu at Karnak where he was depicted in lion-headed, ithyphallic form. In some vignettes to Chapter 164 of the Book of the Dead, beginning in the 21st Dynasty, Mut is also depicted as a composite deity with outstretched wings, an erect phallus and three heads - those of a vulture, lion and human. These somewhat bizarre images represented an aggressive deity 'mightier than the gods'.

Dedications to the goddess in the milder form of cat statuettes were extremely common, and a well-known informal New Kingdom painting which shows a cat with its arm around the neck of a goose perhaps also playfully suggests the familial relationship between Amun - whose sacred animal was the goose - and Mut in her feline form. It is interesting, however, that although Mut maintained her position as consort of Amun, in 'official' representations the relationship between the Egyptian gods appears more familial than sexual. In sexual or fertility-related scenes Amun is portrayed with other 'younger' goddesses such as Isis and Hathor, but in formal scenes of power or matters of state it is Mut who is enthroned as the mature mother figure and powerful queen of the Egyptian gods.

Picture: Goddess Mut in lion-headed form, with the notchedpalm-branch of recorded time. Luxor Temple.

Worship of Mut

In Middle Kingdom texts Mut is called 'mistress of Megeb', a location in the tenth nome of Upper Egypt close to modern Qaw el-Kebir, but little more is known of her association with this area. She is also known to have had sanctuaries at Heliopolis and at Giza, and a large precinct at Tanis, in additional to her presence at Thebes. Yet although she was depicted along with her husband Amun on most of the major walls of the Great Temple at Karnak, and in chapels and representations in many other temples throughout Egypt, Mut maintained a lever of independence, and the goddess's main cult center was her own 'Isheru' precinct to the south of Karnak Temple. The major part of her temple was constructed during the 18th Dynasty, much by Amenophis III (who also set up the many statues of Sekhmet around its precincts), though construction was continued by rulers of later periods through Ptolemaic times.

Mut participated in many of the great festival processions with her husband Amun and was transported in her own sacred barge for these occasions. She also exercised independent power in her own cultic rituals and ceremonies such as the important 'Festival of the Navigation of Mut' held on the great Isheru lake. Another of her important temple rituals both at her Isheru precinct and in her other sanctuaries was that known as the 'overthrowing of Apep', the inimical serpent who threatened the sun god. In this ritual was models were made representing the physical enemies of Egypt which were identified by name before being destroyed. Mut is known to have had a temple oracle to which worshippers brought problems, and the 'Great Mother' was represented in many votive statues and amulets showing a high degree of personal veneration of the goddess.

Picture: Gold bracelet with image of winged Mut  from Meroe. National Collection of Egyptian Art, Munich.

Picture: The goddess Mut with horned sun disk, temple of Khonsu, Karnak. As the mythological mother of Khonsu, Mut played a part in the cult of that god along with Amun, his mythological father. 20th Dynasty.