Chapter 43 (part 78)

Recueil de Travaux , t. iv., p. 55 (l. 473); and compare ###. Ibid. , t. v. p. 186 (l. 171). 2. Ibid. , t. v., p. 27 (1. 233). 3. Ibid., p. 39 (l. 281). 4 Ibid., p. 10 (l. 60).] {p. cii} The Egyptian heaven. legs form the four pillars upon which the heavens are supported. Nut, the sky goddess, was the wife of Seb, the earth god, from whose embrace she was separated by Shu, the god of the air; when this separation was effected, earth, air, and sky came into being. Signor Lanzone has collected a number of illustrations of this event from papyri and other documents,[1] wherein we have Seb lying on the ground, and Shu uplifting Nut with his outstretched hands. The feet of the goddess rested on the east, and her hands on the west this is shown by the scene wherein Shu is accompanied by two females who have on their heads "east" and, "west" respectively.[2] The child of the union of Seb and Nut was the Sun, who was born in the east in the morning, and who made [1. Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia , tavv. i 150 ff. 2. Ibid. , tav. 158.] {p. ciii} The Egyptian heaven. his course along his mother's body, until he set in the west in the evening. The moon followed the sun's course along his mother's body, but sometimes a second female is represented bowed beneath Nut [1] (Fig. 2), and this is believed to signify the night sky across which the moon travels. In an interesting picture which M. Jéquier has published[2] the goddess is depicted lying flat with her arms stretched out at full length above her head; on her breast is the disk of the sun, and on her stomach the moon. Those who believed that the sky was an iron plane imagined that the stars were a numbers of lamps which were hung out therefrom, and those who pictured the sky as a goddess studded her body with stars. One scene makes the morning and evening boats of Ra to sail along the back of Nut;[3] another depicts Shu holding up the boat of the sun wherein is the disk on the horizon.[4] A third from the sarcophagus of Seti I. represents Nu the god of the primeval water holding up the boat of the sun, wherein we see the beetle with the solar disk facing it accompanied by Isis and Nephthys, who stand one on each side; behind Isis stand the gods Seb, Shu, Hek, Hu, and Sa, and behind Nephthys are three deities who represent the doors through which the god Tmu has made his way to the world.[5] The Tuat , or abode of the dead. Within the two bowed female figures which represent the day and the night sky, and which have been referred to above (Fig. 2), is a third figure which is bent [1. Lanzone, op. cit. , tav. 155. 2. Le Livre de ce qu'il y a dans l'Hadès , p. 3 3 Ibid., tav. 157. 4. Ibid., tav. 158. 5 Brugsch, Religion und Mythologie , p. 216.] {p. civ} The Egyptian heaven. round in a circle; the space enclosed by it represents according to Dr. Brugsch the Tuat [1]or Egyptian underworld, wherein dwelt the gods of the dead and the departed souls. This view is supported by the scene from the sarcophagus of Seti I. (Fig.