Tefnut (Ancient Egyptian:tfn.t;Coptic:ⲧϥⲏⲛⲉtfēne)[1][2] is adeity inAncient Egyptian religion, the feminine counterpart of the air godShu. Her mythological function is less clear than that of Shu,[3] but Egyptologists have suggested she is connected with moisture, based on a passage in thePyramid Texts in which she produces water, and on parallelism with Shu's connection with dry air.[4][5] She was also one of the goddesses who could function as the fieryEye of Ra.[6]
The name Tefnut has no certain etymology but it may be anonomatopoeia of the sound of spitting, asAtum spits her out in some versions of the creation myth. Additionally, her name was written as a mouth spitting in late texts.[7] Other interpretations include a link to the moon or the passage of time as related to the dead. It is also possible that she is linked to Tefen, a deity of which there is little evidence of, but may share etymology as meaning "orphan and orphaness."[8]
Like mostEgyptian deities, including her brother, Tefnut has no singleideograph or symbol. Her name in hieroglyphs consists of four singlephonogram signs t-f-n-t. Although the n phonogram is a representation of waves on the surface of water, it was never used as anideogram ordeterminative for the word water (mw), or for anything associated with water.[9]
Amenat depicting Tefnut and her husband-brotherShu.
Tefnut is the first daughter of thesolar deityRa-Atum. Married to her twin brotherShu, she is mother ofNut, the sky andGeb, the earth. Tefnut's grandchildren wereOsiris,Isis,Set,Nephthys, and, in some versions,Horus the Elder. She was also the great-grandmother ofHorus the Younger. Alongside her father, brother, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchild, she is a member of theEnnead ofHeliopolis.
There are a number of variants to the myth of the creation of the twins Tefnut and Shu. In every version, Tefnut is the product ofparthenogenesis, and all involve some variety of body fluid.
In the Heliopolitan creation myth, Atum sneezed to produce Tefnut and Shu.[10]Pyramid Text 527 says, "Atum was creative in that he proceeded to sneeze while in Heliopolis. And brother and sister were born - that is Shu and Tefnut."[11]
In some versions of this myth, Atum also spits out his saliva, which forms the act of procreation. This version contains a play on words, thetef sound which forms the first syllable of the name Tefnut also constitutes a word meaning "to spit" or "to expectorate".[11]
TheCoffin Texts contain references to Shu being sneezed out by Atum from his nose, and Tefnut being spat out like saliva. TheBremner-Rind Papyrus and theMemphite Theology describe Atum as sneezing out saliva to form the twins.[12]
Tefnut is a leonine deity, and appears as human with a lioness head when depicted as part of the GreatEnnead of Heliopolis. The other frequent depiction is as a lioness, but Tefnut can also be depicted as fully human. In her fully or semi anthropomorphic form, she is depicted wearing a wig, topped either with auraeus serpent, or a uraeus and solar disk, and she is sometimes depicted as a lion headed serpent. Her face is sometimes used in a double headed form with that of her brother Shu on collar counterpoises.[13] Symbolically, she is also often depicted as the lioness, the daughter, the eye, the diadem and the uraeus. She even assumes the role of the mistress of the flame, where she is adorned with a flame to represent protection against enemies.[14]
During the 18th and 19th Dynasties, particularly during the Amarna Period, Tefnut was depicted in human form wearing a low flat headdress, topped with sprouting plants.Akhenaten's mother,Tiye was depicted wearing a similar headdress, and identifying with Hathor-Tefnut. The iconic blue crown ofNefertiti is thought by archaeologistJoyce Tyldesley to be derived from Tiye's headdress, and may indicate that she was also identifying with Tefnut.[15]
Heliopolis andLeontopolis (now ell el-Muqdam) were the primary cult centres. At Heliopolis, Tefnut was one of the members of that city's great Ennead,[13] and is referred to in relation to the purification of thewabet(priest) as part of the temple rite. Here she had a sanctuary called the Lower Menset.[4]
I have ascended to you
with the Great One behind me and [my] purity before me: I have passed by Tefnut, even while Tefnut was purifying me,
and indeed I am a priest, the son of a priest in this temple."
Tefnut was connected with other leonine goddesses as theEye of Ra.[18] As a lioness she could display a wrathful aspect and is said to have escaped toNubia in a rage, jealous of her grandchildren's higher worship. Only after receiving the title "honorable" fromThoth, did she return.[7] In the earlierPyramid Texts she is said to produce pure waters from hervagina.[19]
As Shu had forcibly separated his son Geb from his sister-wife Nut, Geb challenged his father Shu, causing the latter to withdraw from the world. Geb, who was in love with his mother Tefnut, takes her as his chief queen-consort.[20]
^Allen, James P. (1988).Genesis in Egypt: The Philosophy of Ancient Egyptian Creation Accounts. Yale Egyptological Seminar. p. 9.ISBN978-0-912532-14-1.
^abcHart, George (2005).The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Second Edition. Routledge. p. 156.ISBN978-0-203-02362-4.
^Pinch, Geraldine (2002).Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. pp. 195–196.ISBN978-0-19-517024-5.
^Pinch, Geraldine (2002).Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. p. 197.ISBN978-0-19-517024-5.
^El-Weshahy1 El-Hadad2 Hafaz3, Mohida1 Nada2 Sherin3 (2022)."Scenes of The Goddess Tefnut in the Temple of Dekka in The Lower Nubia"(PDF).Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality.22 (3):219–235 – via Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Hays, H.M (2009). Nyord R, Kyolby A (ed.). "Between Identity and Agency in Ancient Egyptian Ritual". Leiden University Repository:Archaeopress:15–30.hdl:1887/15716.Rite 25 from Moret, Le Rituel de Cult, Paris 1902{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
^Meeks, Dimitri; Christine Favard-Meeks (1999).Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods. Pimlico. p. 128.ISBN0-7126-6515-3.
^Watterson, Barbara (2003).Gods of Ancient Egypt. Sutton Publishing.ISBN0-7509-3262-7.
^The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, trans R.O. Faulkner, line 2065 Utt. 685.
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