Depictions

Mut was an ancient Egyptian mother goddess with multiple aspects that changed over the centuries. Rulers of Egypt supported her worship in their own way to emphasize their own authority and right to rule.

Changes of mythological position Mut (also spelled Mout) (mother) was originally a title of the primordial waters of the cosmos, Naunet, in the Ogdoad cosmogony. However, the distinction between motherhood, and cosmic water, lead to the separation of these identities, and Mut gained aspects of a creator goddess, since she was the mother from which the cosmos emerged.

In the Middle Kingdom, when Thebes grew in importance, its patron, Amun also became more significant, and so his wife Amaunet, who was simply a female version of Amun, was replaced with a more substantial mother-goddess, namely Mut. Mut and Amun had a son, Khonsu.

The hieroglyph for Mut's name, and for mother itself, was that of a vulture, which the Egyptians believed were very maternal creatures. Indeed, since Egyptian vultures have no significant differing markings between female and male of the species, the Egyptians believed there were no males, and so they did not reproduce but were conceived by the wind itself. Consequently, they held that Mut had no parents, but was created from nothing, and that she could not have children, and so adopted one instead.

Originally, it was said that Mut had adopted Menthu, god of war, making up a complete triad of gods for the pantheon of Thebes. This choice of completion for the triad should have proved popular, but, because the isheru, the sacred lake outside Mut's temple in Karnak at Thebes, was the shape of a crescent moon, Chons, the moon god eventually replaced Menthu as Mut's adopted son.

The authority of Thebes waned later and Amun was assimilated into Ra, Mut, the doting virgin mother, was assimilated into Ra's wife, Hathor, the cow-goddess and mother of Horus. 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, and the patron of the queen. The Ennead proved to be a much more successful identity and the compound of Mut, Hathor and Isis, became known as Isis alone.

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