Shu – The God of Life, Wind, Air, Light, and Water

Shu is the husband and brother of Tefnut and the son of Atum (Britannica,2013). Tefnut and Shu both had children, the God Geb (the earth) and Goddesses Nut (the Sky).

Shu was the god of life. It was belived he was manifest in the wind, air, light, and water, all things that were necessary for life to function (Houser-Wegner,2001). In the old kingdom he is responsible for bringing Ra and the king into life every day (Hart,2005). It is considered that the name “Shu”is regarded as onomatopoeic, if so this could because one myth has him being created when Atum sneezed (Flectcher, 2009).

He was also responsible for the protection of the sun God Ra from the demon Apophis as he traveled through the netherworld (Watson, 2010).

The god Shu in his traditional pose separating Geb and Nut

In the netherworld he is often associated with the lunar gods Thoth and Khonsu (Oakes and Gahlin, 2006).

Since Shu was considered to be a force of life, he was a creator who was present at the birth of an individual (Houser-Wegner,2001). Shu is also mentioned in his role as a creative life force in both the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts (Houser-Wegner,2001).

In the pyramid text it says the bones of Shu, (these could be the clouds in the sky) are used by the king and his accent to heaven and the lakes of Shu (Perhaps the mist that gathers over the Nile) purify the Pharaoh (Hart,2005).

Shu is often depicted as kneeling and lifting up the sky goddess Nut, separating her from her husband, the god of the earth, Geb (Houser-Wegner,2001). He he need to separate his children, Geb and Nut, so that air, and the possibility of further creation, could exist between earth and sky (Leeming, 2005)

Bibliography:

Britannica, E. P. S. (2013). Egyptian gods and goddesses.

Fletcher, J. (2009). The Egyptian book of living and dying. London: Duncan Baird Publishers.

Hart, G. (2005). The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. New York: Routledge.

Houser-Wegner, J. (2001). Shu. In  (Ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. : Oxford University Press,.

Leeming, D. (2005). Shu and Tefnut. In  (Ed.), The Oxford Companion to World Mythology. : Oxford University Press,.

Oakes, L. and Gahlin, L. (2006). Ancient Egypt. London: Hermes House.

Watson, A. (2010). Ancient Egypt. Brisbane: Lulu