Tefnut – The Lioness Twin of Shu
“Atum … proceeded to sneeze while in Heliopolis. And brother and sister were born – that is Shu and Tefnut.”(Wattersons, 2003), and so begins the history of Tefnut. She was the daughter of Atum and the twin sister of Shu. She was also Shu’s wife.
Shu and Tefnut proceeded to have children, Geb ( the earth god) and Nut (the sky goddess). She was also the grandmother of Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. Sometimes Tefnut and Shu are shown as the parents of Osiris and Seth (Hornung, 1996). Shu and Tefnut are considered to be the first couple to engage in sexual relations, thus starting the cycle of procreation and birth (Hornung, 1996).
She was Known as the Goddesses Of moisture. It is said she was spat out by Atum. Sometimes her name is written as spitting lips (Fletcher, 2009). Tefnut was a member of the Heliopolitan Ennead* (Darvill, 2008). Tefnut was associated with the moon while her brother with sunlight (Oakes & Gahlin, 2006).
Tefnut is an ambiguous figure and has little myth associated with her (Tobin, 2009). Her function is imprecise as well, but as Shu’s she may have been a feminine deity of the air, balancing the similar masculine function of her brother and spouse and assisting him to support the sky (Tobin, 2009).
The pyramid texts describe her in the following way “the Tefnut of Unas, she who supports Shu, she makes his seat wide in Busiris (Ddw), in Mendes (Dd.t), in the necropolis of Heliopolis. She erects his two supports (jA.tj) in front of the Great One.”(Brown, 2019).
There are indications that Tefnut had an important role to play in relation to the king. However inscriptions from this time is very rare ( Hart, 2005). Tefnut is also considered to represent ma’at (truth), that she bestowed peace and harmony (Assmann & Lorton, 2001).
Tefnut is also one manifestation of the Eye of Ra. At times she was worshiped as a lion along with her brother she(Fletcher, 2009).
She had a hostile relationship with her father (Hart, 2005).He wanted to curb her power, so she sent herself into exile in Nubia, her brother was the only could get her to return.
Tefnut could be pictured as a rearing cobra, so she was connected with the Uraeus (snake) on the crown. At times she was depicted as a human she wore a sun of disk encircled by a cobra on her head (Oakes & Gahlin, 2006). The Greeks sometimes identified her with Artemis (Darvill, 2008).
Her cult centres were m Heliopolis Leontopolis.
Bibliography:
Assmann, J., & Lorton, D. (2001). The search for God in ancient Egypt. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Brown, V. (2019). Pyramid Texts Online – English Translation. Retrieved from https://www.pyramidtextsonline.com/translation.html
Darvill, T. (2008). The concise Oxford dictionary of archaeology. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Fletcher, J. (2009). The Egyptian book of living & dying. London: Duncan Baird.
Hornung, E. (1996). Conceptions of God in ancient Egypt. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
Leeming, D. (2005). The Oxford companion to world mythology. [Oxford]: Oxford University Press.
Oakes, L., & Gahlin, L. (2006). Ancient Egypt. London: Hermes House. Watterson, B. (2003). Gods of ancient Egypt. Stroud: Sutton.
*In Egyptian mythology the Ennead (“the Nine”) is the name given to the pantheon of the great theological center Heliopolis.(Leeming, 2005) It was made up of nine God’s, Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys.
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