Tefnut

About Tefnut

Tefnut is the Egyptian goddess of moisture and the lioness, the twin and consort of the air-god Shu, the daughter of the creator Atum, and the mother of the sky-goddess Nut and the earth-god Geb. In the cosmogony of Heliopolis, Tefnut and Shu are the first pair of gods produced by Atum, the moisture and the air drawn from the creator, and from them descend the sky and the earth and the whole Ennead of nine gods. Tefnut's name is connected with words for moisture, spittle, and the dampness of the air, and she personifies the moisture of the atmosphere, the dew and the dampness that complement the dryness of her brother the air. She is often depicted as a lioness or as a woman with a lioness's head, and together with Shu she forms the pair sometimes called the Two Lions, Ruty, the twin lion-deities who guard the horizon where the sun rises.

Tefnut's production from Atum is one of the central images of the Heliopolitan cosmogony. The creator, arising alone from the primordial waters, brought forth Shu and Tefnut from his own body, in one tradition by sneezing out Shu and spitting out Tefnut, the moisture-goddess emerging from the spittle or the moisture of the creator's mouth. As the firstborn pair of the creator, Shu and Tefnut are the air and the moisture, the first two elements of the cosmos, and through their children Geb and Nut the structure of the world takes shape. Tefnut is thus the moisture that, with the air, fills the space between the sky and the earth and makes the conditions of life.

Tefnut's most developed independent myth is her role as the Distant Goddess, the Eye of Ra who departs from Egypt in anger and must be brought back. In this cycle, the goddess — identified variously with Tefnut, Hathor, or Sekhmet — leaves Egypt and withdraws to Nubia in the form of a raging lioness, and her absence is a disaster, for she is the daughter and the protective power of the sun-god. The god Thoth, sometimes accompanied by Shu, is sent to fetch her, and by his eloquence and his tales he soothes her rage and persuades her to return to Egypt, where her homecoming is celebrated as the return of the goddess and the renewal of the land. The Demotic Myth of the Sun's Eye (Papyrus Leiden I 384, second century CE) is the principal extended narrative of this cycle, telling how Thoth, in the form of a small monkey, coaxes the lioness-goddess back from Nubia with stories and arguments. In her lioness form Tefnut is fierce and dangerous, the burning heat of the sun and the rage of the Eye of Ra, and her pacification and return is the taming of this destructive power and its restoration as a protective force. Tefnut was worshipped at Heliopolis as part of the Ennead and at Leontopolis (Tell el-Muqdam) in the Delta, where she and Shu were venerated as the Two Lions, Ruty, the leonine guardians of the horizon and the gates of the sun.

Mythology

The narrative of Tefnut runs along two lines: her cosmological role as the moisture-goddess in the Heliopolitan cosmogony, the firstborn of the creator with her brother Shu, and her independent myth as the Distant Goddess, the raging lioness who departs to Nubia and must be brought home.

In the cosmogony of Heliopolis, the creator Atum arose alone from the primordial waters of Nun upon the first mound, and from himself he produced the first pair of gods. The texts give the act in vivid terms: Atum, who had no consort, brought forth Shu and Tefnut from his own body, in one tradition by sneezing out Shu and spitting out Tefnut, the names echoing the sounds, the moisture-goddess emerging from the moisture of the creator's mouth. Shu the air and Tefnut the moisture were thus the firstborn of the creator, the first two elements drawn from Atum, and with them the work of creation began. Atum embraced his two children, and the texts speak of his ka, his life-force, passing into them, so that the air and the moisture carried the creative power of the god. From Shu and Tefnut were born the next generation, Geb the earth and Nut the sky, and through them the structure of the cosmos took shape, with Tefnut the moisture that fills the space of the world with her brother the air.

Tefnut's lioness form ties her to the fierce and burning aspect of the sun. With Shu she forms the pair called the Two Lions, Ruty, the twin lion-deities who guard the horizon where the sun rises, and in this leonine form Tefnut is associated with the heat and the power of the sun. As a lioness she is fierce and dangerous, and this fierceness comes to the fore in her great independent myth, the cycle of the Distant Goddess and the Eye of Ra.

The Eye of Ra is the daughter and the protective power of the sun-god, a goddess who can be sent forth to defend the sun and to punish his enemies, but whose power is dangerous and can turn to destructive rage. In the cycle of the Distant Goddess, the Eye — identified variously with Tefnut, Hathor, or Sekhmet, the goddesses of this cycle overlapping as the Eye of Ra in different moods — quarrels with the sun-god or is angered, and departs from Egypt, withdrawing far to the south into Nubia in the form of a raging lioness. Her absence is a calamity, for she is the protective power of the sun and the daughter who guards him, and without her Egypt is bereft of her protection and the sun-god is bereft of his Eye. The land suffers, and the sun-god longs for the return of his daughter.

So the sun-god sends to fetch her. The god Thoth, the god of wisdom and eloquence, sometimes accompanied by Shu, is dispatched to Nubia to bring the goddess home. Thoth approaches the raging lioness and, by his eloquence and his tales, seeks to soothe her anger and persuade her to return. In the Demotic Myth of the Sun's Eye, the fullest version of the story, Thoth takes the form of a small monkey and engages the lioness-goddess in a long series of conversations, telling her fables and arguments, flattering and cajoling her, warning her of the dangers of her wrath and praising the joys of her homeland, until at last her rage is soothed and she agrees to return. The journey home is a triumphal progress, the goddess passing through the towns of Egypt and being celebrated at each, her fierceness cooled and her power restored as a protective rather than a destructive force.

The return of the goddess is the climax of the cycle, celebrated as the homecoming of the Distant Goddess and the renewal of the land. The fierce lioness, pacified, becomes again the protective daughter of the sun, and her return brings the renewal of fertility and the restoration of order. The festivals of the return of the goddess, celebrated at temples across Egypt, marked this homecoming with rejoicing, music, and drinking, the taming of the dangerous power of the Eye and its restoration as a blessing. The cooling of the goddess's rage, sometimes rendered as the quenching of the burning lioness in water, ties the myth to Tefnut's nature as the goddess of moisture, the dampness that cools the burning heat of the sun.

In this myth Tefnut is the fierce lioness, the burning Eye of Ra, the daughter who departs in anger and is brought home by the eloquence of Thoth. The cycle expresses the ambivalence of the solar power, at once protective and destructive, and the need to tame the dangerous heat of the sun and restore it as a blessing. Tefnut, the moisture-goddess and the lioness, stands at the center of this cycle as the Distant Goddess whose absence is a disaster and whose return is the renewal of the land. Together with her cosmological role as the firstborn moisture of the creator and the mother of the sky and the earth, this myth makes Tefnut a goddess of two faces: the cosmic moisture that fills the space of the world, and the fierce lioness whose rage and pacification turn on the taming of the burning power of the sun.

Symbols & Iconography

Tefnut's symbolism is the symbolism of moisture and of the lioness, the dampness of the air paired with the dryness of her brother the wind, and the fierce power of the lioness paired with the burning heat of the sun. As the goddess of moisture, Tefnut embodies the dew, the dampness, and the moisture of the atmosphere that, with the air, fills the space between the sky and the earth and makes the conditions of life. Her name, connected with words for moisture and spittle, and her emergence from the moisture of the creator's mouth, render her the watery element drawn from Atum, the moisture that complements the air in the work of creation.

The lioness is Tefnut's animal form and her central symbol. Depicted as a lioness or as a woman with a lioness's head, Tefnut embodies the fierce and dangerous power of the great cat, the heat and the rage that can defend or destroy. The lioness-form ties Tefnut to the Eye of Ra and to the fierce aspect of the solar goddesses, the burning power of the sun rendered as a raging lioness. With Shu she forms the Two Lions, Ruty, the twin lions who guard the horizon where the sun rises, and the leonine symbolism expresses both the protective guardian and the dangerous fierceness of the goddess.

Tefnut's role as the Eye of Ra gives her a complex symbolism of the solar power in its protective and destructive aspects. As the daughter and the protective power of the sun-god, the Eye can be sent forth to defend the sun and punish his enemies, but her power is dangerous and can turn to destructive rage. The departure of the Eye to Nubia symbolizes the loss of the protective solar power and the danger of its uncontrolled fierceness, and the return of the goddess symbolizes the taming of this power and its restoration as a blessing. Tefnut as the Eye of Ra embodies the ambivalence of the sun, at once life-giving and destroying.

The Distant Goddess cycle gives Tefnut a symbolism of departure and return, anger and pacification, the burning and

Depicted as a lioness or as a woman with a lioness's head, Tefnut embodies the fierce and dangerous power of the great cat, the heat and the rage that can defend or destroy. The cooling of the goddess's rage, the quenching of the burning lioness, ties this symbolism to Tefnut's nature as the goddess of moisture, the dampness that cools the burning heat of the sun, so that the moisture-goddess and the fierce lioness are united in the image of the cooling of the burning Eye.

Tefnut's place in the Heliopolitan cosmogony, as the firstborn moisture of the creator and the mother of the sky and the earth, gives her a symbolism of the foundation of the cosmos. Through these images Tefnut is at once the cosmic moisture that fills the space of the world, the firstborn of the creator, the mother of the sky and the earth, the fierce lioness, and the Distant Goddess whose rage and return turn on the taming of the burning power of the sun. She is often depicted as a lioness or as a woman with a lioness's head, and together with Shu she forms the pair sometimes called the Two Lions, Ruty, the twin lion-deities who guard the horizon where the sun rises.

Tefnut's production from Atum is one of the central images of the Heliopolitan cosmogony.

Worship Practices

The lioness-form, shared among these goddesses, expresses the dangerous and protective power of the sun, and Tefnut's role in the Distant Goddess cycle draws on this shared identity.

The Distant Goddess myth was a major element of Egyptian religion, especially in the later periods, and gave Tefnut a place in the festival calendar and the temple cult. The return of the goddess from Nubia, celebrated as the homecoming of the Distant Goddess and the renewal of the land, was marked by festivals of rejoicing, music, and drinking at temples across Egypt, and the myth was rendered in temple inscriptions and in the Demotic literary version of the second century CE. The cycle connected the fierce solar goddess to the cycle of the seasons, the Nile flood, and the renewal of fertility, and the festivals of the return of the goddess were among the joyful celebrations of the Egyptian year.

Tefnut was worshipped at Heliopolis as part of the Ennead and at Leontopolis, the 'city of the lions' in the Egyptian Delta, where she and Shu were venerated as the Two Lions, Ruty. The cult of the Two Lions at Leontopolis tied the air-god and the moisture-goddess to the leonine guardianship of the horizon and the gates of the sun. Tefnut's worship, like that of the other cosmological gods of the Ennead, was bound up with her place in the Heliopolitan system and with her role in the Eye of Ra and Distant Goddess cycle rather than with a single great independent cult of the kind enjoyed by Osiris or Amun.

Tefnut's iconography, the lioness or the lioness-headed woman, and her appearance in the cosmological vignettes of the Ennead, made her a recognizable figure in Egyptian religious art throughout pharaonic history and into the Greco-Roman period. Her place in the Heliopolitan cosmogony, her lioness-form, and her role in the Distant Goddess cycle appear in the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, the temple inscriptions, and the Demotic literature, attesting the persistence of the moisture-goddess and the lioness across three thousand years of Egyptian religion. The temples of the Greco-Roman period, with their elaborate renderings of the Eye of Ra and the return of the Distant Goddess, preserve the fullest development of Tefnut's mythology..

Sacred Texts

Pyramid Texts (c. 2375–2181 BCE; ed. R.O. Faulkner, Oxford, 1969; James P. Allen, SBL, 2005) contain the earliest attestations of Tefnut. Utterance 600 is the key cosmogonic text, placing Tefnut alongside Shu as the firstborn of Atum, establishing the pair as the first two gods produced by the creator. Utterance 301 invokes the pair among the primordial gods. Utterances 217 and 222 address Tefnut in connection with the moisture that the dead king requires for his ascent, her watery nature present from the oldest funerary corpus.

The Bremner-Rhind Papyrus (c. 312 BCE; BM EA 10188) gives the most explicit textual account of Tefnut's production from Atum: the creator describes spitting out Tefnut from his own body, the name Tefnut echoing the sound of the spit. The papyrus presents the creation in first-person speech from the sun-god and is the primary source for the physical mechanism of Tefnut's origin; translated in part by Raymond Faulkner, The Bremner-Rhind Papyrus (Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 1936–38).

Coffin Texts (Middle Kingdom, c. 2055–1650 BCE; trans. R.O. Faulkner, Aris & Phillips, 3 vols, 1973–78; hieroglyphic ed. Adriaan de Buck, OIP, 7 vols, 1935–61) contain Spell 75, the opening of the Shu cycle, which invokes Shu and Tefnut as the pair produced from Atum, and Spell 80, which gives the cosmological account of the separation of Geb and Nut in which Tefnut's parenthood of the sky and earth is implied. The Coffin Texts also contain the earliest strands of the Eye of Ra cycle in which Tefnut features as the fierce solar daughter.

The Demotic Myth of the Sun's Eye (Papyrus Leiden I 384; second century CE; Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden) is the principal extended narrative of the Distant Goddess cycle in which Tefnut is the central figure. The papyrus tells how Thoth, in the form of a baboon, coaxes the raging lioness-goddess back from Nubia to Egypt with fables and arguments, and her journey home is a triumphal procession. This is the fullest extant version of the myth of the Eye of Ra who departs and returns; the standard scholarly edition is Françoise de Cenival, Le mythe de l'oeil du soleil (Demotische Studien 9, Sommerhausen, 1988); key passages are discussed in Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. III (UC Press, 1980), pp. 156–162.

Temple inscriptions of the Greco-Roman period at Dendera, Edfu, and Philae preserve the fullest mythological texts for the Eye of Ra and Distant Goddess cycle. The Edfu temple (Ptolemaic; dedicated to Horus and Hathor) and the Dendara temple (Ptolemaic and Roman) both contain hymns and narrative inscriptions describing the return of the Distant Goddess, equated with Tefnut, Hathor, and Sekhmet, from Nubia. These texts are translated and discussed by Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. III: The Late Period (UC Press, 1980). Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride (Moralia V; Loeb, 1936) places Tefnut within the Ennead and the Osirian family.

Significance

Tefnut's significance lies in her place at the foundation of the Egyptian cosmos as the goddess of moisture, the firstborn of the creator with her brother Shu, and the mother of the sky and the earth, and in her role as the fierce lioness and the Distant Goddess of the Eye of Ra cycle. In the Heliopolitan cosmogony, Tefnut and Shu are the first pair of gods produced by Atum, the moisture and the air drawn from the creator, and from them descend the sky and the earth and the whole Ennead. As one of the first elements of the cosmos, Tefnut is at the beginning of the descent of the gods and the structure of the world.

Tefnut matters above all for her role as the Eye of Ra and the Distant Goddess. The cycle of the fierce lioness who departs from Egypt in anger, withdraws to Nubia, and is brought home by the eloquence of Thoth is a central myth of Egyptian religion, expressing the ambivalence of the solar power, at once protective and destructive, and the need to tame the dangerous heat of the sun and restore it as a blessing. Tefnut, as the Eye of Ra and the Distant Goddess, stands at the center of this cycle, and her departure and return embody the loss and recovery of the protective solar power and the renewal of the land.

Tefnut is significant for the Egyptian conception of the fierce solar goddesses. Her overlap with Hathor and Sekhmet as the Eye of Ra, the lioness-goddesses who embody the burning power of the sun, places her within the family of fierce solar goddesses central to Egyptian religion, and her lioness-form expresses the dangerous and protective power of the sun. The cooling of her rage, the quenching of the burning lioness in water, ties her nature as the goddess of moisture to her role as the fierce Eye of Ra, uniting the moisture-goddess and the lioness in the image of the cooling of the burning power of the sun.

Tefnut's place in the Heliopolitan cosmogony gives her a significance for the Egyptian conception of creation and the structure of the cosmos. As the firstborn moisture of the creator, paired with the air, and the mother of the sky and the earth, Tefnut is a foundational figure of the Heliopolitan system, at the beginning of the descent of the gods and the making of the world. Her production from Atum, by the creator's spittle, is among the central images of Egyptian cosmogony.

For the broader study of Egyptian religion, Tefnut is significant as a witness to the Heliopolitan cosmogony, to the family of fierce solar goddesses, and to the cycle of the Eye of Ra and the Distant Goddess. Her place in the Ennead, her lioness-form, her role as the Eye of Ra, and her great myth of departure and return made her a figure of two faces, the cosmic moisture of creation and the fierce lioness of the sun, present throughout three thousand years of Egyptian religious thought and art. The moisture-goddess and lioness who is the firstborn of the creator, the mother of the sky and the earth, and the Distant Goddess whose return renews the land remains a significant figure of the Egyptian cosmos.

Connections

The cosmogony of Heliopolis is the theological system in which Tefnut is the moisture-goddess, the firstborn of Atum with her brother Shu and the mother of the sky and the earth. Tefnut's place in this system, as the moisture drawn from the creator, fixes her identity in the Egyptian account of creation.

The Ennead is the group of nine Heliopolitan gods to which Tefnut belongs, the divine family descending from Atum that includes Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Tefnut occupies the first generation of created gods alongside Shu, the moisture drawn from the creator.

The Distant Goddess entry addresses the cycle of the fierce goddess who departs from Egypt to Nubia and must be brought home, in which Tefnut is one of the goddesses identified with the Distant Goddess, the raging lioness brought back by the eloquence of Thoth. The Eye of Ra entry covers the protective and destructive daughter of the sun-god with whom Tefnut is identified in this cycle.

The Atum entry addresses the creator of Heliopolis, Tefnut's father, who produced her and Shu from his own body, by spitting out Tefnut and sneezing out Shu. The Ra entry covers the sun-god, the father of the Eye of Ra with whom Tefnut is identified, whose protective daughter departs and returns in the Distant Goddess cycle.

The Hathor entry addresses the cow-goddess who, with Sekhmet, overlaps with Tefnut as the Eye of Ra in different moods, the fierce solar goddesses treated as aspects of the single Eye. The Thoth entry covers the god of wisdom and eloquence sent to fetch the Distant Goddess from Nubia, who by his tales soothes her rage and brings her home.

The Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys entries cover the four great gods of the Osirian drama, Tefnut's grandchildren, the children of Geb and Nut. Among the sibling deities of this batch, Shu is Tefnut's twin and consort, the air to her moisture, and Nut and Geb are her children, the sky and the earth. The Coffin Texts contain early references to Tefnut alongside Shu in the cosmogonic spells, and the Demotic Myth of the Sun's Eye preserves the fullest narrative of her return from Nubia. The connections of Tefnut thus run through the whole Heliopolitan system, from the creator Atum and the production of the first gods through the descent of the sky and the earth to the cycle of the Eye of Ra and the return of the Distant Goddess.

Further Reading