Ancient Egyptian Religion · deity
Shu
Shu
deitythe airthe atmospherethe first divine pair (with Tefnut)
God of the air, son of Atum-Ra (with Tefnut); he holds up the sky (Nut) to keep it from the earth (Geb).
The account
Who they are
Shu is the god of the air and the atmosphere, the first son of Atum-Ra [S1]S1 · Pyramid Textsc. 2400–2300 BCEtextOpen source ↗[S4]S4 · Hornung, 'The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Dead' / 'Nile Religion' (academic)modern (translation & scholarship)academic. He and his sister Tefnut (moisture) are the first divine pair born from the self-created god. Their children are Geb (earth) and Nut (sky) [S1]S1 · Pyramid Textsc. 2400–2300 BCEtextOpen source ↗[S4]S4 · Hornung, 'The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Dead' / 'Nile Religion' (academic)modern (translation & scholarship)academic. Shu's defining image is that of the supporter: he stands between earth and sky, holding Nut up with his hands so that the sky does not collapse onto the earth [S4]S4 · Hornung, 'The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Dead' / 'Nile Religion' (academic)modern (translation & scholarship)academic. He is a god of the ordered atmosphere — the space between the solid earth and the solid sky that the air (Shu) maintains [S4]S4 · Hornung, 'The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Dead' / 'Nile Religion' (academic)modern (translation & scholarship)academic.
Worth knowing
- Holds up the sky (Nut) to keep it from the earth (Geb) [S4]S4 · Hornung, 'The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Dead' / 'Nile Religion' (academic)modern (translation & scholarship)academic.
- Son of Atum-Ra; brother of Tefnut [S1]S1 · Pyramid Textsc. 2400–2300 BCEtextOpen source ↗[S4]S4 · Hornung, 'The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Dead' / 'Nile Religion' (academic)modern (translation & scholarship)academic.
- Father of Geb and Nut [S1]S1 · Pyramid Textsc. 2400–2300 BCEtextOpen source ↗[S4]S4 · Hornung, 'The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Dead' / 'Nile Religion' (academic)modern (translation & scholarship)academic.
Relationships (6)
Connections
Family & kinship
Partners
PARTNER_OFTefnut — Shu and Tefnut are the first divine couple.[S1] [S4]
Creation
CREATEDAtum-Ra (the primordial waters' first god) — Atum-Ra created Shu (and Tefnut) from his own body.[S1] [S4]
Alliances & rule
RULESNut — Shu holds up the sky (Nut) to keep it from the earth (Geb).[S4]
Local graph
Their corner of the divine world
Viewhierarchical — generations top → bottom, partners side by side
Overlays
FocusShuEgyptian
- parentage
- marriage ♥
far = primordials · medium = all · close = detail — scroll/pan, click a deity to focus
1 story
The Heliopolitan Creation (Atum-Ra)
In the Heliopolitan tradition, the self-created god Atum-Ra rose from the primordial waters (Nun) — sometimes on a mound of earth (the benben). From his own body he created Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), the first divine pair. Their children were Geb (earth) and Nut (sky). This is the genealogy behind the Osiris cycle [S1]S1 · Pyramid Textsc. 2400–2300 BCEtextOpen source ↗[S4]S4 · Hornung, 'The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Dead' / 'Nile Religion' (academic)modern (translation & scholarship)academic.
Depictions
