A deep connection between the Milky Way and the Egyptian goddess Nut has been revealed

The connection of Egyptian mythology to astronomy and the structures of the universe is perhaps greater than can be imagined. A study from the University of Portsmouth analyzed the iconography of Nut, the sky goddess, and found a direct connection with the Milky Way.

The people of ancient Egypt were famous for their astronomical knowledge. They had concepts about eclipses, planets, moons, stars, atmospheres, and even concepts such as the cosmic vacuum.. Nut is the god who represents the sky. Artists painted her as a woman made up of stars in an arched position, covering Geb, her brother, the earth god. Outer space has been well defined, although the remoteness of that knowledge is a mystery to historians.

Through symbolic association, some Egyptologists believe that Nut was also a reflection of the Milky Way. Ur Grauer, professor of astrophysics, set out to find evidence to support this theory through an interdisciplinary approach. The author used astronomical simulations of the ancient Egyptian night sky and compared them to major cultural representations of the goddess. He also investigated Nut's relationship to universal mythology, which actually spoke of the galaxy through gods or other symbols.

Walnuts and the Milky Way

For Grauer, the artists who painted the goddess were clearly inspired by the great white road that crosses the sky. Nut's head points to the western horizon, while his thigh lies on the other side. Furthermore, the direction of the Milky Way in summer and winter matches the pictorial markings on its spine and arms.

On the cultural side, the researcher as well Significant associations were found Walnuts with milky way. The path of the stars in the sky, described by the Greeks as the path of breast milk, is associated with concepts such as rivers, roads or the path between human life and the “beyond” of the ancients. According to Egyptian mythology, Nut, in addition to being the goddess of the sky, played an important role in directing the pharaoh's soul towards the afterlife, in the sky. Other Native American and Mesoamerican deities associated the visible disk of the galaxy with the same purposes.

Family inspiration

According to the author, it was his daughters who sparked his interest in investigating the goddess’s connection to the galaxy. On a visit to a museum, they were amazed by the image of a hunched woman and have since asked their father to tell them stories about her. Faced with demand, he decided to combine his field, astronomy, with Egyptology, his family's interest.

“My research shows how bringing together disciplines can offer new insights into ancient beliefs and sheds light on how astronomy connects humanity across cultures, geographies, and time. This paper represents an exciting start to a larger project to catalog and study cross-cultural myths of the Milky Way,” says Grauer. .

After thousands of years of Egyptian culture flourishing, today more is known about the Milky Way. The galaxy is 200,000 light-years long and 1,000 light-years thick. There are also traces that indicate that it is the product of the collision of several primitive groups.