Shu: Egyptian God Of Air, Symbol Of Life-Giving Breath And The One Who Separates Heaven From Earth

A. Sutherland  – AncientPages.com – In Egyptian mythology, the god Shu was the god of air and of sunlight and represented a life-giving breath. In this function, he is seen by mythology as separating heaven from Earth.

Shu, whose name probably means: ‘emptiness’, ‘void’ or ‘dryness’ was a member of a group of nine gods that also included Atum, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys.

They formed the Ennead that was worshipped at Heliopolis, one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt occupied since the Predynastic Period, and home to the cult of the sun god Atum, who was first identified with Ra and later with Horus.

Shu was husband and brother of Tefnut, the goddess usually believed to symbolize moisture; the pair produced Geb, the god of the earth, and Nut, goddess of the sky.

An Egyptian myth tells that these two were constantly quarreling so Shu had to separate them. Nut kept swallowing the constellations (her own children) and Geb was very angry because every morning the stars disappeared. Shu had to lift Nut from Geb, separating Earth from heaven, and thus symbolically, he stands between Nut and Geb.

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