Deities

Tefnut

Egyptian Deities

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Tefnut." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/deities/tefnut.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Tefnut. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/deities/tefnut

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-tefnut,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Tefnut},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/deities/tefnut},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Tefnut is the Heliopolitan goddess of moisture, generated by Atum alongside her twin and consort Shu as the first divine pair, personifying humidity and rain against Shu's dry air. She is depicted as a woman, sometimes lioness headed, and with Shu is the mother of Geb, god of the earth, and Nut, goddess of the sky.

Facts

Function

Domain / Function

Rain and weather 1

Attributions

Mythic Association

Tefnut and her twin Shu were generated together from Atum's own body on the first mound of creation, the first divine pair of the Ennead. Their union produced Geb, the earth, and Nut, the sky, who were said to lie together until Shu parted them, forcing air between earth and sky. 2

Belief

Theology

Polytheistic: many gods 2

Identity

Gender

Female 1

Attestation

Veneration Today

Historically attested; no continuous cult 1

Historicity

Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 2

Practice

Lineage

With Shu she is the mother of Geb, god of the earth, and Nut, goddess of the sky, the second generation of the Heliopolitan Ennead. 1

Origins

Origin of the Name

Egyptian name possibly connected to a root meaning to spit or moisten, reflecting the myth that Atum created her, along with her twin Shu, by spitting or sneezing her into being. 2

Cult

Attributes and Iconography

Shown as a woman with a lioness head, sometimes crowned with a solar disc and uraeus, paired iconographically with her brother husband Shu. 2

Correspondences & Relations