Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

NUT 227One of the TUATHA DE DANANN who lost anarm at the Battle of Moytura against the Fir Bolg.The arm was replaced by the physician godDIANCECHT who made a prosthesis out of silver,hence Nuada argatlam (Nuadu of the silver hand).The original sanctuary at Lydney in Gloucestershirewas taken over and enlarged by the Romanswho renamed the god Nodens. Also considered tobe the father of the Irish royal dynasty.NudimmudCreator god. Mesopotamian (Sumerian). Rapidlysyncretized with the Akkadian god EA.Nuli’rahak (big woman)Sea spirit. Siberian Inuit. A fearsome old womanwho lives in the ocean depths and owns all the seacreatures. She feeds off the bodies of drownedfishermen.See also ARNA’KUAGSAK.NunPrimordial god. Egyptian. One of the eightdeities of the OGDOAD representing chaos, he iscoupled with the goddess NAUNET and appears inanthropomorphic form but with the head of afrog. No cult is addressed to Nun but he is typicallydepicted holding aloft the solar barque orthe sun disc. He may appear greeting the risingsun in the guise of a baboon. Nun is otherwisesymbolized by the presence of a sacred cistern orlake as in the sanctuaries of Karnak and Dendara.NunbarsegunuObscure mother goddess. Mesopotamian (Sumerianand Babylonian-Akkadian). Mentioned in creationtexts as the “old woman of Nippur,” she isidentified as the mother of NINLIL, the air goddess.Nunbarsegunu allegedly instructs her daughter inthe arts of obtaining the attentions of ENLIL.Nurelli (Nooralie)Creator god. Australian aboriginal. Chieflyrevered among the Wiimbaio aborigines living inthe area of the Murray River, he is believed tohave created the land of Australia and thenbrought law and order to humankind. His son isGnawdenoorte.NuškuGod of light. Mesopotamian (Sumerian andBabylonian-Akkadian). The son of ENLIL. Also agod of fire, he is symbolized by a lamp. Sanctuarieshave been identified at Harran and Neirab.NUTORIGIN Egyptian. Creator goddess.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 3000 BC andprobably earlier, until the end of Egyptian historycirca AD 400.SYNONYMS none.CENTER(S) OF CULT Heliopolis, Karnak andmany other sanctuaries throughout Egypt.ART REFERENCES wall paintings in the royaltombs at Thebes; sarcophagi, etc.LITERARY SOURCES Pyramid Texts, etc.Nut is the most important female principle of thecreation force in Egyptian cosmogony. Accordingto the Ennead genealogy of the Heliopolis priests,she is the daughter of the god ŠU and the goddessTEFNUT. Generally, however, she is seen as thecreator goddess who, with the sun god, gives birthto the other deities of the pantheon. In legend shebecomes the consort of her brother, the chthonicgod GEB. Their partnership generates ISIS,OSIRIS, SETH and NEPHTHYS. In her earliest