The Ancient One

Nit is complex to understand and Egyptologists are not agreed on her origin or her different aspects. Nit was always considered mysterious and hard to get a grip on. What is written here can therefore not be considered a full description of the deity. Hopefully more will be discovered by time.

The Name of Nit

Nit, (Gr: Neith). Her name is of unclear origin. It might mean "primeval water" or "one who is". Her epiteths vary; an early war deity, a patroness of weaving, a funerary deity, a personification of the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, a mother of gods and finally in the Late Period a Creator deity. She is probably that deity who has been important during the longest period of ancient Egyptian history.

Sometimes she is called "She Who Saw Tem's Birth". These associations with water in particular points at her as a creator deity, and equates her with Nunet, (the feminine aspect of Nun), and this places her as the womb of creation from which everything was born.

She is not as well represented in texts or images as other Egyptian deities, but throughout history she was highly regarded and even rose to national power during the Saite period.

Nit in Upper Egypt

Although Nit probably originated in Libya, the earliest traces comes from Upper Egypt. Her influence seems to have been at its height in the Predynastic and Early Dynastic Period. She is not documented in writing before the last part of the Predynastic period, but there is evidence of her before that time:

Associations to a beetle

There are certain signs that in the Predynastic days she was associated with the large click beetle, which was common in the Nile valley. Her symbol then consisted of two beetles depicted head to head over two crossed arrows. It is unknown why Nit was linked to this animal, later this symbol was interpreted as a shield and from the 1st Dynasty the sign of a tied pair of bows linked her with the name 'Mistress of the Bow'.

War Deity

Her function as a deity of war is probably the earliest one, mainly shown by her attributes the bow, shield and arrows. She blessed the hunter´s weapons and in early times weapons were laid as protection around coffins. The two crossed arrows on a shield could also be seen on top of buildings and boats, thus showing a protective function. She went under the titles of 'Mistress of the bow... ruler of arrows'.

The Nit crown

The red crown of Lower Egypt was made of reeds and went by the name of Nit. Even before the unification of the two countries Nit was the most important deity of Lower Egypt and therefore she became associated with this symbol of Lower Egypt. At that time she was the crown personified, something which in later times also Nekhbet and Wadjet became.

Nit at Abedjou

Her hieroglyph; two crossed arrows on a shield, was carved on a pole in front of the primitive reed shrines and on pottery, also on funerary stelae from Early Dynastic tombs at Abedjou and Diaspolis Parva, and on an inlaid amulet from a tomb at Naq-el-Deir, and even on the roof of boats. There is also a wooden label from Abedjou which appears to show King Aha (c. 3100 BC) visiting a shrine to Nit. These findings indicate that she was important all over Egypt already at an early stage in history. At Abedjou she was connected to the rites of renewal of the king´s power.

Nit in Pyramid Texts

Utt. 308

§ 489
"For I have looked on you as Heru looked on Aset,
I have looked on you as the Snake looked on the Scorpion,
I have looked on you as Sobk looked on Nit,
I have looked on you as Set looked on the Two who are reconciled."

Utt 362

§ 605
"...that I may protect you, even as Nu protected these four goddesses on the day when they protected the throne, namely Aset, Nebt-Het, Nit, and Serqet-hetu..."

She is mentioned several times in the Pyramid Texts. In this context she is clearly associated with protection of the deceased and of the canopic jars. In the company of Aset, Serqet and Nebt-Het she also watched over Wesir´s (Osiris´) bier.

Patroness of Weaving

Through her capacity of patron deity of weaving, the mummy wrappings and linen bandages gave power to the deceased as they were a gift from her, but the hieroglyph that sometimes is seen above her image and often called a weaver´s shuttle has not yet been satisfactorily verified.

Nit in Myth

The myth tells of her intervention when Aset (Gr: Isis) and Nebt-Het (Gr: Nephtys) are forced to work in a weaving house by Set. Through the negotiations of Djehuty (Gr: Thoth), Nit agreed to let her own weavers take their places so that Aset and Nebt-Het could be freed from Set´s imprisonment . In this capacity she also carried a weaver's shuttle as a symbol and was sometimes known as "She Who Saw Tem's Birth" .

In another myth, the 'Contendings of Heru and Set' she is called upon by the other gods to judge in the conflict between the two deities about who should inherit the throne of Egypt, because of her great wisdom. Here she is called the "eldest, the Mother of the gods, who shone on the first face". What is really implied with this, more than that she was regarded as being older than all the gods, we cannot be sure of, since much mythological material about her might have been lost to us.