Mut

The goddess Mut was the wife of Amun and so was a sky goddess. Her name meant literally 'mother'. As the Greeks equated her husband with Zeus, the father of the gods, so she was compared with Hera, his wife.

In earliest times she was worshipped in the form of a vulture, the hieroglyph of her name being a picture of that bird, and in painting and sculpture she is usually shown wearing a head-dress in the form of vulture. The relationship between motherhood and vultures is difficult for us to understand, but may stem from the vulture's habit of extending its wings to cover the young protectively whilst providing them with food.

Mut was identified with both Bast and Sekhmet and could assume the form of either a cat or lion - indeed she is more often associated with cats than she is with vultures.

She was probably the original god of Thebes and was Amun's wife when his cult became popular in the area.

Amun and Mut had no children of their own but they adopted first Montu and then later Khonsu, with whom they formed the Theban triad.