![book of the heavenly cow hieroglpyhic book of the heavenly cow hieroglpyhic](https://cdn.britannica.com/s:300x169,c:crop/59/25059-050-5E36B57C/tomb-Tutankhamun-Valley-of-the-Kings-Thebes.jpg)
The Ptolemaic temple of Edfu is dedicated to Horus the Elder and there he is called the son of Nut and Geb, brother of Osiris, and the eldest son of Geb. He was the Egyptian counterpart to the Greek god Apollo, who was made syncretic with Horus in the Hellenistic era as 'Horus the Elder'. A fifth child named Arueris is mentioned by Plutarch. During this time she birthed four children: Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys.
![book of the heavenly cow hieroglpyhic book of the heavenly cow hieroglpyhic](https://journals.openedition.org/bifao/docannexe/image/10285/img-15.jpg)
He decreed, "Nut shall not give birth any day of the year." At that time, the year was only 360 days. Ra, the sun god, was the second to rule the world, according to the reign of the gods. Osiris is killed by his brother Set and scattered over the Earth in 14 pieces, which Isis gathers up and puts back together. From the union of Geb and Nut came, among others, the most popular of Egyptian goddesses, Isis, the mother of Horus, whose story is central to that of her brother-husband, the resurrection god Osiris. Nut appears in the creation myth of Heliopolis which involves several goddesses who play important roles: Tefnut (Tefenet) is a personification of moisture, who mated with Shu (Air) and then gave birth to Sky as the goddess Nut, who mated with her brother Earth, as Geb. In direct contrast to most other mythologies which usually develop a sky father associated with an Earth mother (or Mother Nature), she personified the sky and he the Earth. Nut and her brother, Geb, may be considered enigmas in the world of mythology. This ladder-symbol was called maqet and was placed in tombs to protect the deceased, and to invoke the aid of the deity of the dead. Great goddess Nut with her wings stretched across a coffinĪ sacred symbol of Nut was the ladder used by Osiris to enter her heavenly skies.