This is at https://www.space.com/egyptian-goddess-of-the-sky-astronomy-milky-way … one of the mysteries of ancient history – or is that mythology? What exactly did people see when they looked up into the sky? Did they, for example, differentiate between our atmosphere and deep space? Why is the body of the Egyptian goddess Nut stretched over the earth, as if she was designed to protect the human world below. There are of course lots of theories on the nature of the goddess Nut and not least one that visualises her as the Milky Way. The author of this piece sets out to test the latter idea – and the conclusion is not conclusive either way.
It is an interesting idea. Clube and Napier, in their book, The Cosmic Winter, Blackwell of Oxford:1990, page 61, say that most commentators saw Nut as the heavens, the opposite of Nannet, the counter heaven. Dualism is a feature of Egyptian myth as much as the myth of other cultures. There is a tendency, they say, to think of heaven as the whole sky but Nut was clearly envisaged by the Egyptians as a narrow strip or path stretching across in an east to west plane. It was also a celestial river Nile in the sky. Nut is also depicted as a huge cow with a star spangled belly – a Milky Way traversed daily by the Sun and nightly by the stars or gods. There is a distinct difference between the celestial and the earthly Nile rivers – but modern commentators do not delve too much into that. They went on to suggest that the zodiacal light, which can take a pyramidal shape from the direction of earth, was involved – and in times past it was much brighter and more pronounced as a result of a giant comet breaking up over centuries. In other words, the light of the Milky Way may be a dominant feature in the modern sky but 5000 years ago the zodiacal light was perhaps much brighter and more pronounced and it was this that Nut represented.
So, when reading the link above bear in mind the possibility that it was the zodiacal light rather than the Milky Way. The research is good but it is done from a modern perspective within a modern sky. The celestial Nile could well represent the zodiacal light along the plane of the ecliptic. In order to understand both of these one cannot go amiss by visiting the Wiki – before looking at other points of view, See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiacal_light … and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecliptic …
The goddess Nut is also associated with swallowing the Sun, another tale that is found in other cultures – such as Japan, where the Sun is captured and hidden in a cave. In other words, the Sun was obscured. In the Pyramid Texts pharaoh’s journey to the afterlife involved various spells and magic. The Coffin Texts were also a collection of spells – or ways and means humans hoped to dispel the evil side of the gods. The Book of Nut describes her head and groin as the western and eastern horizons. The horizon was what could be seen from Egypt – in the perspective of a flat earth scenario. She not only swallowed the Sun during daylight but in the night time she obscured the stars. It was extremely dark. Nut was perceived as in some way responsible.
The course of the Sun in the sky follows the plane of the ecliptic. However, darkness on earth must have had something to do with the atmosphere on Earth. Was it overloaded? Egyptian texts also describe Nut as a ladder – or what looked like a ladder, or reaching out with her arms to guide the deceased pharaoh up into heaven. SIS did publish a short article by someone with, it seems, a pseudonym [in order to conceal his real identity] some years ago. He compared the Biblical Exodus event to what was described in the Pyramid Texts. The days long darkness appears to be one similarity and others do exist but without digging it out are outside my memory hole. The ladder in the sky of course has parallels with the story of Jacob resting his head on a pillar of stone and falling asleep only to awaken to the sight of a ladder ascending into heaven. Plasma behaviour can do that according to the Thunderbolts people – but a significant event would be necessary. Not just to be preserved in mythology around the world but in the effect it had on the survivors. This of course puts a different complexion on the Exodus account. Was it derived from Egyptian myth – but that is not entirely necessary as the Canaanites had themselves a fine body of myth.