View source for Unut

{{short description|Ancient Egyptian deity}}
{{Distinguish|Nut (goddess)}}
{{For|the town in Armenia|Hunut}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Egyptian
| name = Unut
| image = Unut Goddess.svg
| caption = The egyptian goddess Unut based on other hare-headed deities
| hiero = <hiero>wn:n-nw:t-I12</hiero>
| cult_center = [[Hermopolis]]
| symbol = [[Hare]]
| consort = Wenenu
}}

'''Unut''', also known as '''Wenut''' or '''Wenet''', was a [[Prehistory|prehistoric]] [[Ancient Egypt]]ian [[hare]] and [[snake]] [[goddess]] of fertility and new birth.<ref>{{Cite web |last=San-Aset |date=2020-04-05 |title=The Hare Goddess (Wenet Part 2) |url=https://iseumsanctuary.com/2020/04/05/the-hare-goddess-wenet-part-2/ |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=Iseum Sanctuary |language=en}}</ref>

Known as "The swift one", the animal sacred to her was the hare, but originally, she had the form of a [[snake]]. She came from the fifteenth Upper [[Egypt]]ian province, the [[Hare nome]] (called Wenet in Egyptian), and was worshipped with [[Thoth]] at its capital [[Hermopolis]] (in Egyptian: ''Wenu''). Later she was depicted with a woman's body and a hare's head.<ref>[[Erik Hornung]], ''Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many'', [[Cornell University]] Press 1996, {{ISBN|0-8014-8384-0}}, p. 82</ref> She was taken into the cult of [[Horus]] and later of [[Ra]].

== Etymology ==
[[File:Abydos_KL_05-08_n33.jpg|link=https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Abydos_KL_05-08_n33.jpg|thumb|left|150x150px|Cartouche of pharaoh [[Unas]] with the hare of the goddess Unut]]Her name can be represented with five different [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyphs]], but she rarely appears in literature and inscriptions. Her name was taken into the highest royal position just once in the long Egyptian history. Her male companion is Wenenu, who was sometimes regarded as a form of [[Osiris]] or [[Ra]].<ref name="W1992">{{citation|title=The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt|author-link=Richard H. Wilkinson|first=Richard|last=Wilkinson|page=199|date=2003|publisher=Thames & Hudson |isbn=978-0500051207}} London, Thames and Hudson.</ref>

The only king bearing her name was [[Unas]].

== Iconography ==
[[File:Unut-N_4535-IMG_8415-gradient.jpg|left|thumb|Unut depicted with the head of a lioness, [[Louvre|Louvre Museum]]]]
Unut is commonly portrayed as a woman with the head of the desert or [[Cape hare]], ''Lepus capensis'' of [[Egypt]]. The Egyptians regarded the hare as an example of swiftness, alertness, and keen senses, but the animal’s form was also taken by certain underworld deities.<ref name="W1992" /> Amulets made in the shape of the hare may have related to some aspect of the creature’s nature or may have been symbolic of this goddess.<ref name="W1992" />

==References==
{{Commons category|Unut}}
<references />

{{Ancient Egyptian religion footer}}

[[Category:Egyptian goddesses]]
[[Category:Snake goddesses]]