chap. xiii. maut, mother. 271 



Maut, Mother, Nature?. 



This Goddess was the second member of the 

 Theban triad. Her name Maut, or Tmau *, signifies 

 '* mother ; " and though many Divinities, as Isis, 

 Netpe, and others, have the title " Motlier God- 

 dess," the name Maut was peculiarly applied to 

 the one before us, who may with much reason be 

 supposed to represent in tliis capacity Nature, the 

 mother of all. From the presence of the Vulture 

 in her hieroglyphics, she has been supposed the 

 same as Neith (Minerva) ; but that bird is merely 

 a phonetic character signifying ** mother," and not 

 an emblem of the Goddess herself. For the Vul- 

 ture, as Horapollo observes t, being the peculiar 

 type of a female, and of maternity, " the Egyptians, 

 whenever they wish to designate a mother, repre- 

 sent this bird." 



Some may be disposed to identify her with Buto, 

 the Latona of Egypt, and imagine that the name 

 she bears refers to the office she held in the creation 

 of the world, or to her duties as nurse of Horus. 

 Some indeed have confounded Buto with Minerva, 

 who was said to have been the tutor of Bacchus.t 



The oracle of Buto was one of the most ce- 

 lebrated in the world, and the honours rendered 

 this Goddess by the Egyptians were doubtless 

 very great, since, as Herodotus states, they had 

 greater veneration for her oracle §, than that of 



* Or Mail, t being the female sign. f Ilorapollo, i. 1 1. 



J Diodor. iii. 09/ i Ilcrodot. ii. 83. 



