Neith

In Egyptian tradition Neith is attested as a primordial creative force linked to the waters of Nun. In temple inscriptions and creation mythic material she is credited in some texts with bringing the first land into being from the primordial waters, 'reweaving' or restoring the cosmos, and is described in later sources as the 'Great Mother' or even 'the Mother and Father of all things.'

Neith is typically depicted as a woman wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, often shown holding a bow and arrows; her emblem is a hieroglyphic sign of two crossed bows (sometimes over a shield) which frequently appears above her head as the emblem of Sais. She may also be represented holding the was-sceptre and the ankh in iconography.

Sources attribute to Neith cosmic-creative powers (creating first land from Nun, reweaving the world), maternal/procreative roles (mother of deities such as Ra and Sobek in some traditions, and in some accounts mother of Apep), martial and liminal functions (patron of hunting and warfare; called an 'Opener of the Ways' indicating guide roles for battle, ritual, and the dead), and funerary-protective duties (appearing alongside Isis, Nephthys, and Serket as a guardian of the deceased, and associated with protection of Duamutef, one of the Four sons of Horus). She is also linked to weaving and linen, connecting textile craft to cosmological renewal and to mummy wrappings.