Shu (Egyptian deity)

Shu
God of the wind and air
The ancient Egyptian god Shu is represented as a human with feathers on his head, as he is associated with light and air. This feather serves as the hieroglyphic sign for his name. Shu could also be represented as a lion, or with a more elaborate feathered headdress.
Name in hieroglyphs
Major cult center	Heliopolis, Leontopolis
Symbol	the ostrich feather
Consort	Tefnut
Parents	Ra or Atum and Iusaaset
Siblings	Tefnut Hathor Sekhmet
Offspring	Nut and Geb

Shu (Egyptian for "emptiness" and "he who rises up") was one of the primordial Egyptian gods, a personification of air, one of the Ennead of Heliopolis.

In some myths, Shu was the son of Atum and Iusaaset. In other versions, Shu and his sister Tefnut were created by Atum alone, via parthenogenesis. With Tefnut ("moisture"), Shu was the father of Nut and Geb and grandfather of Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. His great-grandsons are Horus and Anubis.

As the air, Shu was considered to be cooling, and thus calming, influence, and pacifier. Due to the association with air, calm, and thus Ma'at (truth, justice and order), Shu was portrayed in art as wearing an ostrich feather. Shu was seen with between one and four feathers. The ostrich feather was symbolic of lightness and emptiness. Fog and clouds were also Shu's elements and they were often called his bones. Because of his position between the sky and earth, he was also known as the wind.