“White Nut” or “Headless Beast”? On the Rock Art of Wadi Sura

Abstract

The article examines images of “headless beasts” from the Cave of Beasts (Wadi Sura II) in the rocks of Gilf Kebir, Sahara. Based on a comparison of more than 30 almost identical paintings of “beasts”, it is concluded that the central white figure cannot be considered an anthropomorphic prototype of the ancient Egyptian goddess Nut, as the Czech Egyptologist Miroslav Barta unambiguously asserts. Nevertheless, the myth-ritual complex he had spied on actually reveals an inner connection and a number of similarities with the religion of ancient Egypt. According to Vladimir Propp’s observations about initiation rites and egyptological data, parallels are drawn with the later Egyptian tradition. These parallels, however, are found not so much in imagery as in the field of similar cultural and religious principles.