Introduction
Tefnut is the goddess of moisture, created alongside her twin brother Shu as the first divine offspring of Atum in the Heliopolitan cosmogony.
Family
Moisture and Order
Tefnut and Shu together produced Geb and Nut, continuing the Ennead's line of descent. In a well-known later myth, Tefnut is described as withdrawing from Egypt to Nubia in anger and having to be coaxed home by Thoth (or Shu) in the guise of a baboon — a story connected to the annual return of the life-giving Nile inundation and to the broader theme, shared with the Eye of Ra myths, of a wandering, dangerous goddess who must be placated to restore order.
Ancient Egyptian religion spanned three millennia and many regional cult centers, so parentage, roles and even gender pairings for a given deity often differ between the Heliopolitan, Hermopolitan, Memphite and Theban theological systems; the account above follows the most widely attested classical version.