Nit was the local goddess of Zau (Gr: Sais), known as early as the Predynastic and Early Dynastic Period when her influence probably was at its height. Earliest traces are her hieroglyph (crossed arrows on a shield) on a pole in front of the reed shrines and on pottery from Dynasty I in Abydos.

Nit is sometimes a goddess of war, sometimes the patroness of weaving, a mortuary goddess and in later times an androgynous creator-goddess.

Her function as a deity of war is probably the earliest one, mainly shown by her attributes the bow, shield and arrows. She blessed the hunter´s weapons and in early times weapons were laid as protection around coffins.

Even before the unification of the two countries she was the most important deity of Lower Egypt and therefore the red crown made of reeds, also called Nit, became the symbol of Lower Egypt.

She is called 'the Terrifying One' and as a mortuary deity she protects the king; together with Aset (Isis), Serket (Selket) and Nebt-Het (Nephthys) she watches over the canopic jars. In this company she also watched over Wesir´s (Osiris) bier.

Through her capacity of patron deity of weaving, the mummy wrappings and linen bandages gave power to the deceased as they were a gift from her, but the hieroglyph often called a weaver´s shuttle has not yet been satisfactorily verified. In this context the myth tells of her intervention when Aset and Nebt-Het are forced to work by Set. Through the negotiations of Djehuty (Thoth) Nit agreed to let her own weavers take their places so they could be freed from the imprisonment of Set. In another myth, the 'Contendings of Heru and Set' she is called upon by the other gods to judge in the conflict because of her great wisdom.

During the Third Intermediate she was a national deity and considered the spouse of Khnum at Esna, which she remained into the Ptolemaic times, several depictions of her is found here as well as of her sacred lates-fish, and at Abydos she was connected to the rites of renewal of the king´s power.

In the Late period her cult center was at Zau (Gr: Sais), in Lower Egypt. She was then seen as the mother of Sobek and of Re, and therefore given the epithet 'Mother of Gods'. It is thought her name has associations with water - Nit - Nun - Nunet, and in later times she was regarded as a primeval deity with both male and female properties. At this time she was called 'Father of the Fathers' and 'Mother of the Mothers'.

During the 26th Dynasty she was the local goddess of Zau. This position made her so powerful that she was incorporated into the Greek and Roman pantheon and associated with their Athena and Diana.