Birth of the Year, The
Originally, the year had only 360 days. This changed when Atum discovered an illicit passion between his two grandchildren, Nut (Sky) and Geb (Earth), whose union deprived the world of its atmosphere.
According to the Greek version of this tale, Nut and Geb were so closely intertwined that there was no room for anything between them. This angered Atum, who ordered their father Shu, god of air, to separate them. Shu did so by standing on Geb and hoisting Nut above his head so that they could not touch each other. Nut, however, was already pregnant. In his wrath Atum cursed her: she was allowed to give birth, he announced, but she was forbidden to do so on any of the 360 days that made up the year at that time. Among the gods whom Atum created was Thoth, god of wisdom. Thoth loved Nut and decided to help her by challenging the other gods to a game of draughts in which he gambled for more time. He won five days, and by adding them to the existing year he created time for Nut to give birth on successive days to her five children: Osiris, Horus, Seth, Isis, and Nephthys.
According to the Greek version of this tale, Nut and Geb were so closely intertwined that there was no room for anything between them. This angered Atum, who ordered their father Shu, god of air, to separate them. Shu did so by standing on Geb and hoisting Nut above his head so that they could not touch each other. Nut, however, was already pregnant. In his wrath Atum cursed her: she was allowed to give birth, he announced, but she was forbidden to do so on any of the 360 days that made up the year at that time. Among the gods whom Atum created was Thoth, god of wisdom. Thoth loved Nut and decided to help her by challenging the other gods to a game of draughts in which he gambled for more time. He won five days, and by adding them to the existing year he created time for Nut to give birth on successive days to her five children: Osiris, Horus, Seth, Isis, and Nephthys.
_Creation Myths & Stories
General Notes & Unknown Locations
see book "Mythology" p. 21
Elephantine, shrine of, in Upper Egypt
see book "Mythology" p. 18
Heliopolis, in Lower Egypt
Each year, as the Nile flood retreated, the newly fertilized earth began to appear above the surface of the waters. The Egyptians concluded that creation had started in a similar way, with a single mound that rose from the vast expanse of the primeval waters, which contained a procreative energy that was the source of all life.
The mound was central to all Egyptian creation myths, and its existence was never disputed. The god Tatjenen, whose name translates as "Risen Land," personified this primordial feature. But the precise origins of the mound provoked debate: where had it first arisen? Every major religious center claimed that it had emerged at its own site, and theologians spent a great deal of time debating which deity had first appeared there.
The creation myths themselves varied from place to place. At Heliopolis, in Lower Egypt, a family of nine original gods, the Ennead (or "Group of Nine"), as the Greeks later called them, was worshiped. The first god to materialize on the mound was Atum, Lord of Heliopolis, described as "he who came into being of himself." He immediately started to produce more gods: according to one part of the Pyramid Texts, he "took his penis in his hand and ejactulated through it to produce the twins Shu (Air) and Tefnut (Moisture)," while elsewhere in these texts Atum is aid to have "sneezed out Shu and spat up Tefnut." Thus the world's atmosphere was formed. Shu and Tefnut then coupled to produce Geb (Earth) and Nut (Sky). Nut and Geb begat four children: Osiris and Seth, the opposing gods of order and disorder, and their consorts Isis and Nephthys. From these origins all other life came into being. (Littleton, Mythology)
Hermopolis
see book "Mythology", p. 15
Memphis
In contrast to the physical creation in Heliopolis, creation in Memphis was contemplative rather than physically active. Ptah was part of a triad of deities, along with his consort the lioness-goddess Sekhmet and the lotus god Nefertem, understood to be Ptah's son. Like the god Khnum, Ptah was a patron of craftsmen, and his high priest was called the "greatest of the controllers of craftsmen." Ptah created by intellectual effort along, thinking things into existence with the ideas that emanated from his heart and the names that then issued from his tongue. For the Egyptians, the heart was the seat of intellect and the source of any thought, which the tongue then spoke to make real. By uttering a litany of names Ptah was able to produce the gods and all of Egypt, including the cities, shrines, temples, and nomes (provinces.)
The Memphite creation myth exalting Ptah did not supersede the myth of Atum as creator, nor did it reject Atum's actions on the mound. The two myths coexisted: Atum's material presence was symbolized by the sacred hill at every religious site, while Ptah's intellectual presence was in "all gods, all people, all cattle, all creeping things that live." Some variants included both Ptah and Atum: the Ennead and Atum were thought of as the lips and teeth of Ptah. In another fusion, with the god Tatjenen who was personified the primeval mound, Ptah was linked to the sacred hill.
Ptah was one of the oldest creator gods and there were temples to him all over Egypt, but he did not rise to ultimate supremacy in the pantheon. By the Late Period (712-332 B.C.) he had combined with other gods, to become Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, a god of the dead. When the Greeks arrived in Egypt, they identified Ptah with their smith god Hephaistos, and one of Ptah's shrine in Memphis, called Hwt-ka-Ptah ("Mansion of the Spirit of Ptah"), came to refer to the whole region: its Greek form Aeguptos gave us the modern name, "Egypt."
Thebes
see book "Mythology", p. 16
see book "Mythology" p. 21
Elephantine, shrine of, in Upper Egypt
see book "Mythology" p. 18
Heliopolis, in Lower Egypt
Each year, as the Nile flood retreated, the newly fertilized earth began to appear above the surface of the waters. The Egyptians concluded that creation had started in a similar way, with a single mound that rose from the vast expanse of the primeval waters, which contained a procreative energy that was the source of all life.
The mound was central to all Egyptian creation myths, and its existence was never disputed. The god Tatjenen, whose name translates as "Risen Land," personified this primordial feature. But the precise origins of the mound provoked debate: where had it first arisen? Every major religious center claimed that it had emerged at its own site, and theologians spent a great deal of time debating which deity had first appeared there.
The creation myths themselves varied from place to place. At Heliopolis, in Lower Egypt, a family of nine original gods, the Ennead (or "Group of Nine"), as the Greeks later called them, was worshiped. The first god to materialize on the mound was Atum, Lord of Heliopolis, described as "he who came into being of himself." He immediately started to produce more gods: according to one part of the Pyramid Texts, he "took his penis in his hand and ejactulated through it to produce the twins Shu (Air) and Tefnut (Moisture)," while elsewhere in these texts Atum is aid to have "sneezed out Shu and spat up Tefnut." Thus the world's atmosphere was formed. Shu and Tefnut then coupled to produce Geb (Earth) and Nut (Sky). Nut and Geb begat four children: Osiris and Seth, the opposing gods of order and disorder, and their consorts Isis and Nephthys. From these origins all other life came into being. (Littleton, Mythology)
Hermopolis
see book "Mythology", p. 15
Memphis
In contrast to the physical creation in Heliopolis, creation in Memphis was contemplative rather than physically active. Ptah was part of a triad of deities, along with his consort the lioness-goddess Sekhmet and the lotus god Nefertem, understood to be Ptah's son. Like the god Khnum, Ptah was a patron of craftsmen, and his high priest was called the "greatest of the controllers of craftsmen." Ptah created by intellectual effort along, thinking things into existence with the ideas that emanated from his heart and the names that then issued from his tongue. For the Egyptians, the heart was the seat of intellect and the source of any thought, which the tongue then spoke to make real. By uttering a litany of names Ptah was able to produce the gods and all of Egypt, including the cities, shrines, temples, and nomes (provinces.)
The Memphite creation myth exalting Ptah did not supersede the myth of Atum as creator, nor did it reject Atum's actions on the mound. The two myths coexisted: Atum's material presence was symbolized by the sacred hill at every religious site, while Ptah's intellectual presence was in "all gods, all people, all cattle, all creeping things that live." Some variants included both Ptah and Atum: the Ennead and Atum were thought of as the lips and teeth of Ptah. In another fusion, with the god Tatjenen who was personified the primeval mound, Ptah was linked to the sacred hill.
Ptah was one of the oldest creator gods and there were temples to him all over Egypt, but he did not rise to ultimate supremacy in the pantheon. By the Late Period (712-332 B.C.) he had combined with other gods, to become Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, a god of the dead. When the Greeks arrived in Egypt, they identified Ptah with their smith god Hephaistos, and one of Ptah's shrine in Memphis, called Hwt-ka-Ptah ("Mansion of the Spirit of Ptah"), came to refer to the whole region: its Greek form Aeguptos gave us the modern name, "Egypt."
Thebes
see book "Mythology", p. 16
