Myths about the creation of the world
in ancient Egypt

In Egyptian, as in many other mythologies, there were several versions of the creation of the world, depending on the time and place of creation. Each of them was based on its own supreme creator-gods, creators of the world and gods. At the same time, all cosmogonic myths, as a rule, were united by the common idea of the emergence of all things from chaos and waters immersed in darkness, which were illuminated and dried by the light or the sun god. At the same time, in ancient Egyptian myths about the creation of the world it was the sun god who was born first and after that created the luminaries, the earth, other gods, people and animals.

Myths of the Early Dynastic Period

The oldest cosmogonic myths of the Early Dynastic period retain traces of totemic ideas, and the gods were depicted with the heads of birds and animals.
According to the first cosmogonic myth, created at the end of the IV millennium BC, as a result of the union of the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut, the sun god Ra was born. In this case, the sky goddess Nut gave birth to the god Ra every morning, and then “swallowed” the evening Sun and at night hid or him.
In some ancient myths, preserving totemic influences, an animal or a bird acted as a generating deity creating the Sun.
Thus, the sky goddess Nut, taking the form of a cow Mehet Urt, with stars scattered all over her body, gave birth to a golden calf in the morning, which grew into a Bull-Pa during the day. In the evening the goddess swallowed the sunny Bull, and in the morning gave birth again. In these myths about "Ra, the golden calf ”, the notions of the daily birth and death of the Sun were asserted.
In one myth, the Sun is a huge ball rolled across the sky by a solar beetle.

Subsequently, various cosmogonic myths arose in several independent religious centers of Ancient Egypt.
Among them stood out: Heliopolis (Greek) or Iunu (Ancient Egyptian, City of Pillars), Memphis or Mennefera, Hi-Ka-Pta (“fortress of the soul of Pta”), Hermopolis or (Khmun, Shmun) (City of Eight) and Thebes or No-Ammon. Each of them had its own supreme creator god to whom the main role in creation was attributed, its own hierarchy of the most honored gods, and its own version of the origin of the world.
The main cosmogonic myths are contained in the “Pyramid Texts”, inscriptions carved on the walls of the inner rooms of the pyramids in the necropolis of Saqqara (middle of the XXIV century BC) , the “Texts of Sarkoos ” (middle of the XXIV century BC). ), “Sarcophagi Texts” inscribed on the walls and surfaces of sarcophagi, mostly from the Middle Kingdom period (2160-1785), in the “Monument of Memphis Theology ‘ (c. XXI century B.C.); ’The Book of the Dead” written on papyrus scrolls (c. 1550 -1292 B.C.).

Heliopolis cosmogonic myth

In the basis of the Heliopolis version recorded in the beginning of the III millennium BC in the “Pyramid Texts”, the creator of the world, the sun god Ra, created himself, emerging from the chaos called Nun or Pervookean, an immense eternal water space.
Ra (the Day Sun) was identified with the creator gods Atum (the Setting Sun, the essence of the sun god Ra, the eternal unity of all things, the “multitude of multitudes”) and Khepri (the Morning Sun, the one who brings about the emergence").
The god Ra created himself within the impenetrable darkness, stillness and frozen cold waters. Having no solid ground beneath his feet for creation, he created out of himself the Primordial Hill of Ben-Ben. Standing on it,
Atum-Ra decided to create gods, visualized their images and breathed out of his mouth the first god Shu (Wind and Air) and spit out the first goddess Tefnut (Moisture and World Order). At this, his father god of chaos exclaimed: “May they grow!”
Shu was the personification of space and was depicted as a man with outstretched wings. There was still darkness, cold and silence and the children of Atum were lost in the Primordial Ocean. He sent his Eye in search of them and created himself a New Eye, endowing it with splendor. In the meantime, the Old Eye found Shu and Tefnut and brought them back. Atum wept for joy, and his tears fell on the Hill of Ben-Ben and were molded into human beings.
In a continuous act of creation, Geb (Earth) and Nut (Sky) were born from the first pair of gods. They in turn gave birth to two gods Osiris (Afterlife and rebirth of life) and two goddesses: Isis (patroness of the feminine, motherhood, vital forces of nature Fertility, motherhood and love) and Seth (Natural world, chaos, war), and Nephthys (Underworld, deserts, healing).
Osiris - (resurrection) and the supreme god of the afterlife, Isis - patroness of the feminine, motherhood, the life forces of nature
This Great Nine Gods - Heliopolis Ennead made up the whole semantic structure of the world picture of the ancient Egyptians. In the anthropological myth of this version people were born from the tears of the god Ra - Khepri.

Memphis cosmogonic myth

In the Memphis Cosmogonic Myth , the creator god is Ptah, the demiurge, patron of artisans and architects, who created the world with thought and word. It was finally formed during the Middle Kingdom (c. 2040-1783).
In the beginning, when neither gods nor world yet existed, everywhere stretched the lifeless Ocean Nun, Ptah himself being the earth. He, existing on his own and not born by anyone, decided to incarnate himself into a deity. By an effort of will he created his flesh - his body - from the earth and became a god. Ptah decided that he would create everything from his own flesh - from the earth.
First Ptah created his double, the divine spirit Ka and Ankh, the sign of life. Before proceeding to populate the earth with gods, Ptah created their Ka and their creative power so that they would become powerful and assist Ptah in his creation.
The thought of Atum arose in his heart and the Word “Atum” on his tongue; Ptah spoke this name - and in that instant Atum was born out of the Primordial Chaos and began to assist his father in the work of creation.
Since Ptah himself was the earth and created everything from the earth, i.e. from himself, Atum, born of the word, and the next great nine gods were created from his flesh - the earth and spirit - the word
Ptah as the creator god, with the help of Atum, created the first eight gods who represented the manifestations of his divine essence or the primary qualities of creation. These gods also constituted a certain structure consisting of four pairs of male and female essences that, when joined together, gave rise to life. Ptah gave all the gods power and endowed them with divine wisdom.
Nun and Naunet (abyss),
Huh and Hukhet (incalculability, embracing everything, infinity),
Kuk and Kuket (darkness, also possessing the potencies of creation);
Amon and Amonet (sightlessness, absence of a definite image,
From these pairs and through them Ptah created the world and everything existing in it: earth and sky, animals, plants, cities, temples, crafts and arts. He “breathed life into people,” gave people laws and writing, taught them to worship the gods, irrigate fields, build houses, carve statues. “The Nine Ptahs created the vision of the eyes, the hearing of the ears, the sense of smell of the nose, that they might communicate all this to the heart, for all true knowledge comes from it, while the tongue repeats only what is conceived by the heart.”
From Ptah came Light and Truth. He is also the creator of the kingdom, the basis and symbol of organization and order.
Ptah himself, his wife the fearsome lioness goddess Sekhmet and their son Nefertum, into whose possession Ptah gave all the vegetation of the earth, made up the Memphis triad.
Ptah created the world “with tongue and heart”, having previously conceived the creation in his heart and named the conceived Word. Every divine word arose from thought, from what the heart conceived and the tongue uttered.
Ptah is the transcendent, transcendent god, the creator who is on the other side of his creation, the One who is in eternity, God in Himself.

Ptah is the Creator God, “who created all things and created the gods”, patron of arts, crafts, shipbuilding and architecture, everything that exists on earth. Ptah is omnipresent and omnipresent, his flesh and creative power reside in every living and non-living Being, he is present in every body, in the mouth of every god, all men, all beasts, for he thinks and commands all things as he wills. The Sarcophagus Text contains the words of Ptah “I am the creator of souls and their life is in my hand, when I will I create and they live, for I am the creating word...”.

Hermopolis Cosmogonic Myth

According to the Hermopolian cosmogony, which emerged during the Middle Kingdom period (c. 2040-1783), in the beginning was traditionally Chaos. In this primordial watery and formless primeval space reigned the forces of destruction: Infinity, Nothingness, Nonexistence, and Darkness. In some sources, the original “negative” forces of Chaos were represented by three pairs of male and female deities:
Tenemu and Tenemuit (Darkness, Disappearance),
Niau and Niaut (Void, Nothingness),
Gerech and Gerecht (Absence, Night).
Within Chaos there was a universal struggle of destructive and creative forces, the latter included the four pairs of original deities from which the world emerged - the Great Eight, the Ogdoada. Their names are known from the “Texts of sarcophagi” carved on the walls during the Middle Kingdom (2040 - 1783 BC)
Nun and Naunet (primordial ocean, water element),
Huh and Haukhet (infinity of formless space),
Kuk and Kauket (darkness, primordial darkness),
Niau and Niaut (nothingness, negation of all form). Later this pair was replaced by another Amon and Amaunet (hidden, invisible, air).
TheEight gods with frog heads, and the goddesses with snake heads swam in the primordial ocean. Then they created the Light and the Firmament or the Primordial Hill, the universal World Mountain.
Subsequently on the Hill arose the city of Hermopolis (Khnum) - the city of Hermes, as it was the center of veneration of Thoth, identified by the Greeks with Hermes. Interestingly, the head of the pantheon of gods Thoth, god of the moon, wisdom, knowledge and writing was not part of the great eight. In later myths Thoth acts as the victor of destructive forces of chaos and the creator of the world.
At the same time in Hermopolis cosmogonic mythology there were three versions of the birth of the god of the sun and the world.
1. The gods of the Great Eight swam in the Primordial Ocean. From earth and water they created an Egg and laid it on the Primordial Hill - “Fire Island”. And there, on the island, the Sun God Khepri - “young Pa” - hatched from the Egg.
2. On the Primordial Hill grew a lotus flower, from which, was born the Sun deity - radiant Ra. From the joy of having found life, the infant Ra cried, and his tears, touching the hill, turned into ludes.
3. There was also a version going back to archaic totemic representations. The egg, from which the Sun God was born, was laid on the Primordial Hill by the Great Gogotun - a white bird, which was the first to fly in and pierce the darkness. The Great Gogotun was depicted as a white goose, the sacred bird of the earth god Geb. The white goose broke the eternal silence of Chaos with its rolling cackling and from its cry the egg was broken and awakened to life. Light poured out of the egg, i.e. the Sun God Khepri-Ra was born and air came out, which divided heaven and earth.
But whatever the birth of Ra was, with his appearance light spilled over the earth. And in the world illuminated by it Ra created the first pair of gods - Shu and Tefnut, from which all other gods went.

The Theban cosmogonic myth

In the Theban version, which emerged during the New Kingdom (16th-14th centuries BC) in the southern city of Uasta (Greek Thebes), the demiurge, creator of the world was the god Amon-Ra, one of the minor members of the fourth pair of the eight gods - Amon-Amaunet, which emerged as a result of the merger of the cults of Amon and Ra.
According to the Theban version of the creation of the world tale, Amon is “originally the first in being, he existed from the beginning ... Created by no one, Amon created himself. Ra himself was united with his body, Atum and Ptah were one body with him.
Amon-Ra appears as the creator and ruler of the world, father of the fathers and king of all gods, who raised the sky, established the earth, which stood out from the initial waters. He became the breath of life of all things, and his name became life. Out of his mouth came gods, and out of his eyes came men. For them he created heaven and earth out of chaos, air for breathing, animals, birds, fish, plants and everything on earth for food. Amon showed people the way, and they improved the cities.
Amon-Ra was depicted with a ram's head, a symbol of fertility and a lion-like body of a sphinx personifying the cult of the sun. Amon-Ra together with his wife, the moon goddess Mut, and his son Khonsu, the god of time, constituted the Theban Triad.