The Fluidity in Beginnings: Creation Myths of Ancient Egypt

Haven’t we all thought of different scenarios where we were in a completely new story? Could you have been born into a billionaire’s family? What if you were one of the Avengers? Or a secret agent off to save the world? Maybe a suave and cool movie star doing an interview…

I tend to daydream a lot of different scenarios where I am not a 20-something graduate who has lived a pretty normal life up until now. Combine this tendency of mine alongside an energetic brain with Egyptology (the love of my life), and it will most likely explain my curious nature of all things Ancient Egypt.

So as usual, I took a deep dive into this world and found something new to fixate on.

An aspect of Ancient Egypt’s culture I was interested in was their different ideologies on creation. There were a prevalent number of views on the cosmogony of the worlds and each of these views originated from a specific city/place.

(The Egyptians, like me, dreamed up of different beginnings- of the world though, not of themselves)

Out of the many myths that existed, 4 of them were extremely popular and survive to this day. With that, I gleefully state that it's time to explore the formation of the universe!

(To make things simpler, I will use charts to show the process of creation rather than writing a long and probably boring explanation)

Photo by Color Crescent on Unsplash

HERMOPOLITAN THEOLOGY

The city of Hermopolis was located near the boundary of the two regions of Ancient Egypt (Upper and Lower Egypt). Hermopolis is the Greek name of the city. It was originally known as Khmunu, which means “City of the Eight”. The Egyptian name refers to the main cult that existed in this city and its view of creation.

The characters in this theology are below:-

1. The Ogdoad (a group of 8 deities, 4 male and 4 female) were the creators of the world. These deities lived harmoniously in primeval waters:

• Nu and Naunet- The primeval waters (the manifestation of the waters)
• Kek and Kauket- The darkness of the primordial state
• Heh and Hauhet- The infinite extent of the primordial state
• Amun and Amaunet- The hidden and unknowable nature of the waters

2. The Pyramidal Mound that was formed after the Ogdoad collided and created a burst of energy (sort of like the Big Bang)

3. Ra/ Sun who emerged from said mound and created the rest of the world.

The Hermopolitan Creation Myth, made by the author

HELIOPOLITAN THEOLOGY

Heliopolis was another major cult city located in Lower Egypt. This name is one that was given by the Greeks. It was originally known as Iwnw (The Pillars). This town held a special affinity to the sun god and based their creation myth around him.

The characters of this story are:-

1. Atum, the sun god. He was the creator and was a version of Ra (Ra had 3 forms- Khepri, Ra and Atum). Through him, all gods and things came into being.
2. Shu, the god of air and the male offspring of Atum.
3. Tefnut, the goddess of moisture/rain and the female offspring of Atum.
4. Geb, the god of the earth and the son of Shu and Tefnut.
5. Nut, the goddess of the sky and the daughter of Shu and Tefnut.
6. Osiris, the god of order and fertility and the son of Geb and Nut (He becomes the god of the Underworld as well, but that's another story).
7. Set, the god of chaos and storms and the son of Geb and Nut.
8. Isis, the goddess of healing and magic and the daughter of Geb and Nut.
9. Nephthys, the goddess of air and darkness and the daughter of Geb and Nut.

These individual deities were grouped together and known as The Ennead (a group of 9).

The Heliopolitan Creation Myth

MEMPHITE THEOLOGY

The city of Memphis (or Men-nefer) was located in lower Egypt. This city was a favorite of the deity Ptah (The god of craftsmen). Memphis was seen as a religious center with the Triad of Ptah, Sekhmet (wife) and Nefertem (son) and hence advocated a cosmogony similar to the Heliopolitan one, but focused on the power of the god of craftsmen and architects.

The characters (well there is only one new addition) of this legend are:-

1. Ptah, the god of craftsmen and the creator god. Due to his creative nature, he envisioned the creation he wished for and then spoke it into existence. The first thing/person he created was Atum.
2. The Ennead. The rest of the deities follow the same order as the one above, in the Heliopolitan view.

The Memphite Creation Myth

THEBAN THEOLOGY

Thebes (also known as Waset) was a city located in Upper Egypt. It was a city of great importance and peaked during the New Kingdom period of Ancient Egypt. In this period, the prominence of the god Amun swelled. Amun (from the Hermopolitan theology) was one of the Ogdoad deities but his popularity grew immensely and he became the chief deity of the city and the head of its triad- Amun, Mut (his wife) and Khonsu (his son).

The Theban theology is interesting as it takes all three of the above-mentioned theologies and puts a very advantageous spin on it.

They believed that Amun was the supreme deity and creator. He was responsible for the birth of the cosmos and all the gods. So the characters of this theology are the ones that you already know about:

1. Amun- the supreme deity and creator of the world. In addition to this, he was seen as a sun god, similar to the god Ra.
2. The Ogdoad (well the seven of them now)
3. The Ennead
4. Ptah

And the entire Egyptian pantheon…

The Theban Creation Myth

And those were the 4 main creation myths that prevailed in Ancient Egypt.

The creation myths stated by each city were not too dissimilar from each other, but they did have a personal touch to them that brought a variation to each story.

Each myth focused on raising the status of their deities by placing them at the helm of creation. In this way, they manipulated the events of cosmogony to elevate the status and importance of their city.