Egyptian Mythology: The Creation Story and the Story of Re · 6:37pm Mar 31st, 2017
Egyptian Mythology: The Creation Story and the Story of Re
From the beginning of time, before there was any land of Egypt, all was darkness and there was only the watery chaos, called Nun. The world was originally a dark, endless chaos of primitive waters. Nun was the primordial chaos and the void. Within the cosmic ocean was a swirling mass of energy which all of the primordial Gods came from.
Nun was the father of the entire pantheon of primordial Gods. His female aspect was said to be Naunet.
Thoth emerged from he waters of Nun and created himself through the power of language. His song was thought to have created eight deities of the Ogdoad or primordial chaos.
The forces of chaos created by Thoth's song were represented by an ogdoad consisting of four pairs of deities: Nun and Naunet, the god and goddess of the waters; Kek and Keket, the forces of darkness; Heh and Hauhet, the spirits of boundlessness, eternity, chaos, or infinite time; and Niau and Niaut, the invisible powers, air, or the void.
Some legends further divide up the roles and say that Nun was the god of the primordial water while Naunet was the goddess of the primordial sky. In these legends Kek was the god of the primordial darkness while Keket was the goddess of the primordial light. Heh was the god of the primordial boundlessness, eternity, chaos, or infinite time while Hauhet was the goddess of the primordial atmosphere. Niau was the god of the primordial invisible powers, air, or the void while Niaut was the goddess of the primordial magic.
The primordial gods were all depicted with frog's heads, while the primordial goddesses had the heads of serpents. These eight elements interacted causing an explosion and the burst of energy which was released caused the primeval mound (located at Hermopolis, but originally known as the "Isle of Flame") to rise from the water. The primeval mound took the shape of a God and was known as Ptah.
It was thought The gods and goddesses of the Ogdoad then ruled the earth during the Golden Age. When they died they took up residence in the "Duat" (or "Tuat" - the Underworld). The ensured that the Nile continued to flow, that the inundation would come every year and caused the sun to rise each day.
When the eight gods created a burst of energy, the first creator God, Ptah, emerged from the water and came into being. Ptah was the primordial mound, that called everything into existence. He created the universe out of chaos and dust. The chaos around Ptah was personified as deities that swirled around him in the universe which he called into being. He was also regarded as the father of the human sage Imhotep, who was later deified. His wives were Sekhmet and Bast. Together they later had a son named Nefertem.
Nefertem was the god of the lotus blossom who emerged from the primeval waters at the beginning of time, shortly after the sun god Atum emerged from a golden egg. He was born from the union of Ptah, Bast, and Sekhmet and was the god of perfume and aromatherapy. According to one version of the creation story of the Ennead in Heliopolis, Nefertem was born from a blue lotus bud which emerged from the waters of Nun at the beginning of creation. Atum who was born from a golden egg represented the sun, while Nefertem who was later born from a lotus blossom represented the sunrise. As the son of Ptah, he also became patron of the cosmetic and healing arts derived from flowers. He was also linked to rebirth, both as a personification of the newborn sun and as the patron of many of the necessary ingredients of the mummification process. A passage of the Book of the Dead says the blessed dead will "Rise like Nefertem from the lotus, to the nostrils of Ra, and come forth upon the horizon each day".
Within the waters of chaos, another spirit of creation waited to take form.
The power of Nun was such that there arose out of the darkness a great shining egg that contained within it the spirit of creation, and this was Atum. The cosmic egg was created by the gods of the Ogdoad. It was invisible as the sun had not yet been born. When it opened, it revealed the "bird of light", an aspect of the sun god Re (occasionally the egg was said to contain air, associated with Niau and Niaut). In another Egyptian creation myth, the sun god Atum takes the form of Khepri, the scarab god who was mostly credited as the great creative force of the universe. In a quote, Khepri tells us that in the beginning nothing existed before him, not heaven or earth. He also said that everything came out of his mouth that he raised from Nun, the watery abyss, which he also created and used the material in it to make everything.
Atum or Khepri depending on the version of the story, rose up from the chaotic waters with his thoughts and will. With no place to stand in the watery chaos where he appeared, he created a hill. He cast a spell with his own heart to lay a foundation in Maat (Law, order and stability) by which everything in the universe abides. Maat took the form of a feather that was woven into the very fabric of existence so that no one could ever disobey it. This caused the gods and goddess who had previously existed in a chaos like state become ordered and follow the laws of Maat he had woven into them.
The word Maat refers to the fundamental order of the universe in Egyptian belief. Maat was established at the creation of the world, distinguishing the world from the chaos that preceded and surrounds it. Maat encompasses both the proper behavior of humans and the normal functioning of the forces of nature, both of which make life and happiness possible. Because the actions of the gods govern natural forces and myths express those actions, Egyptian mythology represents the proper functioning of the world and the sustenance of life itself. To Egyptians, the most important maintainer of the Maat (order or balance) is the pharaoh. In myth the pharaohs are sons of a variety of deities, usually Horus, therefore they are the designated subject to occupy such position.
Atum established this order by speaking it into existence. He created everything and was alone. It was said that the Temple of Heliopolis was built on top of the hill that Atum created. With the creation of the hill, it represented the coming of light into the darkness of Nun. In the fifth-Dynasty, Atum is the same god as the sun god, Ra, Re, Khepera, or Khepri.
Now Atum was all-powerful, and he could take many forms. His power and the secret of it lay in his hidden name; but if he spoke other names, that which he named came into being.
"I am Khepera at the dawn, and Re at noon, and Atum in the evening. An infant at the dawn, a grown man at noon, and an old person in an evening. And thus I live the full cycle of my life each time the sun passes across the horizon." He said. And the sun rose and passed across the sky and set for the first time.
Since he was the only god in the new world he had created, he want to create more gods, but without a mate he can not reproduce, so he made a union with his shadow. This unusual way of producing offspring was not considered strange to the Egyptians. We see Atum as a bisexual god and sometimes consider his as the "Great He-She". With this, The Egyptians were able to show Atum was the one and only creative force in the universe. Some texts say that the birth of Atum's children was on the hill while other say that Atum stayed in the waters of Nu to give birth. He gave birth to his son by spitting him out and his daughter, he vomited. Shu was the son and was the god of air while Tefnut was the daughter and the goddess of moisture. Shu and Tefnut continued the line of creation by setting up a social order. To the order, Shu supplied the 'principles of life' and Tefnut contributed the 'principles of order'. These principles were also woven into the very fabric of existence so that their laws could not be broken.
Some time after their birth, Shu and Tefnut got lost in the watery chaos of Nun. Atum, had only one eye that was removable. He removed his eye, which was called the Udjat eye and sent it to search for his children. In no time, the eye returned with the children. Atum wept like a baby with tears of joy after seeing his children. In the places where the tears dropped to the earth, humans came into form. With his children found, Atum was ready to create the world. Later, the gods made another eye, which was the moon. After his second eye was given to him, Atum created the plants and animals, while Shu and Tefnut became parents of Geb, the earth and Nut, the sky. When Geb and Nut were born, they were tangled together. They were later separated by their father, Shu, so that Nut stretched over Geb. Although they wanted to be tangled together, they had to always be distanced from one another so that they could create the foundation of the earth and the sky for people to live on an under. Despite being separated, Nut later became parents of Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephthys. Presumably because she had become pregnant before being separated from Geb and holding up the sky above him.
As each God and Goddess came into being, Atum named them for by giving them a name he was able to give them power.
He named his son Shu, and the first winds blew; he named his daughter Tefnut the spitter, and the first rain fell. Next he named Geb, and the earth came into being; he named the goddess Nut, and she was the sky arched over the earth with her feet on one horizon and her hands on the other; he named Hapi, and the great River Nile flowed through Egypt and made it fruitful.
After this Atum named all things that are upon the earth, and they grew. For when Atum gives names to things it also gives them a purpose and make them bound by the laws of heaven and earth. Last of all he named mankind where his tears had fallen to the earth, and there were men and women in the land of Egypt.
When Atum was finished creating the world, he changed his name to Re. He then took on the shape of a man and became the first Pharaoh, ruling over the whole country for thousands and thousands of years, and giving such harvests that for ever afterwards the Egyptians spoke of the good things "which happened in the time of Re".
But, being in the form of a man, Re grew old. In time men no longer feared him or obeyed his laws. They laughed at him, saying: "Look at Re! His bones are like silver, his flesh like gold, his hair is the color of lapis lazuli!"
Re was angry when he heard this, and he was more angry still at the evil deeds which men were doing in disobedience to his laws. So he called together the gods whom he had made - Shu and Tefnut and Geb and Nut - and he also summoned Nun. Soon the gods gathered about Re in his Secret Place, and the goddesses also. But mankind knew nothing of what was happening, and continued to jeer at Re and to break his commandments. Then Re spoke to Nun before the assembled gods: "Eldest of the gods, you who made me; and you gods whom I have made: look upon mankind who came into being at a glance of my Eye. See how men plot against me; hear what they say of me; tell me what I should do to them. For I will not destroy mankind until I have heard what you advise."
Then Nun said: "My son Re, the god greater than he who made him and mightier than those whom he has created, turn your mighty Eye upon them and send destruction upon them in the form of your daughter, the goddess Sekhmet."
Re answered: "Even now fear is falling upon them and they are fleeing into the desert and hiding themselves in the mountains in terror at the sound of my voice."
"Send against them the glance of your Eye in the form Sekhmet!" cried all the other gods and goddesses, bowing before Re until their foreheads touched the ground.
So at the terrible glance from the Eye of Re his daughter came into being, the fiercest of all goddesses. Like a lion she rushed upon her prey, and her chief delight was in slaughter, and her pleasure was in blood. At the bidding of Re she came into Upper and Lower Egypt to slay those who had scorned and disobeyed him: she killed them among the mountains which lie on either side of the Nile, and down beside the river, and in the burning deserts. All whom she saw she slew, rejoicing in slaughter and the taste of blood.
Presently Re looked out over the land and saw what Sekhmet had done. Then he called to her, saying: "Come, my daughter, and tell me how you have obeyed my commands."
Sekhmet answered with the terrible voice of a lioness as she tears her prey: "By the life which you have given me, I have indeed done vengeance on mankind, and my heart rejoices."
Now for many nights the Nile ran red with blood, and Sekhmet's feet were red as she went hither and thither through all the land of Egypt slaying and slaying.
Presently Re looked out over the earth once more, and now his heart was stirred with pity for men, even though they had rebelled against him. But none could stop the cruel goddess Sekhmet, not even Re himself: she must cease from slaying of her own accord - and Re saw that this could only come about through cunning.
So he gave his command: "Bring before me swift messengers who will run upon the earth as silently as shadows and with the speed of the storm winds." When these were brought he said to them: "Go as fast as you can up the Nile to where it flows fiercely over the rocks and among the islands of the First Cataract; go to the isle that is called Elephantine and bring from it a great store of the red ochre which is to be found there."
The messengers sped on their way and returned with the blood-red ochre to Heliopolis, the city of Re where stand the stone obelisks with points of gold that are like fingers pointing to the sun. It was night when they came to the city, but all day the women of Heliopolis had been brewing beer as Re bade them.
Re came to where the beer stood waiting in seven thousand jars, and the gods came with him to see how by his wisdom he would save mankind.
"Mingle the red ochre of Elephantine with the barley-beer," said Re, and it was done, so that the beer gleamed red in the moonlight like the blood of men.
"Now take it to the place where Sekhmet proposes to slay men when the sun rises," said Re. And while it was still night the seven thousand jars of beer were taken and poured out over the fields so that the ground was covered to the depth of nine inches -- three times the measure of the palm of a man's hand-with the strong beer, whose other name is "sleep-maker".
When day came Sekhmet the terrible came also, licking her lips at the thought of the men whom she would slay. She found the place flooded and no living creature in sight; but she saw the beer which was the color of blood, and she thought it was blood indeed -- the blood of those whom she had slain.
Then she laughed with joy, and her laughter was like the roar of a lioness hungry for the kill. Thinking that it was indeed blood, she stooped and drank. Again and yet again she drank, laughing with delight; and the strength of the beer mounted to her brain, so that she could no longer slay.
At last she came reeling back to where Re was waiting; that day she had not killed even a single man.
Then Re said: "You come in peace, sweet one." And her name was changed to Hathor, and her nature was changed also to the sweetness of love and the strength of desire. And henceforth Hathor laid low men and women only with the great power of love. But for ever after her priestesses drank in her honor of the beer of Heliopolis colored with the red ochre of Elephantine when they celebrated her festival each New Year.
So mankind was saved, and Re continued to rule old though he was. But the time was drawing near when he must leave the earth to reign for ever in the heavens, letting the younger gods rule in his place. For dwelling in the form of a man, of a Pharaoh of Egypt, Re was losing his wisdom; yet he continued to reign, and no one could take his power from him, since that power dwelt in his secret name which none knew but himself. If only anyone could discover his Name of Power, Re would reign no longer on earth; but only by magic arts was this possible.
Geb and Nut had children: these were the younger gods whose day had come to rule, and their names were Osiris and Isis, Nephthys and Seth. Of these Isis was the wisest: she was cleverer than a million men, her knowledge was greater than that of a million of the noble dead. She knew all things in heaven and earth, except only for the Secret Name of Re, and that she now set herself to learn by guile.
Now Re was growing older every day. As he passed across the land of Egypt his head shook from side to side with age, his jaw trembled, and he dribbled at the mouth as do the very old among men. As his spittle fell upon the ground it made mud, and this Isis took in her hands and kneaded together as if it had been dough. Then she formed it into the shape of a serpent, making the first cobra -- the uraeus, which ever after was the symbol of royalty worn by Pharaoh and his queen.
Isis placed the first cobra in the dust of the road by which Re passed each day as he went through his two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. As Re passed by the cobra bit him and then vanished into the grass. But the venom of its bite coursed through his veins, and for a while Re was speechless, save for one great cry of pain which rang across the earth from the eastern to the western horizon. The gods who followed him crowded round, asking: "What is it? What ails you?" But he could find no words; his lips trembled and he shuddered in all his limbs, while the poison spread over his body as the Nile spreads over Egypt at the inundation. When at last he could speak, Re said: "Help me, you whom I have made. Something has hurt me, and I do not know what it is. I created all things, yet this thing I did not make. It is a pain such as I have never known before, and no other pain is equal to it. Yet who can hurt me? - for none knows my Secret Name which is hidden in my heart, giving me all power and guarding me against the magic of both wizard and witch. Nevertheless as I passed through the world which I have created, through the two lands that are my special care, something stung me. It is like fire, yet is not fire; it is like water and not water. I burn and I shiver, while all my limbs tremble. So call before me all the gods who have skill in healing and knowledge of magic, and wisdom that reaches to the heavens."
Then all the gods came to Re, weeping and lamenting at the terrible thing which had befallen him. With them came Isis, the healer, the queen of magic, who breathes the breath of life and knows words to revive those who are dying. And she said:
"What is it, divine father? Has a snake bitten you. Has a creature of your own creating lifted up its head against you? I will drive it out by the magic that is mine, and make it tremble and fall down before your glory."
"I went by the usual way through my two lands of Egypt," answered Re, "for I wished to look upon all that I had made. And as I went I was bitten by a snake which I did not see -- a snake that, I had not created. Now I burn as if with fire and shiver as if my veins were filled with water, and the sweat runs down my face it runs down the faces of men on the hottest days of summer."
"Tell me your Secret Name." said Isis in a sweet, soothing voice. "Tell it me, divine father; for only by speaking your name in my spells can I cure you."
Then Re spoke the many names that were his: "I am Maker Heaven and Earth." he said. "I am Builder of the Mountains. I am Source of the Waters throughout all the world. I am Light and Darkness. I am Creator of the Great River of Egypt. I am the Kindler of the Fire that burns in the sky; yes, I am Khepera in the, morning, Re at the noontide, and Tum in the evening."
But Isis said never a word, and the poison had its way in the veins of Re. For she knew that he had told her only the names which all men knew, and that his Secret Name, the Name of Power, still lay hidden in his heart.
At last she said: "You know well that the name which I need to learn is not among those which you have spoken. Come, tell me the Secret Name; for if you do the poison will come forth and you will have an end of pain."
The poison burned with a great burning, more powerful than any flame of fire, and Re cried out at last: "Let the Name of Power pass from my heart into the heart of Isis! But before it does, swear to me that you will tell it to no other save only the son whom you will have, whose name shall be Horus. And bind him first with such an oath that the name will remain with him and be passed on to no other gods or men."
Isis the great magician swore the oath, and the knowledge of the Name of Power passed from the heart of Re into hers.
Then she said: "By the name which I know, let the poison go from Re for ever!"
So it passed from him and he had peace. But he reigned upon earth no longer. Instead he took his place in the high heavens, traveling each day across the sky in the likeness of the sun itself, and by night crossing the underworld of Amenti in the Boat of Re and passing through the twelve divisions of Duat where many dangers lurk. Yet Re passes safely, and with him he takes those souls of the dead who know all the charms and prayers and words that must be said. And so that a man might not go unprepared for his voyage in the Boat of Re, the Egyptians painted all the scenes of that journey on the walls of the tombs of the Pharaohs, with all the knowledge that was written in The Book of the Dead, of which a copy was buried in the grave of lesser men so that they too might read and come safely to the land beyond the west where the dead dwell.
Sources
Source One: http://www.starsandseas.com/SAS_Mythology/Ecreate.htm
Source Two: http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/egyptian-mythology
Source Three: http://www.egyptianmyths.net/mythre.htm
Source Four: http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/index.html
Source Five: http://www.mythicjourneys.org/bigmyth/myths/english/2_egyptian_full.htm
Source Six: http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/gods/story/main.html
Source Seven: https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/mythology/about-egyptian-mythology
Wow, cool. That was a good read.
4478661 Yay! I am glad that you enjoyed reading it. :)
Now this was refreshing to see. You should be giving mythology lectures.
4478843 I want to start sharing the mythologies of ancient civilizations like Egypt for fun. XD They are something that I find interesting that I just thought I would pass along for anyone who is interested in reading them.
I love Egyptian mythology
4478915 I love it too. I have always found it to be very interesting.
What a story. It was nice of you to share this with us Lyra
4482593 I am happy that you enjoyed reading it, my friend. :)
4482796
Thank you very much Lyra ^_^
4483726 You are very welcome. I am going to be posting all sorts of myths from all around the world. XD
4483729
three cheers for these myths :3
4483985 Hurray!
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:D