Through the Eras

ReligionPapyrus drawing of the separation of the Sky and Earth. Shu, the god of air, stands on the prone Geb, the god of the earth, whilelifting Nut, the goddess of the sky, overhead. GIRAUDON/ART RESOURCE, NY.agery is reversed. This reversal was probably due to thesource of moisture in Egypt. In most places the land dependson rainfall, seen as the semen of the sky god, forfertility. In Egypt, the fertility of the land did not dependon rainfall, which was scarce in Egypt, but ratheron the rising floodwaters of the Nile. Since the earth wasconsidered to be the source of these waters, it would followthat the earth was male.THREAT OF EXISTENCE. Another important aspectto this myth is the precariousness of the continued existenceof the world. All life as the Egyptians knew ittook place within the bubble created by the bodies ofGeb and Nut separated by Shu. This bubble existedwithin the vast realm of chaos, Nun. At any point, thesky could come crashing down on the earth, obliteratingall life and returning everything to Nun. Magicalspells threatened to cause this to come about if the practitionerdid not gain what he desired. Rituals were carriedout in Egyptian temples in order to prevent thiswatery chaos—represented by the serpent Apophis—from overcoming Re—the sun god. In one passage inthe Book of the Dead, Atum, in dialogue with Osiris,says that one day “this land will return to Nun, to theflood, like it was before.”HELIOPOLITAN ENNEAD. Geb and Nut eventuallygive birth to two gods, Osiris and Seth, and two goddesses,Isis and Nephthys. Osiris and Isis give birth tothe god Horus. The myths surrounding these deities belongto the funerary mythology. The birth of these godscompletes the Heliopolitan Ennead, or group of ninegods: Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth,and Nephthys. Horus, the tenth member of the Ennead,is a later addition.HERMOPOLIS CREATION STORY. Another versionof the creation story is associated with the town of Hermopolis,modern Ashmounein in Middle Egypt. Thisaccount centered on the Hermopolitan Ogdoad, orgroup of eight gods. These deities were grouped in pairsof male-female gods with three constant pairs: Nun andNaunet (primeval water, formlessness), Heh and Hehet(spaciousness), and Kek and Keket (darkness). The identityof the fourth pair varies in different texts. At timesit is Tenem and Tenemet (confusion and gloom). It canalso be Gereh and Gerehet (completion) or Niu and Niut(void). Eventually, the god Amun and his female counterpartAmaunet, representing concealment, become thecustomary fourth pair in the Ogdoad. The gods of theOgdoad all represented characteristics of the chaos thatexisted before creation. A late tradition associates the originof these gods with Amun’s main city, Thebes. Theserpent god Kematef, “he who accomplishes his time”had a son, another snake god, Irta “he who makes theland.” Irta traveled from Thebes to Hermopolis, wherehe created the Ogdoad. Another late tradition describesThoth as the creator of the Ogdoad. The gods of theOgdoad were depicted as frog-headed (male) and snakeheaded(female) humans.CREATION OF THE SUN. When the primeval hill,called the iu neserer (“island of flame”), arises out ofchaos, the Ogdoad comes together and creates the sunon this hill. Building inscriptions tell us that there wasonce a shrine called the “island of flame” at Hermopolis,but its location has yet to be determined. The Ogdoadwas said to create the sun in two ways. Onetradition says that the Ogdoad came together and createdan egg on the primeval hill. The goose that laid thisegg, called the Great Cackler, came to be associated withArts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 215