Through the Eras

ReligionAmun. Amun can occasionally be found depicted on stelaefrom Deir el-Medina as a goose, at times accompaniedby eggs. An inscription from the tomb of Petosiris,dated to the fourth century B.C.E., claims that the shellof this egg was buried at Hermopolis.LAKE OF ORIGIN. Another version of the creationof the sun arose during the Ptolemaic Period. In this account,the sun emerges from the opening blossom of alotus. The male members of the Ogdoad were said tohave placed their semen in the waters of Nun. This sementraveled to a vegetable ovary called benen, whichwas also the name of the temple to Khonsu at Thebes.In the hieroglyphic script, benen is represented as an egg.This egg is the contribution of the female members ofthe Ogdoad. The place where the egg was fertilized wascalled the “lake of origin.” From the benen, a lotussprouts, and takes root on the island of flame. When thelotus blossom opens, the sun rises, depicted as a childsitting inside the flower. The association of the lotusblossom and the sun arises from the fact that the Egyptianblue lotus sinks underwater at night, and rises andopens at daylight.DEATH OF THE GODS. The remainder of the cosmologyis not detailed. The sun-god created the godsfrom his mouth, mankind from his tears, and cattle fromhis limbs. After the Ogdoad completed their work of creation,either by creating the egg or lotus blossom, theytraveled to Thebes, where they died. They were buriedat Medinet Habu, Edfu, and Esna. At these locationsthey were the recipients of a funerary cult.MEMPHITE THEOLOGY. Another cosmogony,called the Memphite Theology, is preserved in only onetext, known as the Shabaka Stone, after the Twenty-fifthDynasty king who had it carved. Because of the archaicnature of the writing and language, scholars thought thatthis text originated in the early Old Kingdom. Subsequentstudies have shown that the text cannot be earlierthan the New Kingdom, perhaps dating to the reign ofRamesses II. One scholar even suggested that the textshould be dated to the time of the copy, that is, to theTwenty-fifth Dynasty. Such a discrepancy in assigninga date to the text arises from the fact that Egyptian scribeswould copy and re-copy religious texts for hundreds, andin some cases, thousands of years. The existence of onlyone copy of a text makes it difficult to be certain whenthe text originated. For example, some Ptolemaic funerarypapyri contain examples of Pyramid Texts, and if itwere not for copies from the Old Kingdom pyramids itwould be impossible to determine how old these textsreally were. Another problem in dating texts is that theEgyptians would deliberately write in an archaic styleand attribute a text to an ancient author to lend the textan aura of antiquity, and therefore enhance its authority.PTAH. The main actor in the Memphite Theologywas the god Ptah. Ptah was originally a patron god ofcraftsmen and artisans. By the New Kingdom he had increasedin importance to become a universal creator god.Hymns call him the father of the fathers of all the gods,possibly a reference to the Hermopolitan Ogdoad, whowere called the fathers of the gods. Hymns further describehim as the one who carries Nut and lifts up Geb,equating him with Shu. Ptah is said to have broughtabout creation by first planning it in his mind—literallythe heart—and then by speaking the name of everythingand calling it into existence. The Memphite Theologyhas received considerable attention because it is similarto the Judeo-Christian tradition of creation throughspeaking seen in the biblical description of creation inGenesis and the opening of the Gospel of John, in whichthe creative word is emphasized rather than the physicalmethods of creation employed by the other Egyptian creatorgods.ESNA COSMOGONY. The final cosmogony to be discussedmerits mention because, unlike the other creationaccounts examined so far, the creator in the Esna Cosmogonyis not a god, but the goddess Neith. This cosmogonyis found on the walls of the Temple of Khnumat Esna and dates to the period of the Roman emperorTrajan (98–117 C.E.). This creation story borrows significantlyfrom earlier accounts. Neith is the first beingto emerge from Nun. She changes herself into a cow,and then a lates-fish, also known as Lake Victoria perch.These images derive from the cult of Neith. She was worshippedin the form of a cow and lates-fish at Esna. Neithcreates a place for herself to stand, and then turns herselfback into a cow. She pronounces thirty names, whichbecome thirty gods to help her in the process of creation.These gods are said to be hemen (“ignorant”), and theythen transform themselves into the hemen (“Hermopolitan”)Ogdoad. The story thus rests on a wordplay between two words that sounded similar but haddifferent meanings. Neith then creates the sun-godthrough producing an excrescence from her body andplacing it in an egg, which hatches as Re, the sun, whopromptly takes the name of Amun. Amun then continuesthe act of creation through emanations from hisbody, creating the netjeru (“gods”) from his saliva, andremetj (“mankind”) from his remt (“tears”). This explanationdemonstrates the Egyptian belief that puns revealsome basic, underlying truth.216 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)