THE EGYPTIAN FOUNDATIONS OF GNOSTIC THOUGHT

How beautiful is Nun in his pool at every season; more is it wine than water,
like a full Nile, born of the Lord of Eternity. 91
It is an obvious conclusion to make that such architectural features as the sacred lake
at Karnak, to name but one, was in fact a virtual shrine for Nun from which various
re-enactments of theogonic progressions might begin and end.
In the New Kingdom The Book of the Divine Cow has Re speaking to “the
Eldest One” asking his advice about how to deal with evil men, specifically indicating
that he wishes to hear what Nun has to say before he dispatches them. Nun’s reply is
interesting, for in effect he graciously chides Re as being greater and older than he
who created him. 92
From this we might assume that Nun’s realm was viewed as being
essentially metaphysical, from whence all life-giving “moistures” and empowerment
of deities were effected. However Nun is not demiurgic in the created realm in any
direct way hence his reminder to Re, solar architect-deity supreme.
In turning to the Book of the Dead, it comes as no surprise to find Nun wellrepresented
throughout. Spell 17 from the time of Seti I is quite explicit about the
status of Nun:
The Great God, the self-created, is water, he is Nun, father of the gods.(BD
Spell 17) 93
One-thousand years later the same view prevails, as this inscription from the
Ptolemaic temple at Kom Ombo testifies:
Great Nun, father of the gods, the creator of the earth, who created the others 94
Indeed, as the modern visitor enters this temple, it is the name of Nun that appears
largest, set upon the archway of the main temple entrance, larger even than the
cartouches of the Ptolemaic kings who financed the rebuilding of the temple.
The theological/.philosophical functioning of Nun is an important one to
develop in some detail, for this Urstoff, out of which the theogony proceeds, is
essential in many Gnostic Systems, as ubiquitous as enneads, ogdoads and the like.
This excursus on nhh and dt is effected with a view towards illustrating the recondite
nature of the Egyptian apprehension of this-worldliness and other-worldliness, a key
Gnostic feature already mentioned, one which owed its development in part to the
enhancement of Egyptian demonology in the Late-Period. We turn then to briefly
examine Egyptian demonology.
91
J.F. Borghouts “Magical Texts,” in Textes et langages de l’Égypte pharonique: cent
cinquante années de recherches, 1822-197 (Cairo: Institut Français d’archéologie orientale,
1974), 9.
92
Erich Hornung, Der Ägyptische Mythos von der Himmelskuh, 38, lines 29-48.
93
Raymond O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (1972; reprint, Austin, TX:
University of Texas Press, 1990), 44.
94
Adolphe Gutbub, Textes fondamentaux de la théologie de Kom Ombo (Institut français
d’Archéologie orientale du Caire, vol. 1 & 2, 1973), 470.