Egyptian Creation Mythology
The thing that may set ancient Egyptian mythology apart from its Classical fellows is the sheer confusion of the divine pantheon. Although popular to an extent, this mythology has never gained the attention of Greek or Roman mythology, probably because it is simply considered by many to be too difficult to comprehend. There are literally thousands of gods; and while this alone would be confusing enough, many of these gods, at different times, have been fused together to form new deities, or associated so closely with others that their original identities have been lost. Even today the great majority of Egyptian gods are known only by name; their actual attributes and functions are lost to us.
In order to gain at least some understanding of the Egyptian pantheon (known as the Paut Neteru, or Company of the Gods), several of their most important myths--as well as the gods featured within them--must be explained. The easiest and most sensible place to begin is in the beginning--with the myth known as the "Day of the First Time."
The most popular and well-known of Egyptian creation myths, featuring Ra as the great creator god, has several variants of its own. It is easiest to simply combine the differing elements and let them tell a story in themselves.
According to this version of the creation myth, popular in Heliopolis (ancient Egyptian Iunu), before either the Earth or man had been created, the universe consisted of nothing except a vast watery chaos known as Nunu. From this eventually arose a small island--a mere mound, actually, from which sprung a sacred lotus. When the lotus finally bloomed and opened, within was found a young boy--the newborn god Ra. He grew rapidly, and set out to create the universe.
In differing versions, Ra first appeared as a hawk perching upon the sacred island, or hatched from a divine egg. In any case, the results were the same: It was the birth of the great creator god, and creation itself was soon to follow.
Ra, finding himself alone, nevertheless became determined to create something besides himself. He spat out two lesser deities (or, according to another version, produced them by masturbation), who became Shu and Tefnut, the god of air and light and the goddess of moisture and darkness. After them he produced two more children: Geb, the Earth god, and Nut, the sky goddess. (An interesting reversal of the "Mother Earth, Father Sky" archetype.) Geb and Nut, who were in love, embraced each other much too closely, and so man could not be born; Ra ordered his son Shu to separate them, and so Shu and Tefnut did, lifting Nut high above their heads, forming the atmosphere. Ra cried, and from his tears sprang man.
Depending on which city was in power at which time--meaning, from which city the current king reigned--the creation myth varied widely. Each national city attempted to explain creation in terms of its own patron deity. For example, in Hermopolis (Egyptian Khemennu, "City of the Eight" ), Thoth became the lord of creation, having spoken the divine word that brought everything into existence; he ruled over eight lesser deities who represented such aspects as light and dark, dry and moist, etc. In Memphis (Egyptian Het-ka-Ptah, "City of the Ka of Ptah," from which the modern word Egypt may have come), Ptah, the craftsman god, was said to have fashioned the vault of heaven out of a piece of divine iron. At Elephantine Island (Egyptian Abu or Iabu), the ram god Khnum created mankind upon his potter's wheel...or so said the locals.
In the New Kingdom, when the city of Thebes (Egyptian Waset) rose to prominence, the otherwise obscure fertility god Amon also rose to a position of such importance that he assumed Ra's titles and was even combined with the god, to form Amon-Ra. Now it was he who had created both the world and mankind...when such a god, before, had had absolutely no relation to Ra's Heliopolitan pantheon. Political maneuvering made certain that a minor god of fertility and agriculture soon became a solar god, a warrior god, and the supreme king of the gods all in one...simply because of the importance of the city he happened to preside over.
As the Egyptians' myths attempted to explain the gods' creation of the universe--whichever gods they were--they also attempted to explain the creation of evil and its place in the world. According to their mythology, evil was necessary to maintain balance--Maat. (Maat, a goddess depicted with an ostrich feather upon her head, was also a daughter of Ra and the wife of Thoth.) The representation of evil in this aspect was the great serpent Apophis, who attempted nightly to destroy or swallow the ship of Ra as it sailed through the underworld. On occasion Apophis would succeed--with an eclipse--but only temporarily; the Egyptians knew that Ra would always be able to overcome him, though they still prayed for the sun god's success. And yet, however many times Ra managed to defeat the great serpent, still Apophis lived on; his death, as well as Ra's, would mean the end of the universe as we know it. The two opposing forces, even while combatting each other, held the cosmic order, and ensured the continuation of time itself.
Even with its many pagan attributes, Egyptian creation mythology also has many apparent similarities to some of our modern religions. The great chaos, the spoken word in the beginning, the unending battle between good and evil...these are just a few of the more obvious similarities. Even if this mythology did not directly shape our own religious beliefs, it still has many things to teach us about ourselves.
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