by Frauke Pumpenmeier
In contrast to the Bible, the imaginary worlds of ancient Egypt did not have a single creation myth, but a whole series of cosmogonies, i.e. stories about the origin of the universe. These cosmogonies are associated with different places, the three best known being Heliopolis, Memphis and Hermopolis. However, these are not competing local systems, but rather different explanatory approaches that must be understood as the expression of a complex spiritual world. They are relevant to everyday ritual life insofar as the forces of world creation were also activated to overcome death.
Most cosmogonies are only explicitly described relatively late, but are certainly based on older ideas. However, a chronological development of the concepts can only be described with certainty from the late period onwards. Common to all cosmogonies is the idea of a primordial mound emerging from the primordial waters – as the embodiment of chaos, which harbours all potential. The actual creation therefore does not mark the creation of matter per se, but the beginning of becoming and change. It results from different principles of generation:
The Heliopolitan cosmogony focuses on the sun god in his form as Atum, who manifests himself on the primordial mound in order to then generate Schu (air) and Tefnut (moisture) out of himself, which in turn father the next generations of gods until a total of nine has been created (physical procreation possibility).
The Memphite cosmogony, on the other hand, takes the local creator god Ptah as the origin of all things, who creates Atum and everything that follows with spirit and language (doctrine of Logos – ‘creative speech’ of a god as the origin of all things).
The Hermopolitan cosmogony is largely known from textual evidence from other places. In it, creation is associated with an Ogdoad, four pairs of gods who embody the ‘original’, i.e. uncontrolled/negative aspects of the primordial cosmos. In contrast to the Heliopolitan Nine, they stand less for a political order than for a fundamental material structure. The name Xmnw – eight-city – which has been documented since the 5th dynasty, gives an indication of how far back the idea of the primordial octogenary may go. Furthermore, Thot is not usually an element of Hermopolitan cosmogony.
Bibliography:
- LdÄ III (1980) 747–756, s. v. Kosmogonie (Ph. Derchain)
- F. Hoffmann, Einleitung, in: R. Diaz – M. Flossmann-Schütze – F. Hoffmann (Hrsg.): Antike Kosmogonien, Weltentstehung und Theologie von Hermopolis Magna I, Tuna el-Gebel 9 (Vaterstetten 2019) 1–14
- H. Kees, Der Götterglaube im Alten Ägypten (Berlin 1987) 305–315
- B. McClain, Cosmogony (Late to Ptolemaic and Roman Periods), in J. Dieleman – W. Wendrich (Hrsg.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology (Los Angeles 2011) [Online edition accessed on 10.04.2024]
- R. Wilkinson, Die Welt der Götter im Alten Ägypten. Glaube, Macht, Mythologie (Stuttgart 2003) 16–19
- Ch. Zivie-Coche – F. Dunand, Die Religionen des Alten Ägypten (Stuttgart 2013) 213–252
- Quellenkompilation: S. Sauneron – J. Yoyotte, La naissance du monde selon l’Egypte ancienne, Sources orientales 1 (Paris 1959)