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The Creation Myths

[6]The Ennead of Heliopolis, part I - [7]The Ennead of Heliopolis,
part II - [8]Amun, Creator at Thebes"
[9]Ptah of Memphis - [10]The Ogdoad of Hermopolis - [11]Khmun and the
Potter's Wheel - [12]Nit - Creatrix

The Ogdoad of Hermopolis

_Hermopolis_

Ancient Khmun, Gr: Hermopolis, nowadays el-Ashmunein, was once the
main cult center with a great temple to Djehuty (Gr: Thoth)

The name of Hermopolis comes from the Greek way of equating Djehuty
with their god Hermes, as the Egyptian Djehuty was a patron of wizdom,
writing and healing. The remains of the temple building are ascribed
to Nectanebo I, in Dyn 30, but was probably of earlier origin. There
are other temple ruins dated to the Middle and New Kingdom, and a
colossal statue of Djeuty (Thoth) in baboon form, from the time of
Amenhotep III.

_The Ogdoad_

The Ogdoad, the Creation myth which originated here, consisted of
eight personified primeval forces, conceived of as four couples of
deities (the number four being the number of totality and
completeness). From this the ancient name of Khmun; 'eight-town', is
probably originated. The significance of these primeval beings is not
easy to understand today. They also lack any greater mythological
context and neither is there much personification of the four couples
of deities. It concerns more the primeval physical matters of
existence than the organic world, and of these eight deities, only
Amun developed into a remarkable status and moved to Thebes with his
female counterpart Amaunet.

At el-Ashmunein was unearthed only very scanty inscriptions, telling
us very little about this cosmogony. The main part of evidence is
taken from Theban monuments which were pieced together in 1929 by Kurt
Sethe in his survey: 'Amun und die acht urgotter von Hermopolis'.

But the eariest references to the Hermopolitan cosmogony is found in
the Pyramid Texts, § 446:
"_You have your offering-bread, O Niu and Nenet, you two protectors(?)
of the gods Who protect the gods with your shadow. You have your
offering-bread, O Amun and Amaunet, You two protectors(?) of the gods
Who protect the gods with your shadow. You have your offering-bread, O
Atum and Ruti, Who yourselves created your godheads and your persons.
O Shu and Tefenet who made the gods, Who begot the gods and
established the gods..._"

Pyramid Texts, § 446, transl. R.O. Faulkner

There are four pairs of deities which complement each other. For every
'male' deity there is the 'female' counterpart, to make up a whole,
according to the Egyptian complementary way of thinking. The male ones
are shown with frogs´heads and the female ones with snakes´heads, such
forms are frequently said in ancient texts to inhabit the primeval
waters.

The Ogdoad and their concepts:

Nu - Naunet = primeval waters
Heh - Hauhet = boundlessness
Kek - Kauket = darkness
Amun - Amaunet = air.

These deities were thought to comprise the very substance out of which
creation was made. At Hermopolis the opinion was that at some point
these primeval beings interacted whereupon a great explosion occurred,
which somehow laid free the Primeval Mound. The mound later became
Hermopolis, though at first it was called the Isle of Flame, as the
sun god was said to be born and to rise there for the first time.
Hermopolis claimed to predate the cosmogony of Heliopolis. Just as
other creation centers maintained that their location was the original
one, where creation first had come into being, so was also the case at
Hermopolis.

The Ogdoad were 'the fathers and the mothers who came into being at
the start, who gave birth to the sun and who created Atum'. From there
on the rest of the cosmos is developed. But there are twists to the
story:

_The Cosmic Egg_

The eight divinities of the Ogdoad are thought to jointly have created
the Cosmic Egg out of the primeval waters (Nun). This egg was
invisible as it was created already before the sun came into being.
From this egg, according to some sources, the bird of light, an aspect
of the sun-god, burst. Other sources say that the egg was filled with
air, which then brings the association of the couple of Amun and
Amaunet. In the Coffin Texts this is the first created thing of all:

_O Atum give me this sweet air which is your nostrils
for I am this egg which is in the Great Cackler,
I am the guardian of this great prop which separates the earth from
the sky.
If I live, it will live; if I grow old, it will grow old;
if I breathe the air, it will breathe the air.
I am he who splits iron, I have gone round about the egg,
(even I) the Lord of Tomorrow._

Coffin Texts, spell 223, transl. R.O. Faulkner

_The Great Cackler_

In another version of this myth, the egg is laid by a goose; the
Primeaval Goose or the 'Gengen Wer', with which Amun was associated as
the creator. The goose is thought to carry the egg out of which
creation comes. This myth is only given in fragments but obviously it
states that the sun in the form of a bird came out of the egg which
the Primeval Goose laid in the waters of Creation. It is also a form
of Amun in his creator god aspect.

So the Ogdoad:
1: created existence in the form of the Primeval Mound,
2: or in the form of the Cosmic Egg
3: the Cosmic Egg was created by the Primeval Goose.
4: the Cosmic Egg held air or:
5: the Cosmic Egg held a bird and:
6: the bird was a form of the sun.

To sum it up:

All forms of initial creation happened in the darkness of the primeval
waters.
Creation was circular, as was the egg.
Birth lead to decline-death-rebirth-renewal of the cyclic existence.

This means that:

Some things existed before existence.
One of this was Nun.
Another was primeval beings like frogs and snakes.
Frogs were associated with fertility.
Snakes were associated withe circularity and rebirth, i.e, they shed
their old skin.
The first creator god is created out of Nun by some interaction
between these primeval creatures.
Then the creator god creates the rest of the cosmos.

Above belongs to those things which will always be subject to further
study and pondering.

_Petosiris and Djehuty (Thoth)_

Late in the history of ancient Egypt, after the conquest of Alexander
the Great, a tomb in the form of a small temple was built for
Petosiris, High Priest of Djehuty (Thoth) (332B.C). According to the
inscriptions there, Djehuty was the 'Lord of Khemnu', and Petosiris
had made extensive restorations to the temple complex at Hermopolis.
He also had an enclosure built around the temple as it had been
vandalized by hooligans. The place is now called the 'birtplace of
every god' and it states that this is where the relics of the cosmic
egg were buried . Djehuty is now said to have flown with the comsic
egg to the primeval mound which later became Hermopolis, so the
sun-god could be born there. This was possibly an adaption of the
original myth to enhance Hermopolis as the center of creation.
_Other Creation Myths:_
[13]The Ennead of Heliopolis, part I
[14]The Ennead of Heliopolis, part II
[15]Amun, Creator at Thebes"
[16]Ptah of Memphis
[17]The Ogdoad of Hermopolis
[18]Khmun and the Potter's Wheel
[19]Nit - Creatrix

Sources:
Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt by R.T. Rundle Clark, Thames &
Hudson, pbk 1993.
Egyptian Myths by George Hart, British Museum Press, 1997.
A dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses by George Hart, 1986
The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, transl: R.O. Faulkner, Aris &
Phillips 1973
The Book of Going Forth by Day, transl: George Allen, Univ. of Chicago
Press 1974
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, transl: R.O. Faulkner, Clarendon
Press, 1969
Egyptian Religion by Siegfried Morenz, Cornell University Press 1992

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