Hermopolitan Theology (The World Before Creation)

Hermopolitan Theology

Photo from: From My Mother, My Heart, Alison Roberts, Cenotaph of Seti I, Abydos

The Ancient Egyptian world was bordered by land below and sky above, separated by air. Within these limits the cycle of daily life took place, defined by the rising and setting of the sun. The Waters of Nun, which lay beyond these limits, was "unknown by (even) the gods."

kkw smAw qbbHw nTrw

united darkness, cool place of the gods.

wnn Hrw pt tn m n(j)n(j)

This upper sky exists in inertness.

rH r.s nn qdw.s ntrw axHw

The circling waters are not known to gods or akhs.

grt bw nb Sw n pt Sw n tA dwAt pA r Dr.s

Moreover, any place that is devoid of sky and devoid of land, that is the entire Duat.

To understand and describe what existed beyond their known world, the Ancient Egyptians contrasted qualities manifesting withing the world in whcih they lived. Thus, the inert world beyond was therefore infinite , dark , hidden , and lost .

The Ogdoad

Because these four elements of nature were perceived as beings of creation, and creators themselves, the male gods were given female counterparts. As frogs and snakes were considered representative of prolific, aquatic species, frog-headed males were paired with snake-headed females:

The Eight Infinite Ones

Nun .............. Naunet (Wateriness)

Huh ..... Hauhet (Infinitelness)

Kuk ... Kauket (Darkness)

Amun .......... Amaunet (Hiddenness)

j HH 8 jpw jrw awt pt

Oh! You eight infinite ones who make up the parts of the sky

skw wa.kw Hna nw m nnwt

When I (Atum) passed the time alone with the Waters in Inertness. (Nun and Naunet)

-CT 76

re xpr n tm jm HHw m nw m kkw m tnmw

...the day that Atum developed from the Flood (Infiniteness), from the Waters (Wateriness), from the Darkness and from Chaos. (Huh and Hauhet, Nun and Naunet, Kuk and Kauket, Chaos)

rx r.s ny qd.s nTrw axw

It's form (character) was not known by gods or akhs. (Amun and Amaunet - Hiddenness)

The sun's disappearance each night and reemergence each day represented the cycle of death and rebirth. At night, the sun passes out of the realm of human experience.

The places where the sun dies and is reborn are not exactly within the realm of the earth. They lie below the horizon, which explains why the sky stays light after sunset and before sunrise. This is the Akhet, , the place of becoming effective.

The Ogdoad, the fathers and mothers of the sun-disk, eventually came to rest on a mound of earth that emerged when the waters receded. His primeval hill was, Ta-tjenen, , the "land that becomes distinct."

In the photo, the sun makes its daily course before rising on the horizon. The Ogdoad till the mound creating a fertile place in which to create life. The goddesses of the North and South pour the infinite waters around the primeval mound.

Upon this First Place, arose the first Lily, , Nefertum, from which the sun emerged.

Here, the scribe Ani emerges from a lotus as the new sun.

Bibliograhpy:

Allan, James P., Middle Egyptian, Cambridge University Press,2000.

Allan, James P., Genesis in Egypt, New Haven, CT, 1988

Assmann, Jan, The Mind of Egypt, Metropolitan Books, 2002

Budge, E.A. Wallis, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, Dover Publications, NY 1967

Falulkner, Dr. Raymond, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, Chronicle Books, 1994

Roberts, Alison, My Mother, My Heart, Northgate, 2000

Siverman, David P., Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press 1997

Tartasky, Lorraine, Lioness of the Sun, PublishAmerica, 2002

Van der Plas, Dirk and Borghouts, J.F., Coffin Texts Word Index, CCER, Utrecht University

Zandee, Jan, Hieroglyphs of the "Hymns to Amun" of Papyrus Leiden I 350, 1948