THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING TO THE EGYPTIANS - HISTORY - 2025

The origin of the universe according to the Egyptians is from the gods. Already from works as distant as the Pyramid Texts appeared the first ideas of the Egyptians about the origins of the universe.

Theologies shared similar myths, but many of the provinces of Ancient Egypt had a pantheon with different deities. In Heliopolis Ra was worshiped, in Thebes Amun, and in Memphis Ptah.

God Ra. Jeff Dahl Each of them had a leading role or was responsible for the process of creating the world. As the leaders of the various religious groups gained or lost influence, the dominant beliefs were transformed and syncretized.

How was the universe created according to the Egyptians?

According to the theology of Heliopolis, in the beginning only the Num existed, a huge chaos in the shape of an ocean, which had rough and very dark waters. Spontaneously, consciousness arises in Atum; the energy that awakens the world. By emitting its first bird-shaped sound, it gave birth to time, which flew in all directions and ordered chaos.

Atum evolved to become a higher entity; Ra. Air and moisture germinated from his breath and saliva; Shu and Tefnut, respectively. These, in turn, begat earth (Geb) and heaven (Nut).

Ra envied Gueb and Nut for being together and ordered them to separate. Shu and Tefnut were to hold Nut on their shoulders and Gueb under their feet. Between them was a space where life began to unfold.

Gueb and Nut went to Ra to ask him to allow them to be together again, even if it was for only 5 days in the year. This is how they had five children, one each day: Nephthys, Haroeris, Isis, Osiris and Seth. Afterwards, Ra began to mention all things; and these were emerging as he named them: this is how plants, animals and human beings were created.

When the world was formed, Ra proclaimed himself pharaoh, taking the form of a man. As he grew older, everyone around him lost respect for him.

Once, being old, Isis secretly pursued him and watched the saliva that fell from his mouth on the ground turn to mud. Isis modeled with him a serpent that would threaten the power of Ra. When the snake bit him, he began to suffer from a fatal disease.

Then Isis asked Ra to pronounce his true name, with which it was possible to possess supreme power. Ra announced it to him, but made Isis swear that only Horus would know the secret, who should never reveal it to anyone else.

Thus, Ra defeated death and never again ruled over human beings. His wife Isis ruled alongside Osiris on Earth and they taught science to men. Along with her, the inhabitants of Egypt learned to worship their deities.

Main gods who intervened in creation

Ra

Ra is for the Egyptians the primary creative intelligence of the universe, of the different gods and of men. It transforms into sun, light, strength, life, and is the source of everything.

He is a god with an anthropomorphic form and blue or black skin; dressed in a tiara that simulates a mortar, from which come a pair of falcon feathers. Sometimes he also wears a sun disk in his headdress.

Shu

Shu represents the air and is responsible for non-violent atmospheric phenomena. He is a man who wears an ostrich feather on his head. Its role is to stay between Nut and Gueb, as it is the atmosphere that separates them and that allows life to exist.

Tefnut

Tefnut represents moisture and life-giving dew. She is a woman with the head of a lioness, bearer of the sun disk, the ank and the scepter. It can also be adorned with horizontal horns and two feathers. Together with her husband Shu they appear with the appearance of two lions and form the first divine couple.

Nut

Nut is the goddess who gave birth to the gods. It is represented as a naked woman with her arched body, symbolizing the sky or space with its stars.

Gueb

Gueb is the earth, he is shown lying on the ground and appears trying to reach his wife Nut (the heavenly vault). Gueb is the beginning of life and fertility. It has human appearance and sometimes wears a goose on its head, or wears the White Crown or the Double Crown.

Osiris

Osiris is the god of vegetation, the dead, and the resurrection. It is painted green or black. He is a man wrapped in a shroud from which only his hands come out holding the scepters of power (the scourge and the staff). He is betrayed by his brother Seth, but resurrects and becomes the god of the underworld.

Isis represents the seat, the throne, and personifies magic, conjugal fidelity and the great mother. It shows a more human image than that of other goddesses. In its animal manifestation it takes the form of a cow.

Horus

Horus is the great forerunner of the Egyptian civilization. In its animal form it takes on the body of a hawk. He is considered the god of war for fighting Seth. Both embody the struggle of opposites: one represents light and the other darkness.

Seth

Seth is the god of the irrepressible, of brute force, of chaos, of the desert and the droughts. It is represented through different animals such as the pig, the dog or the crocodile.

Maat

Maat is a goddess who appears as a woman who carries an ostrich feather on her head. It is the concept of truth, harmony and universal order.

The vision of the universe transmitted to us by the ancient Egyptians is that of a culture that worshiped the sun and its divine powers. It is a land blessed by Geb and Egypt at the center of the peoples to the limit of the known world.

All this immersed in the Nut (the sky) both in its daytime and nighttime aspects. Beyond the whole is the Nun, an infinite ocean, inert, silent and dark.

References

1. Fernández Pérez (2011). “Cosmogony and anthropogony in Mesopotamia and Egypt. A didactic proposal ”, Clío 37. Taken from clio.rediris.es. ISSN: 1139-6237. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
2. Broadie A., Macdonald J. (-). The Concept of Cosmic Order in Ancient Egypt in Dynastic and Roman Times. In: L'antiquité classique, Tome 47, fasc. 1, 1978. pp. 106-128. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
3. The Creation Myth. Canadian Museum of History.. Retrieved on June 18, 2019, from historymuseum.ca.