Ancient Egyptian Creation Myths

ORIENTAL INSTITUTE MINI-SERIES ON CREATION MYTHS The Process of Creation according to the Ancient Egyptian Tradition Foy Scalf Oriental Institute 1. Chronological List of Important Source Material a. Old Kingdom-First Intermediate Period (2686-2055 BCE) • Pyramid Texts1 b. Middle Kingdom-Second Intermediate Period (2055-1550 BCE) • Coffin Texts2 • Magical Texts c. New Kingdom-Third Intermediate Period (1550-664 BCE) • Book of the Dead Papyri3 • Underworld Books: Amduat, Book of the Day, Book of the Night, Book of Nut, Book of Caverns, Book of the Earth4 • Magical Texts: Magical Papyrus Harris (pBM 10042),5 Zaubersprüche für Mutter und Kind (pBerlin 3027, 5/9-6/1)6 • Religious Texts: The Book of the Celestial Cow,7 Hymns (to Amun: pLeiden I 350),8 Temple Texts d. Late Period (664-332 BCE) • Book of the Dead Papyri • Underworld Books: Amduat, Book of the Day, Book of the Night, Book of Nut, Book of Caverns, Book of the Earth • Magical Texts • Religious Texts: Shabaqo Stone (BM 498), Confirmation of Royal Power (pBrooklyn 47.218.50),9 Hymns (to Ptah: pBerlin 3048), Temple Texts e. Ptolemaic-Roman Period (332 BCE-395 CE) • Book of the Dead Papyri • Funerary Compositions: o pBremner-Rhind (pBM 10188)10 • Magical Texts (Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden) • Religious Texts: Cosmogony of Memphis (pBerlin 13603),11 Nun Cosmogony,12 Hymns, Temple Texts

2. Ancient Egyptian Cosmology: How the Universe Works Book of Nut from the Ceiling of the cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos

The astronomical ceiling from the cenotaph of Seti I (Dynasty 19) at Abydos encapsulates, in picture and text, the Egyptian's understanding of the cosmos.13 We find two other versions in the tomb of Ramses IV (Dynasty 20) in the Valley of the Kings and in the tomb (TT 410) of Mutirdis (Dynasty 26). In the second century CE, versions of these texts were copied onto two papyri and provided with Demotic commentary.14 The scene depicts the sky goddess Nut held aloft by her son Shu, the divine personification of air. Nut gives birth to the sun every day in the eastern horizon and the sun travels along her body during the daylight hours. In the evening, Nut swallows the sun in the western horizon and the sun travels through the netherworld located within the body of Nut. Nut’s limbs represent the four pillars which, in addition to Shu, hold up the sky. Excerpts from the Book of Nut (Following Translation of Allen): Outside the Cosmos “The uniform darkness, ocean of the gods, the place from which birds come: this is from her (i.e. Nut’s) northwestern side up to her northeastern side, open to the Duat that is on her northern side, with her rear in the east and her head in the west. ... The upper side of this sky exists in uniform darkness, the southern, northern, western, and eastern limits of which are unknown, these having been fixed in the Waters, in inertness. There is no light of the Ram there: he does not appear there, (a place) whose south, north, west and east land is unknown by the gods or akhs, there being no brightness there. And as for every place void of sky and void of land, that is the entire Duat. ...” Cycle of the Sun “The incarnation of this god enters at her first hour of evening, becoming effective again in the embrace of his father Osiris, and becoming purified therein. ... When the incarnation of this god enters her mouth, inside the Duat, it stays open after he sails inside her, so that these sailing stars may enter after him and come forth after him. ... The incarnation of this god comes forth from her rear. Then he is on course toward the world, apparent and born. Then he produces himself above. Then he parts the thighs of his mother Nut. Then he goes away to the sky.”

3. Ancient Egyptian Cosmogony: Creation Myths a. Heliopolitan Cosmogony: Greek Heliopolis Egyptian

Iwnw Heliopolitan Ennead

Important Attestations: a. Pyramid Text Spells: PT 527, PT 600 b. Coffin Text Spells: CT 75-81, CT 335, CT 714, c. Book of the Dead Spells: BD 17 d. Magical Texts: Magical Spells for Mother and Child (pBerlin 3027) e. Religious Texts: pBremner-Rhind (pBM 10188), Confirmation of Royal Power (pBrooklyn 47.218.50)

b. Hermopolitan Cosmology: Greek Hermopolis Egyptian #mnw Hermopolitan Ogdoad

Important Attestations: a. Pyramid Texts: PT 301, PT 446 b. Coffin Texts: CT 76, CT 80, CT 107 c. Book of the Dead: BD 17 d. Underworld Books: Amduat Papyrus of Khonsumose e. Magical Texts: Magical Papyrus Harris (pBM 10042)

c. Memphite Theology Greek Memphis Egyptian

Mn-nfr

Important Attestations: a. Pyramid Texts: PT 345 b. Coffin Texts: CT 647 c. Book of the Dead: BD 82 d. Magical Texts e. Religious Texts: Shabaqo Stone (BM 498), Hymn to Ptah (pBerlin 3048), Stele Copenhagen GNC 897/AEIN 54, Memphite Cosmogony (pBerlin 13603) 4. Creation of Mankind Illustration from the Book of the Celestial Cow

Important Attestations: CT 80 “It is my son who shall live, he whom I begot in my identity, for he has learned how to enliven the one in the egg, in the respective womb, as people, that emerged from my eye.” The Book of the Celestial Cow “Then Re said to Nun: ‘O eldest god in whom I came into being, and ancestor gods – look, mankind, which issued from my Eye, is plotting against me.” pBremner-Rhind (pBM 10188) “When I evolved into this world, Shu and Tefnut grew excited in the inert waters in which they were, and brought me my Eye after them. And after I joined together my parts, I wept over them: That is the evolution of people, from the tears that came from my Eye.”

Select Bibliography Allen, James P. Genesis in Egypt: The Philosophy of Ancient Egyptian Creation Accounts. Yale Egyptological Studies 2. New Haven: Yale University, 1988. _____. “The Cosmology of the Pyramid Texts.” In William Kelly Simpson (ed.), Religion and Philosophy in Ancient Egypt. Yale Egyptological Studies 3. New Haven: Yale Egyptological Seminar, 1989, 1-28. _____., “The Celestial Realm,” in David P. Silverman (ed.), Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 114-131. Anthes, Rudolf. “Egyptian Theology in the Third Millennium B. C.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 18.3 (1959), 169-212. Bickel, Susanne. La cosmogonie égyptienne avant le Nouvel Empire. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 134. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1994. Bilolo, Mubabinge. Les Cosmo-Théologies philosophiques d'Héliopolis et d'Hermopolis. Kinshasa: Publications Universitaires Africaines, 1986. Brandon, S. G. F. Creation Legends in the Ancient Near East. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1963. Conman, Joanne. “It's About Time: Ancient Egyptian Cosmology.” Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 31 (2003), 33-71. Dunand, Françoise and Christiane Zivie-Coche. Dieux et hommes en Égypte. Paris: Armond Colin, 1991, 52-79. Frankfort, Henri. Kingship and the Gods. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948. http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/misc/kingship.html. Hallo, William W. The Context of Scripture. Volume 1: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World. Leiden: Brill 1997, 3-31. Hoffmeier, James K. “Some Thoughts on Genesis 1 & 2 and Egyptian Cosmology.” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 15 (1983), 39-49 http://www.jtsa.edu/Documents/pagedocs/JANES/1983 15/Hoffmeier15.pdf Hornung, Erik. Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982. Huyge, Dirk. “Cosmology, Ideology and Personal Religious Practice in Ancient Egyptian Rock Art.” In: René Friedman (ed.), Egypt and Nubia: Gifts of the Desert. London: The British Museum Press, 2002, 192-206.

Kákosy, Lásló. “Probleme der ägyptischen Kosmogonien der Ptolemäer und Römerzeit.” In Hommages à François Daumas. Montpellier: Institut d’Égyptologie – Université Paul Valéry, 1986, 429-434. Lesko, Leonard H. “Ancient Egyptian Cosmogonies and Cosmology.” In Byron E. Shafer (ed.). Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991, 88-122. Meeks, Dimitri and Christine Favard-Meeks. Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods. Translated by G. M. Goshgarian. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996. Menu, Bernadette. “Les cosmogonies de l’ancienne Égypte.” In La création dans l’Orient ancien. Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1987, 97-120. Plumley, J. M. “The Cosmology of Ancient Egypt.” In: Carmen Blacker, Michael Loewe (eds.), Ancient Cosmologies. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1975, 17-41. Quirke, Stephen. “Creation Stories in Ancient Egypt.” In Markham J. Geller and Mineke Schipper (eds.). Imagining Creation. Studies in Judaica 5. Leiden: Brill, 2008, 6186. Sauneron, Serge and Jean Yoyotte. “La Naissance du Monde selon l’Égypte Ancienne.” In La Naissance du Monde. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1959, 17-91. Smith, M. “A New Egyptian Cosmology.” In: C. J. Eyre (ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1998, 1075-1080. _____. On the Primaeval Ocean. Carlsberg Papyri 5. CNI Publications 26. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2002. Te Velde, H. “The Theme of the Separation of Heaven and Earth in Egyptian Mythology.” Studia Aegyptiaca 3 (1977), 161-170. Tobin, Vincent Arieh. “Myths: Creation Myths.” In Donald B. Redford (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, 469-472. Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003.

NOTES 1

Accessible English translation: R. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts Translated into English (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998). 2 Accessible English translation: R. Faulkner, The ancient Egyptian coffin texts : Spells 1-1185 & Indexes (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 2004). 3 Accessible English translation: R. Faulkner, The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1994). 4 Accessible English summary: E. Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999). 5 H. O. Lange, Der magische Papyrus Harris (Copenhagen: A. F. Høst & søn, 1927); Christian Leitz, Magical and Medical Papyri of the New Kingdom, Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum 7 (London: British Museum Press, 1999), 31-50 and pls. 12-25. This spell is translated in J. F. Borghouts, Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts (E. J. Brill: Leiden, 1978), 87, nr. 126. 6 Originally published in Adolf Erman, Zaubersprüche für Mutter und Kind aus dem Papyrus 3027 des Berliner Museums (Berlin: Königl. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1901). Recently re-edited in Naoko Yamazaki, Zaubersprüche für Mutter und Kind: Papyrus Berlin 3027. ACHET: Schriften zur Egyptologie B2 (Berlin: Achet Verlag, 2003). 7 M. Lichtheim, “The Destruction of Mankind,” in W. W. Hallo, The Context of Scripture. Volume 1: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World (Leiden: Brill 1997), 36-37. 8 English translation of relevant sections can be found in James P. Allen, “From Papyrus Bremner-Rhind,” in W. W. Hallo, The Context of Scripture. Volume 1: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World (Leiden: Brill 1997), 23-26. 9 Originally published in Jean-Claude Goyon, Confirmation du Pouvoir Royal au Neuvel An: Brooklyn Museum Papyrus 47.218.50. Bibliotheque d’Étude 52 (Cairo: Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1972). 10 Published in Raymond O. Faulkner, The Papyrus Bremner-Rhind (British Museum No. 10188). Bibliotheca Aegyptiaca, 3-4 (Bruxelles: Edition de la Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth, 1933). English translation of the relevant section can be found in James P. Allen, “From Papyrus Bremner-Rhind,” in W. W. Hallo, The Context of Scripture. Volume 1: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World (Leiden: Brill 1997), 14-15. 11 Published in W. Erichsen and S. Schott, Fragmente memphitischer Theologie in demotischer Schrift (Pap. demot. Berlin 13603) (Wiesbaden: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, 1954). 12 Published in M. Smith, On the Primaeval Ocean. CNI Publications 26. Carlsberg Papyri 5 (Copenhagen, Denmark : The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies : University of Copenhagen, Museum Tusculanum Press, 2002). 13 The text of Seti I was originally published in Henri Frankfort, The Cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos. Excavation Memoir 39 (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1933). A reliable translation can be found in James P. Allen, Genesis in Egypt: The Philosophy of Ancient Egyptian Creation Accounts. Yale Egyptological Studies 2 (New Haven: Yale University, 1988), 1-7 and James P. Allen, “From the 'Book of Nut,” in W. W. Hallo, The Context of Scripture. Volume 1: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World (Leiden: Brill 1997), 5-6. 14 The two papyri with Demotic commentary (pCarlsberg 1 and 1a) were published in Otto Neugebauer and Richard A. Parker, Egyptian Astronomical Texts I: The Early Decans. Brown Egyptological Studies 3 (Providence: Brown University Press, 1960).