Ptah.doc

The English name Egypt  derives  derives from an ancient Egyptian name for Memphis, Memphis, Hikuptah, which means "Home of the Soul  Aiguptos+, of Ptah". This entered Ancient entered  Ancient ree! as ree! as #$%&'() * Aiguptos

which entered atin as atin as Aegyptus, which developed into English as Egypt . -n Egyptian mythology, mythology, Ptah *p/0t12  *p/0t1233456 Egyptian7 Egyptian7 ptḥ, pro8a8ly vocali9ed as Pitaḥ in ancient Egyptian+4:6 Egyptian+ 4:6 is  is the demiurge of demiurge of Memphis, god of craftsmen and architects. -n the triad of Memphis, Memphis, he is the spouse of Se!hmet and Se!hmet and the father of ;efertum. ;efertum. He was also regarded as the father of the sage -mhotep. -mhotep. Ptah is the ord7 Ptah conceives the world by the thought of his heart and gives life through the magic of his Word . That which Ptah commanded was created, c reated, with

which the constituents of nature, fauna, and flora, are contained. He also plays a role in the preservation of the world and the permanence of the royal function.

i!e many deities of ancient Egypt he ta!es many forms, through one of his particular aspects or through syncretism of ancient deities of the Memphite region. He is sometimes represented as a dwarf, na!ed and deformed, whose popularity would continue to grow during the ate Period. ?re@uently associated with the god es, his worship then e=ceeded the 8orders of the country and was e=ported throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Than!s to the Phoenicians, we find figures of Ptah in est. His Tatenen form is represented 8y a young and vigorous man wearing a crown with two tall plumes that surround the solar dis!. He thus em8odies the underground fire that rum8les and raises the earth. As such, he was particularly revered 8y metalwor!ers and 8lac!smiths, 8ut he was e@ually feared 8ecause it was he who caused earth@ua!es and tremors of the earthFs crust. -n this form also, Ptah is the master of ceremonies for He8 Sed, a ceremony traditionally attesting to

the first thirty years of the PharaohFs reign. The god Ptah could 8e corresponding with the sun god Ge, or  Aten during the Amarna period, where he em8odied the divine

essence with which the sun god was fed to come into e=istence, that is to say to 8e 8orn, according to the Memphite mythologicaltheological te=ts. -n the holy of holies of his temple in Memphis, as well as in his great sacred 8oat, he drove in procession to regularly visit the region during maBor holidays. Ptah was also sym8oli9ed 8y two 8irds with human heads adorned with solar dis!s, sym8ols of the souls of the god Ge7 the a. The two a are also identified as the twin gods Shu and Tefnut and are associated with the dBed pillar of Memphis.46 ?inally, Ptah is em8odied in the sacred 8ull, Apis. ?re@uently referred to as a herald of e, the sacred animal is the lin! with the god Ge from the ;ew Dingdom. He even received worship in Memphis, pro8a8ly at the heart of the great temple of Ptah, and its death was 8uried with all the honours due to a living god in the Serapeum of Sa@@ara.

 As god of craftsmen, the cult of the god Ptah @uic!ly spread throughout Egypt. >ith the maBor royal proBects of the Cld Dingdom, the High Priests of Ptah were particularly sought after and wor!ed in concert with the Ii9ier , somehow filling the

role of chief architect and master craftsman, responsi8le for the decoration of the royal funerary comple=es. -n the ;ew Dingdom, the cult of the god would develop in different ways, especially in Memphis, his homeland, 8ut also in The8es, where the wor!ers of the royal tom8 honoured him as patron of craftsmen. ?or this reason, the oratory of Ptah who listens to prayers  was 8uilt near the site of Jeir el

Medina, the village where the wor!ers and craftsmen were confined. At Memphis, the role of intercessor with men was particularly visi8le in the appearance of the enclosure that protected the sanctuary of the god. arge ears were carved on the walls, sym8oli9ing his role as god who listens to prayers . >ith the ;ineteenth Jynasty, his cult grew and he 8ecame one of the four great gods of the empire of Gamses. He was worshipped at PiGamesses as master of ceremonies and coronations. >ith the Third -ntermediate Period, Ptah returned to the centre of the monarchy where the coronation of the Pharaoh was held again in his temple. The Ptolemies continued this tradition, and the high priests of Ptah were then increasingly associated with the royal family, with some even marrying

princesses of 8lood, clearly indicating the prominent role they played in the Ptolemaic court.

Ptah or Phtha w-n the Twenty?ifth Jynasty, the ;u8ian pharaoh Sha8a!a would transcri8e on a stela !nown as the Sha8a!a Stone, an old theological document found in the archives of the li8rary of the temple of the god at Memphis. This document has 8een !nown as the !emphite "heology , and shows the god Ptah, the god responsi8le for the creation of the universe 8y thought and 8y the word.as the chief deity of the city of Memphis. Ptah was the master artist and craftsman. As the "ma!er of su8stance," he 8ecame !nown as the ultimate source of all things and even "the creator of gods."  Apis the sacred 8ull was an em8odiment of Ptah.

Tatenen *also Ta-tenen, Tatjenen , Tathenen, Tanen, Tenen, Tanenu, and Tanuu+ was the god of the primordial mound in

ancient Egyptian religion. His name means risen land 456 or e#alted earth,4:6 as well as referring to the silt of the ;ile. As a

primeval chthonic deity,46 Tatenen was identified with creation. He was an androgynous protector of nature from the Memphis area *then !nown as !en$nefer +, the ancient capital of the Ane8Hetch nome in ower Egypt. >ith a staff Tatenen repelled the evil serpent Apep from the Primeval Mound. He also had a magical mace dedicated to the falcon, venerated as "The reat >hite of the Earth