Egyptian Mythology

## **Summary**

Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt that describe the actions of the gods and goddesses as a means of understanding the world around them. Myths appear frequently in Egyptian writings and art, particularly in the form of short stories and in religious materials such as hymns, ritual texts, funerary texts, and temple decorations. These sources rarely contain a complete account of the myth.

## **Cosmology**

**Maat**

The Egyptian word maat refers to the fundamental order of the universe in Egyptian belief. Established at the creation of the world, maat distinguishes the world from the chaos that preceded and surrounds it. Maat encompasses both the proper behaviour of humans and the normal functioning of the forces of nature, both of which make life and happiness possible. To the Egyptian people, the most important human maintainer of maat is the pharaoh. In myth, the pharaoh is the son of a variety of gods. As such, he is their designated representative, obligated to maintain order in human society just as they do in nature, and to continue the rituals that sustain them and their activities.

**Shape of the World**

In Egyptian belief, the disorder that predates the ordered world exists beyond the world as an infinite expanse of formless water, personified by the god Nun. The earth, personified by the god Geb, is a flat piece of land over which arches the sky, personified by the goddess Nut. The two are separated by the personification of air, the god Shu. The sun god Ra is said to travel through the sky, across the body of Nut, enlivening the world with his light. At night, Ra passes beyond the western horizon into the Duat, a region that borders the formlessness of Nun. At dawn he emerges from the Duat on the eastern horizon.

**Time**

The Egyptians vision of time was influenced by their environment. Each day the sun rose and set, bringing light to the land and regulating human activity; each year the Nile flooded, renewing the fertility of the soil and allowing the highly productive agriculture that sustained the Egyptian civilization. These events inspired the Egyptians to see all of time as a series of recurring patterns regulated by maat.

## **Myths and Legends**

### **Creation**

Among the most important myths were those describing the creation of the world. The Egyptians developed many accounts of the creation story. One common feature of the creation myths is the emergence of the world from the waters of chaos. One tradition centers on the eight gods of the Ogdoad, who represent the characteristics of the primeval water itself.

Atum, a god closely connected to Ra, incorporates all the elements of the world, and exists within the waters as a potential being. At the time of creation he emerges from the water to produce other gods, resulting in a set of nine deities, the Ennead, which includes Geb, Nut and other key elements of the world.

The god Ptah, gives physical form to the Earth, but it is Amun who is credited with conceiving the creative vision of the world's form.

### **The reign of the sun god**

After the creation of the world, Ra dwells on earth as king of the gods and of humans. Some of the gods begin to defy Ra's authority, and he destroys them with the help and guidance of other gods like Thoth and Horus the Elder.