Egyptian Creation Myths

 How it all began...

Different cities of Egypt had different creation  myths, but there was one common theme: Everyone believed that the temple in their city was the location of the "Island of Creation", the origin of life. Here are the creation myths of three ancient Egyptian cities: Heliopolis, Memphis, and Hermopolis.

Heliopolitan myth: The Heliopolitan creation myth starts with Re-Atum (Ra-Atum), who willed himself into existence, then created Shu, the air god, and Tefnut, the moisture god. Shu and Tefnut then created Geb and Nut. Geb and Nut then created Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nepathys, the four that started the Egyptian myths in motion.

Memphite myth: The Memphite myth says that Ptah created himself, and also a daughter. His daughter created Re-Atum, but Ptah created everything else. It's a very simple myth, and also one that somewhat resembles a lot of modern religions' creation stories.

Hermopolitan myth: There are actually several creation myths of Hermopolis, that sometimes centerd Thoth. One myth centered a group of gods, 8 (four male, four female) called the Ogdoad. The Ogdoad gods represented darkness, infinity, a "hidden power", and primordial emptiness. Another one says Thoth was born from a lotus flower in a place refered to as the "Sea of Knives". Another myth illustrates a cosmic egg as the source of all life. The egg was laid by a celestial goose, or perhaps an ibis, Thoth's sacred bird.

An interesting, but seperate, take on the myths is found at http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/religion/deitiescreation.html.