Primal Myths

by Barbara C. Sproul

  The Great Seat, which rejoices the heart of the gods, which is in the House of Ptah, the mistress of all life, is the Granary of the God, through which the sustenance of the Two Lands is prepared, because of the fact that Osiris drowned in his water, while Isis and Nephthys watched. They saw him and they were distressed at him. Horus commanded Isis and Nephthys repeatedly that they lay hold on Osiris and prevent his drowning. (63) They turned (their) heads in time. So they brought him to land. He entered the mysterious portals in the glory of the lords of eternity, in the steps of him who shines forth on the horizon, on the ways of Re in the Great Seat. He joined with the court and associated with the gods of Ta-tenen Ptah, the lord of years.

  Thus Osiris came to be in the land in the “House of the Sovereign” on the north side of this land, which he had reached. His son Horus appeared as King of Upper Egypt and appeared as King of Lower Egypt, in the embrace of his father Osiris, together with the gods who were in front of him and who were behind him.

  —John A. Wilson (trans.). “Egyptian Mortuary Texts, Myths, and Tales.” In James B. Pritchard (ed.). Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1950, pp. 4–6.

  History of the Creation of the Gods and of the World

  One of the very early cult centers in Egypt, Heliopolis produced a cosmology that envisioned Atum (“the complete one”) rising up out of the primeval watery chaos and producing the world. By the time of the Pyramid Texts (c. 2400 B.C.), Atum had become closely identified with the sun god Re (or Ra, as it is spelled in this translation), and his emergence out of the water was associated with the rising of the sun and the dispelling of chaotic darkness.

  In this “Book of the knowing the evolutions of Re,” Neb-er-tcher (Lord-to-the-Limit and one of the forms of the sun god) arises from the waters (Nu) in the aspect of Khepera (“he who comes into existence”). Neither heaven nor earth, nor plants nor animals, existed then, and Khepera was alone. Becoming conscious of his intent, the god “laid a foundation in Maa” (in what is straight and true; that is, according to a careful and just plan). And then, to create all things, in semiandrogynous fashion he masturbated (or “had union with his clenched hand and joined himself in an embrace with his shadow” [his feminine element]) and poured his seed into his mouth (which functions here as a sort of womb). Thus fertilized, he spit forth his son Shu (god of air and the principle of life) and his laughter Tefnut (goddess of moisture and the principle of world order). Speaking through his “father,” Khepera notes that in “double henti periods” (technically, 120 years, but used figuratively here to mean a long time) one god had become three.

  Atum (or Re or Khepera or Neb-er-tcher—the names all refer to the same god in this context) had only one eye at first, and this capacity to see and judge was depicted as somewhat independent of him. When the great god wept with joy on uniting himself with his two created parts, Shu and Tefnut, his eye raged to find that he had been supplanted by another. To placate it, Neb-er-tcher put it in his forehead and gave it power to rule over all creation.

  A splurge of creativity ensued. Men and women had already been made from Neb-er-tcher’s tears, and now he came forth in the forms of plants and animals. His offspring Shu and Tefnut (air and moisture) gave birth to Seb and Nut (earth and sky), and these in turn produced the four gods Osiris, Horus, Set (Seth), and Isis.

  * I.e., I had not sent forth from my body the emanation which took the form of Shu, nor the moisture which took the form of Tefnut.

  —E. A. Wallis Budge. The Gods of the Egyptians. Vol. 1. New York: Dover, 1969, pp. 308–313. (Originally published 1904.)

  Myth of Ptah from Memphis

  Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 B.C. and, on his death, one of his generals founded the Ptolemaic Dynasty. This badly preserved papyrus dates from that time, although it is most probably a reworking of a document from the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1350 B.C.).

  Ptah was an important creator god whose cult originated in Memphis in late predynastic times. Here he is depicted as establishing the primeval hill (and thus the religious primacy) of Memphis and creating the eight gods of the Ogdoad: Nun and Naunet (water), Heh and Heket (eternity), Kek and Keket (darkness), and Niu and Nit (or Amun and Amaunet, air). Thus personified, these natural forces were portrayed with snake (female) and frog (male) faces, as if they were native to the original waters and muck. In this myth, it is asserted that the Ogdoad arose out of the primeval waters; in other versions, they are credited with creating it.

  PTAH found himself in the Primaeval Waters…

  He sought a place for his foot.

  [The god sought a place for his foot in] the Primaeval Waters

  because he had grown old.[…He found], that a place was in [this land There] came [he] forth from the Primaeval Waters….

  He came to Heliopolis.

  …….

  …….

  [There] said (he) “Land” as the name of Memphis,

  ….

  He desired (himself) [gods, in order…(and) to cause light to exist and there came into existence the Eight.]

  He [gave] four of them a snake’s head.

  [four of them the head of a frog, and he gave them names:

  Nun and Naunet, Heh and] Hehet, Kek [and Keket, Niu and Nit.

  …]

  …

  [..

  So they came into being in the Waters]

  “Amun and Amaunet,” as he named them another time.

  …

  They were united with those (the Eight), to complete ten names.

  —W. Ericksen and S. Scott. Fragmente memphitischer Theologie in demotische Schrift (Pap. de-mot. Berlin 13603). Wiesbaden: Akademie der Wissenshaften and der Literatur in Mainz, 1954.—Quoted in S. G. F. Brandon. Creation Legends of the Ancient Near East. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1963, pp. 54–55.

  The Repulsing of the Dragon and the Creation

  As Re, the solar disc, set beneath the horizon each evening and came up triumphantly on the other side of the world in the morning, it was thought that he had to cross the “skies below” during the course of the night. That journey was fraught with danger, because the dragon of darkness and chaos, Apophis, waited in the underworld to capture and destroy him. The repulsing of Apophis and the victorious rising of Re each day is the subject of this myth, which probably came from Thebes.

  A vital part of temple ritual was the dramatic presentation of this divine conflict. In performing the ritual and embodying the myth, participants revealed to themselves and others the absolute dimension of their particular situation. As they acted in the temple, Re and Apophis fought in the underworld and, by analogy, as the grand forces of chaos were thwarted by the god in this process, smaller manifestations of disorder were being overcome by them.

  This particular myth is an extract from a group of texts “The Beginning of the Book of the Overthrowing of Apophis, the Enemy of Re and the Enemy of King Win-nofer—life, prosperity, health!—the justified, performed in the course of every day in the temple of Amon-Re, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, Presiding over Karnak.” It is special among the texts in its extensive description of the creation.

  Although the papyrus dates from c. 310 B.C., its material is much older. Like myths from two thousand years before, it envisions the god alone in Nun (the primeval waters) creating other deities by masturbation. The importance of conceptualization is very explicit, however: “I made (in concept) every form when I was alone, before I had spat out what was Shu…and Tefnut…and before (any) other had come into being who could act with me.” In addition, the myth is very clear about the identity of Re with Being: “When I came into being, being (itself) came into being, and all beings came into being after I came into being.”

  After Re had created Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), his father Nun (the watery chaos) raised them, and his eye (his judging, watching aspect) looked after them. Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Geb (earth) and Nut (sky), and these
in turn produced Osiris, Horus Khenti-en-irti, Seth, Isis, Nephthys, and the multitude of divine emanations. All were created to assist in the establishment of being and in the repulsing of the chaotic dragon force, Apophis.

  THE BOOK of knowing the creations of Re and of overthrowing Apophis. The words to be spoken.

  The All-Lord said, after he had come into being:

  “I am he who came into being as Khepri. When I had come into being, being (itself) came into being, and all beings came into being after I came into being. Many were the beings which came forth from my mouth, before heaven came into being, before earth came into being, before the ground and creeping things had been created in this place. I put together (some) of them in Nun as weary ones, before I could find a place in which I might stand. It (seemed) advantageous to me in my heart; I planned with my face; and I made (in concept) every form when I was alone, before I had spat out what was Shu, before I had sputtered out what was Tefnut, and before (any) other had come into being who could act with me.

  “I planned in my own heart, and there came into being a multitude of forms of beings, the forms of children and the forms of their children. I was the one who copulated with my fist, I masturbated with my hand. Then I spewed with my own mouth: I spat out what was Shu, and I sputtered out what was Tefnut. It was my father Nun who brought them up, and my Eye followed after them since the ages when they were distant from me.

  “After I had come into being as the sole god, there were three gods beside me. I came into being in this land, whereas Shu and Tefnut rejoiced in Nun, in which they were. They brought to me my Eye with them. After I had joined together my members, I wept over them. That is how men came into being from the tears which came forth from my Eye. It was angry with me, after it returned and found that I had made another in its place, having replaced it with the Glorious Eye, which I had made. Then I advanced its place on my head, and after it had ruled this entire land, its rage fell away to its roots, for I had replaced what had been taken away from it. I came forth from the roots, and I created all creeping things and whatever lives among them. Then Shu and Tefnut brought forth Geb and Nut. Then Geb and Nut brought forth Osiris, Horus Khenti-en-irti, Seth, Isis, and Nephthys from the body, one of them after another; and they brought forth their multitudes in this land.

  “When (these gods) rich in magic spoke, it was the (very) spirit of magic, for they were ordered to annihilate my enemies by the effective charms of their speech, and I sent out these who came into being from my body to overthrow that evil enemy.

  “He is one fallen to the flame, Apophis with a knife on his head. He cannot see, and his name is no (more) in this land. I have commanded that a curse be cast upon him; I have consumed his bones; I have annihilated his soul in the course of every day; I have cut his vertebrae at his neck, severed with a knife which hacked up his flesh and pierced into his hide…. I have taken away his heart from its place, his seat, and his tomb. I have made him nonexistent: his name is not; his children are not; he is not and his family is not; he is not and his false-door is not; he is not and his heirs are not. His egg shall not last, nor shall his seed knit together—and vice versa. His soul, his corpse, his state of glory, his shadow, and his magic are not. His bones are not, and his skin is not. He is fallen and overthrown….

  “…See thou, O Re! Hear thou, O Re! Behold, I have driven away thy enemy; I have wiped him out with my feet; I have spat upon him. Re is triumphant over thee—[variant reading: over his every fallen enemy]…. Drive thou away, consume thou, burn up every enemy of pharaoh—life, prosperity, health!—whether dead or living….

  “(Thus) thou shalt be in thy shrine, thou shalt journey in the evening-barque, thou shalt rest in the morning-barque, thou shalt cross thy two heavens in peace, thou shalt be powerful, thou shalt live, thou shalt be healthy, thou shalt make thy states of glory to endure, thou shalt drive away thy every enemy by thy command; for these have done evil against pharaoh—life, prosperity, health!—with all evil words: all men, all folk, all people, all humanity, and so on, the easterners of every desert, and every enemy of pharaoh—life, prosperity, health!—whether dead or living, whom I have driven away and annihilated. Thou dissolvest, fallen, Apophis. Re is triumphant over thee, Apophis—[to be repeated four times]. Pharaoh—life, prosperity, health! is triumphant over his enemies—[to be repeated four times].”

  This spell is to be recited over Apophis drawn on a new sheet of papyrus in green color and put inside a box on which his name is set, he being tied and hound and put on the fire every day, wiped out with thy left foot and spat upon four times in the course of every day. Thou shalt say as thou puttest him on the fire: “Re is triumphant over thee, O Apophis!”—four times, and “Horus is triumphant over his enemy!”—four times, and “Pharaoh—life, prosperity, health!—is triumphant over his enemies!”—four times.

  Now when thou hast written these names of every male and female who is to be overthrown, of whom thy heart is afraid, that is, every enemy of Pharaoh—life, prosperity, health!—whether dead or alive, and the names of their fathers, the names of their mothers, and the names of (their) children, inside the box, they are to be made in wax and put on the fire following the name of Apophis and burned up at the time when Re shows himself. Thus thou shalt do the first time at the height of the sun and (again) when Re sets in the west, when the sunlight is fleeing from the mountain. These things are in truth more advantageous to thee than any (other) procedure. It will go well with him who does them on earth or in the necropolis.

  —John A. Wilson (trans.). “Egyptian Mortuary Texts, Myths and Tales.” In James B. Pritchard (ed.). Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1950, pp. 6–7.

  Incantation from the Myth of the Primeval Lotus

  One variant of the Hermopolitan cosmology describes the origin of Re from a primeval lotus that floated up out of the chaotic waters of Nun. In this liturgical text from the Ptolemeic Period (300–100 B.C.), Re’s eye is that lotus, created by the eight great gods of the Ogdoad. (The Hermopolitan Ogdoad consisted of Nun and Naunet [water], Huh and Hauket [un-endingness], Kuk and Kauket [darkness] and Amun and Amaunet [the unseen, or air]—the four basic creative elements.)

  By opening his eyes, Re separated day from night and then produced the lesser gods from his mouth (by spitting? speaking?) and mankind from his eyes (from tears?). All things have their source in this lotus child, the sun-god Re.

  RECEIVE this god (who is) at the heart of his piece of water, which spouted from your body (O ye Eight!). The great lotus, come forth from the Great Pool, which inaugurated the light, in the First Time…. You behold its light, you breathe its perfume, your nostrils are filled with it. It is your son, who produced himself as an infant, illuminating the land with his two eyes…. I bring to you the lotus, come from the marsh-land, the eye of Re in person in his marsh-land, he who summed in himself the Ancestors; who created the Former Gods and made all that exists in this land…. Opening his two eyes, he illumined the Two Lands, he separated night from day. The gods came forth from his mouth and mankind from his eyes. All things took their birth from him, the child (who shines) in the lotus and whose rays cause all beings to live.

  —J. Yoyotte with J. Sauneron. “La naissance du monde selon l’Egypte ancienne.” Sources Orientales, 1, Paris, 1959.—Quoted in S. G. F. Brandon. Creation Legends of the Ancient Near East. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1963. p. 51.

  SUMERIAN, BABYLONIAN, AND ASSYRIAN MYTHS

  The Enuma Elish

  The Enuma Elish—probably the most famous of the ancient Near Eastern texts—is the main source of information concerning Babylonian cosmology. The epic poem was not written primarily as an account of origins, however. Rather, its purposes were to praise Marduk, the main god of Babylon; to explain his rise from a great but local deity to the head of the whole pantheon; and to honor Babylon itself as the most preeminent city. The account of creation is used as a background to the real sto
ry of divine struggles and the establishment of Marduk’s supremacy.

  The Epic of Creation, as it is often called, derived its proper name from the first words of its opening line: “Enuma elish la nabu shamanu….”—literally: “When above the heaven had not [yet] been named….” It begins with Apsu (the ocean) and Tiamat (the primeval waters) lying inert together and eventually producing the divine natural forces: Lahmu and Lahamu (silt and slime), Anshar and Kishar (the horizons of sky and earth), Anu (heaven, the principle of authority), and Nudimmud (or Ea, waters of the earth, the principle of wisdom). As the offspring grew, they began to order the chaotic world and become rebellious. Apsu and Tiamat, resentful and angry, tried to reassert themselves. They called on Mummu (mist of the clouds, the principle of entropy) and together conspired to slay the young gods they had begotten. The plan failed, however, as Tiamat withdrew out of motherly concern and the wise Ea (earth water) slew Apsu (ocean) with his art and cunning (as presumably the waters were contained for purposes of irrigation in the first stage of Mesopotamian civilization) and locked Mummu (mist, entropy) away. Later, with his wife Damkina, Ea produced his magnificent son Marduk.

  From there, the myth charts Marduk’s dramatic rise to power. When Tiamat created monsters and married their chief Kingu in an effort to slay the young gods, Marduk was summoned to control her. In return for his efforts, he demanded and received recognition from the gods as the supreme one. Enthroned and feted, Marduk went forth, slew Tiamat, and then ordered the chaos by fixing the places of the stars, establishing the roles of the gods, separating heaven and earth, and, finally, setting up Babylon as his dwelling place. Almost as an afterthought, the rebellious Kingu was killed and from his blood, the wise Ea made mankind to do the bidding of the gods. The myth ends with elaborate praises of Marduk and a recitation of his fifty names.