THE COSMOGONY
Man in all times and places has speculated on the nature and origin of
the world, and connected such questions with his theology. In Egypt
there are not many primitive theories of creation, though some have
various elaborated forms. Of the formation of the earth there were two
views. (1) That it had been brought into being by the word of a god,
who when he uttered any name caused the object thereby to exist.
Th[=o]th is the principal creator by this means, and this idea probably
belongs to a period soon after the age of the animal gods. (2) The
other view is that Ptah framed the world as an artificer, with the aid
of eight _Khnumu_, or earth-gnomes. This belongs to the theology of
the abstract gods. The primitive people seem to have been content with
the eternity of matter, and only personified nature when they described
space (Shu) as separating the sky (Nut) from the earth (Seb). This
{68} is akin to the separation of chaos into sky and sea in Genesis.
The sun is called the egg laid by the primeval goose; and in later time
this was said to be laid by a god, or modelled by Ptah. Evidently this
goose egg is a primitive tale which was adapted to later theology.
The sky is said to be upheld by four pillars. These were later
connected with the gods of the four quarters; but the primitive four
pillars were represented together, with the capitals one over the
other, in the sign _dad_, the emblem of stability. These may have
belonged to the Osiris cycle, as he is 'lord of the pillars' (_daddu_),
and his centre in the Delta was named Daddu from the pillars. The
setting up of the pillars or _dad_ emblem was a great festival in which
the kings took part, and which is often represented.
The creation of life was variously attributed to different great gods
where they were worshipped. Khnumu, Osiris, Amen, or Atmu, each are
stated to be the creator. The mode was only defined by the theorists
of Heliopolis; they imagined that Atmu self-produced Shu and Tefnut,
they produced Seb and Nut, and they in turn other gods, from whom at
last sprang mankind. But this is merely later theorising to fit a
theology in being.
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The cosmogonic theories, therefore, were by no means important articles
of belief, but rather assumptions of what the gods were likely to have
done similar to the acts of men. The creation by the word is the most
elevated idea, and is parallel to the creation in Genesis.
The conception of the nature of the world was that of a great plain,
over which the sun passed by day, and beneath which it travelled
through the hours of night. The movement of the sun was supposed to be
that of floating on the heavenly ocean, figured by its being in a boat,
which was probably an expression for its flotation. The elaboration of
the nature of the regions through which the sun passed at night
essentially belongs to the Ra theology, and only recognises the kingdom
of Osiris by placing it in one of the hours of night. The old
conception of the dim realm of the cemetery-god Seker occupies the
fourth and fifth hours; the sixth hour is an approach to the Osiride
region, and the seventh hour is the kingdom of Osiris. Each hour was
separated by gates, which were guarded by demons who needed to be
controlled by magic formulae.
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