As is the case with most ancient mythologies, the Egyptians created myths to try to explain their place in the cosmos.
Their understanding of the cosmic order was from direct observation of nature. Therefore their creation myths concern
themselves with gods of nature; the earth, the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the Nile river.
Since the Nile river, with its annual floods played a critical role in this cosmic order, water was the fundamental element in the Egyptians ideas of creation.
Regardless of the different creation myths and ranking of gods, Egyptian venerated many deities, that
those gods were inherent in nature, and
that they enabled the Egyptian to correlate human, natural, and divine life.
Lower Kingdom
In the beginning there was only water, a chaos of churning, bubbling water, this the Egyptians called Nu or Nun. It was out of Nu that everything began.
Then the sun god Ra appeared out of primeval chaos, he came out of an egg that appeared on the surface of the water
He created the air god Shu and his wife Tefnut the goddess of moisture,
Shu and Tefnut gave birth to the sky- goddess Nut and
the earth god Geb, and so the physical universe was created.
Geb and Nut gave birth to Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys.
Osiris succeeded Ra as king of the earth, helped by Isis, his sister-wife.
Seth, however, hated his brother and killed him.
Isis then embalmed her husband's body with the help of Anubis , who thus became the god of embalming.
The powerful charms of Isis resurrected Osiris, who became king of the underworld, the land of the dead.
Horus, who was the son of Osiris and Isis, later defeated Seth in a great battle and became king of the earth.
The Pharaoh of Egypt was considered the living Horus
Upper Kingdom
At first there was only Nun, the primal ocean of chaos that contained the beginnings of everything to come.
From these waters came Ra who, by himself, gave birth to Shu and Tefnut.
Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture gave birth to Geb and Nut, the earth god and the sky goddesss.
And so the physical universe was created.
Men were created from Ra's tears. They proved to be ungrateful so Ra, and a council of gods, decided they should be destroyed.
Ra created Sekhmet to do the job.
She was very efficient and slaughtered all but a few humans, when Ra relented and tricked her into stopping.
Thus was the present world created.
Against Ra's orders, Geb and Nut married. Ra was incensed and ordered Shu to separate them, which he did. But Nut was already pregnant,
although unable to give birth as Ra had decreed she could not give birth in any month of any year.
Thoth, the god of learning, decided to help her and gambling with the moon for extra light,
was able to add five extra days to the 360-day calendar. On those five days Nut gave birth to Osiris,
Horus the Elder, Seth, Isis, and Nephthys successively.
Osiris became the symbol of good, while Seth became the symbol of evil. And thus the two poles of morality were fixed once and for all.
Elephantine Creation Myth
Khnum created the universe on his potter's wheel.
He modeled the other gods, animals and people of the earth.
A detailed description of how he created humans is found at Esna Temple.
It describes how he orders the bloodstream to cover the bones, and makes the skin enclose the body.
He then makes the respiratory system and the food digestion.
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