What was the memphite drama all about?

Ptah works through Horus to accomplish this unification. The other is a creation story, the “Memphite Theology” or “Memphite Drama”, that establishes Ptah as the creator of all things, including gods. The text stresses that it is in Memphis that the unification of Egypt took place.

How many Egyptian creation stories are there?

Each of these cities also represented a critical deity – Amun, Ptah, and Atum, respectively – and a specific way in which creation took place. To modern people, it may seem strange and contradictory that the ancient Egyptians had three seemingly disparate creation myths.

Why was hermopolis considered important to Egyptian history?

Heliopolis, (Greek), Egyptian Iunu or Onu (“Pillar City”), biblical On, one of the most ancient Egyptian cities and the seat of worship of the sun god, Re. It was the capital of the 15th nome of Lower Egypt, but Heliopolis was important as a religious rather than a political centre. During the New Kingdom (c.

When was the memphite Theology presumably written?

A second theology, the Memphite theology, enlarged upon these concepts. It apparently dates from the New Kingdom (1551-1070 B.C.), although it is possible that, given the importance of Memphis in the Old Kingdom, it was based on an earlier theology.

How old is the Shabaka Stone?

Neferkare or Shabaka, a ruler of the twenty-fifth dynasty, ordered an ancient religious text copied onto stone because the original was worm-eaten. The text belongs to the Old Kingdom (ca. 2649–2150 BCE), but its precise date is unknown.

What is the Egyptian creation myth called?

Hermopolis. The creation myth promulgated in the city of Hermopolis focused on the nature of the universe before the creation of the world. The inherent qualities of the primeval waters were represented by a set of eight gods, called the Ogdoad.

Who created humans in Egyptian mythology?

Humans were created from the Eye of Re or wedjat (eye of wholeness). This happened when the eye separated from Re and failed to return. Shu and Tefnut went to fetch it, but the eye resisted. In the ensuing struggle, the eye shed tears from which humans were born.

What is Heliopolis called today?

City of the Sun
There the Egyptian creator, Atum, and sun god, Ra, first appeared, and there they held court for millennia. And there the Egyptians built their most enduring sacred site, a city known today by its Greek name, Heliopolis, or City of the Sun.

How did Thoth become a god?

According to one story, Thoth was born from the lips of Ra at the beginning of creation and was known as the “god without a mother.” In another story, Thoth is self-created at the beginning of time and, as an ibis, lays the cosmic egg that holds all of creation.

Why was King Shabaka so popular?

Following Piye’s ideals, Shabaka fostered religious orthodoxy in Amon’s cult and a return to ancient cultural themes, which characterized the 25th and 26th dynasties. He had old texts recopied and also continued the royal tradition of pyramid burials.

Is Ra an Atum?

By midday the sun-god was again Ra and represented by the sun-disk. At sunset he became Atum, an old man who had completed his life cycle and was ready to disappear to be regenerated for a new day. Given this story, the Sun God Ra has always been the greatest god in Egypt.