Atum

Atum
Atum, finisher of the world
Name in hieroglyphs
t
U15		 A40
Major cult center Heliopolis
Personal information
Consort Iusaaset[1] or Nebethetepet[2]
Children Shu and Tefnut

Atum (/ɑ.tum/, Egyptian: jtm(w) or tm(w); Coptic ⲁⲧⲟⲩⲙ Atoum),[3][4] sometimes rendered as Atem or Tem, is an important deity in Egyptian mythology.

Name

Atum's name is thought to be derived from the verb tm which means to complete or finish. Thus he has been interpreted as being the "complete one" and also the finisher of the world, which he returns to watery chaos at the end of the creative cycle. As creator he was seen as the underlying substance of the world, the deities and all things being made of his flesh or alternatively being his ka.[5]

Origins

Atum is one of the most important and frequently mentioned deities from earliest times, as evidenced by his prominence in the Pyramid Texts, where he is portrayed as both a creator and father to the king.[5]

Role

In the Heliopolitan creation myth, Atum was considered to be the first god, having created himself, sitting on a mound (benben) (or identified with the mound itself), from the primordial waters (Nu).[6] Early myths state that Atum created the god Shu and goddess Tefnut by spitting them out of his mouth.[7] To explain how Atum did this, the myth uses the metaphor of masturbation, with the hand he used in this act representing the female principle inherent within him.[8] Other interpretations state that he has made union with his shadow.[9]

In the Old Kingdom the Egyptians believed that Atum lifted the dead king's soul from his pyramid to the starry heavens.[7] He was also a solar deity, associated with the primary sun god Ra. Atum was linked specifically with the evening sun, while Ra or the closely linked god Khepri were connected with the sun at morning and midday.[10]

In the Book of the Dead, which was still current in the Graeco-Roman period, the sun god Atum is said to have ascended from chaos-waters with the appearance of a snake, the animal renewing itself every morning.[11][12][13]

Atum is the god of pre-existence and post-existence. In the binary solar cycle, the serpentine Atum is contrasted with the ram-headed scarab Khepri—the young sun god, whose name is derived from the Egyptian hpr "to come into existence". Khepri-Atum encompassed sunrise and sunset, thus reflecting the entire cycle of morning and evening.[14]

Relationship to other gods

Atum was a self-created deity, the first being to emerge from the darkness and endless watery abyss that existed before creation. A product of the energy and matter contained in this chaos, he created his children—the first deities, out of loneliness. He produced from his own sneeze, or in some accounts, semen, Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. The brother and sister, curious about the primeval waters that surrounded them, went to explore the waters and disappeared into the darkness. Unable to bear his loss, Atum sent a fiery messenger, the Eye of Ra, to find his children. The tears of joy he shed on their return were the first human beings.[15]

Iconography

Atum is usually depicted as a man wearing either the royal head-cloth or the dual white and red crown of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, reinforcing his connection with kingship. Sometimes he also is shown as a serpent, the form he returns to at the end of the creative cycle, and also occasionally as a mongoose, lion, bull, lizard, or ape.[5]

Worship

Atum's worship centered on the city of Heliopolis (Egyptian: Annu or Iunu).[5] The only surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the Temple of Re-Atum obelisk located in Al-Masalla of Al-Matariyyah, Cairo. It was erected by Senusret I of the Twelfth dynasty, and still stands in its original position.[16] The 68 ft (20.73 m) high red granite obelisk weighs 120 tons (240,000 lbs, 108,900 kg), the weight of about 20 African elephants.

The Al-Masalla obelisk, the largest surviving monument from Heliopolis

References

  1. ↑ Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. p. 150
  2. ↑ Richard Wilkinson: The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London, Thames and Hudson, 2003. ISBN 978-0-500-05120-7, p.156
  3. ↑ "Coptic Dictionary Online". corpling.uis.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  4. ↑ "Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae". Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. pp. 99–101
  6. ↑ The British Museum. "Picture List" (PDF). Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  7. 1 2 "The Egyptian Gods: Atum". Archived from the original on 2002-08-17. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
  8. ↑ Wilkinson, Complete Gods and Goddesses, pp. 18, 99.
  9. ↑ "The Egyptian Creation Myth — How the World Was Born". Experience Ancient Egypt. Archived from the original on 2010-01-09.
  10. ↑ Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. pp. 205
  11. ↑ Toorn, Karel van der; Becking, Bob; Horst, Pieter Willem van der (1999). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 121. ISBN 9780802824912.
  12. ↑ Ellis, Normandi (1995-01-01). Dreams of Isis: A Woman's Spiritual Sojourn. Quest Books. p. 128. ISBN 9780835607124.
  13. ↑ Bernal, Martin (1987). Black Athena: The linguistic evidence. Rutgers University Press. p. 468. ISBN 9780813536552.
  14. ↑ Toorn, Karel van der; Becking, Bob; Horst, Pieter Willem van der (1999). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 123. ISBN 9780802824912.
  15. ↑ Pinch, Geraldine (2004). Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. pp. 63–64
  16. ↑ "OBELISK (Gr. b/3EXivrc... - Online Information article about OBELISK (Gr. b/3EXivrc..." encyclopedia.jrank.org.

Further reading

  • Myśliwiec, Karol (1978). Studien zum Gott Atum. Band I, Die heiligen Tiere des Atum. Gerstenberg. ISBN 978-3806780338.
  • Myśliwiec, Karol (1979). Studien zum Gott Atum. Band II, Name, Epitheta, Ikonographie. Gerstenberg. ISBN 978-3806780406.
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