Mites de la creació de l'antic Egipte: diferència entre les revisions

Segons les creences heliopolitanes, la creació s'atribuïa a [[Atum]], un déu proper i associat amb [[Ra]], qui ja existia en les aigües de Nu en la forma potencial d'èsser inert. Atum was a self-engendered god, the source of all the elements and forces in the world, and the Heliopolitan myth described the process by which he "evolved" from a single being into this multiplicity of elements.<ref>Allen, ''Middle Egyptian'', pàgs. 143–145.</ref><ref>Wilkinson, ''Complete Gods and Goddesses'', pàgs. 99-100.</ref> The process began when [[Atum]] appeared on the mound and gave rise to the air god [[ShuLlista (Egyptiande personatges de la mitologia deity)egípcia#S|Shu]] and his sister [[Tefnut]],<ref>Fleming i Lothian, ''Way to Eternity'', pàg. 24.</ref> whose existence represented the emergence of an empty space amid the waters.<ref>Allen, ''Middle Egyptian'', pàg. 145.</ref> To explain how [[Atum]] did this, the myth uses the metaphor of [[masturbationmasturbació]], with the hand he used in this act representing the female principle inherent within him.<ref>Wilkinson, ''Complete Gods and Goddesses'', pàgs. 18, 99.</ref> He is also said to have "sneezed" and"spat" to produce Shu and Tefnut, a metaphor that arose from puns on their names.<ref>Allen, ''Middle Egyptian'', pàg. 143.</ref> Next, Shu and Tefnut coupled to produce the earth god [[Geb]] and the sky goddess [[Nut (goddess)|Nut]], who defined the limits of the world.<ref>Allen, ''Middle Egyptian'', pàg. 44.</ref> Geb and Nut in turn gave rise to four children, who represented the forces of life: [[Osiris]], god of fertility and regeneration; [[Isis]], goddess of motherhood; [[Set (mythology)|SetSeth]], the god of male sexuality; and [[Nephthys]], the female complement of Set. The myth thus represented the process by which life was made possible. These nine gods were grouped together theologically as the [[Ennead]], but the eight lesser gods, and all other things in the world, were ultimately seen as extensions of Atum.<ref>Allen, ''Middle Egyptian'', pàgs. 144-145.</ref><ref>Wilkinson, ''Complete Gods and Goddesses'', pàg. 99.</ref>

Theban theology claimed that [[Amun]] was not merely a member of the [[Ogdoad]], but the hidden force behind all things. There is a conflation of all notions of creation into the personality of [[Amun]], a synthesis which emphasizes how Amun transcends all other deities in his being “beyond the sky and deeper than the underworld”.<ref>Hart, ''Egyptian Myths'', pàg.22</ref> One Theban myth likened Amun's act of creation to the call of a goose, which broke the stillness of the primeval waters and caused the [[Ogdoad]] and [[Ennead]] to form.<ref>Fleming i Lothian, ''Way to Eternity'', pàgs. 28-29.</ref> Amun was separate from the world, his true nature was concealed even from the other gods. At the same time, however, because he was the ultimate source of creation, all the gods, including the other creators, were in fact merely aspects of Amun. Amun eventually became the supreme god of the [[EgyptianPanteó pantheonegipci]] because of this belief.<ref>Allen, ''Middle Egyptian'', pàgs.182-183.</ref>