Deity

Atum

Egyptian Deities

Atum is the self-created creator god of Heliopolitan cosmology, who arose from the primeval waters of Nun on the first mound of creation and, being alone, generated the first divine pair, Shu and Tefnut, from his own body. Later theology closely identified him with Ra as Atum-Ra, the sun in its evening, aged form, and he stands at the head of the Ennead, the group of nine Heliopolitan deities running Atum through Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys.

Facts

Function

Domain / Function

Primordial being 1

Domain / Function

Creation and cosmogony 1

Cult

Attributes and Iconography

Atum is most often shown as a human king seated on a throne and wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, holding the ankh in one hand and the was-scepter in the other. As the aged, setting sun he keeps the same human form but is drawn as an old man, and in his primordial aspect he takes the form of a great serpent, since a snake was considered able to move through the waters of Nun before and after the world existed; he is also shown ram-headed in his nightly passage through the underworld. 2

Attributions

Mythic Association

Atum, alone on the first mound to rise from the waters of Nun, generated Shu and Tefnut from his own body, by spitting or, in a variant reading of the myth, by masturbation; the pair became the first parents of Geb and Nut, and through them of Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys, completing the Ennead Heliopolis worshipped as one family of nine. 2

Identity

Gender

Male 1

Origins

Origin of the Name

Generally read from an Egyptian root meaning to complete or to finish, fitting his role in Heliopolitan theology as the complete being who existed before all other creation and who will remain after it ends. 2

Attestation

Era of Attestation

from 2400 BCE 1

Veneration Today

Historically attested; no continuous cult 1

Historicity

Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 2

Belief

Theology

Polytheistic: many gods 2

Practice

Lineage

Later theology closely identified him with Ra as Atum-Ra, the sun in its evening, aged form, and he stands at the head of the Ennead, the nine Heliopolitan deities descending from him through Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. 1

Atum

1 entry

Belongs To Tradition

Age Kind