| Atum (alternatively spelt Tem, Temu,
Tum, and Atem) is an early deity in
Egyptian
mythology, whose cult centred
on the Ennead of Heliopolis. Originally
associated with the earth, Atum gradually
became considered to be the sun, as
it passes the horizon. The separateness
of the two instances per day that
this occurs, lead to the aspect of
Atum that was young, namely the rising
sun, becoming considered a separate
god, named Nefertum (literally meaning
young Atum), and consequently Atum
became mainly understood as the setting
sun. |
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In the Ennead cosmogeny, he was
considered to be the first god, having arisen by his own force
himself, sitting on a mound (benben), from the primordial
waters (Nu). Early myths state that Atum created the god Shu
and goddess Tefnut from his semen
by masturbation in the city of Annu (the Egyptian name for
Heliopolis), a belief strongly associated with Atum's nature
as an hermaphrodite (his name meaning completeness). Strictly,
the myth states that Atum ejaculated his Semen into his mouth,
impregnating himself, possibly indicating autofellatio, which
has lead many to misinterpret (euphemistically) the myth as
indicating creation from mucus).
Later belief held that Shu and Tefnut
were created by Atum having sex with his shadow, which was
referred to as Iusaaset (also spelt Juesaes, Ausaas, Iusas,
and Jusas, and in Greek as Saosis), meaning (the) great (one
who) comes forth. Consequently, Iusaaset was seen as the mother
and grandmother of the gods. The strength, hardiness, medical
properties, and edibility, lead the acacia tree to be considered
the tree of life, and thus the oldest, which was situated
close to, and north of, Heliopolis, was said to be the birthplace
of the gods. Thus, as the mother, and grandmother, of the
gods, Iusaaset was said to own this tree.
In art, Atum was always considered as a man, enthroned, or
sometimes standing, and depicted wearing both the crown of
Upper Egypt, and that of Lower Egypt. In his later form as
the setting sun, as opposed to Nefertum,
Atum was depicted in the same manner but as an aged man. However,
it was sometimes said that Atum was originally a serpent,
a form to which he was said to be destined to return when
the world ends, only changing into a human during its existence.
| In later years, the Ennead mythos,
and an alternative mythos, that of
the Ogdoad,
merged, and since Ra,
from the Ogdoad,
was also the creator (in that system),
and a solar deity, their two identities
merged, into Atum-Ra. But as Ra
was the whole sun, and Atum just the
sun when it sets, it was Atum who
was thought of as an aspect of Ra,
and eventually subsumed into him.
When this happened, his shadow, Iusaaset,
was described as Rat, which is simply
the feminine form of Ra.
As both the cosmogeny associated with
Ra and that of
Atum said that the origin of each
was the primordial waters, when, in
later years, Neith
came to embody these waters, Iusaaset
became considered an aspect of Neith
rather than Atum-Ra. |
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