The cosmogony of Heliopolis - The Ancient Egyptians were pious and sensitive people and they explained the birth of the universe (i.e. cosmogony) by staging the gods in stories or myths.
The main mythological stories appeared in the three important cult centres of Ancient Egypt: Heliopolis, Hermopolis and Memphis..
In Egyptian mythology, the universe emerged from a vast cosmic ocean of nothingness.
For countless eons, the creator-sun god Atum had drifted asleep in this primordial sea which the Egyptians called Nun.
Eventually, the creator god awoke and willed a small island to emerge from out of the cosmic sea..
The Heliopolitan Myth developed in Heliopolis and centered around Re-Atum as the key god figure.
According to the myth, Re-Atum willed himself into existence.
From him, Shu, the god of air and Tefnut, the god of moisture, were created.
These two in turn had Geb, the earth god, and Nut, the sky god..
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..
The Memphite creation myth coexisted with that of Heliopolis, as Ptah's creative thought and speech were believed to have caused the formation of Atum and the Ennead. Ptah was also associated with Tatjenen, the god who personified the pyramidal mound.
The sun god plays a primary role in the Heliopolitan creation theology.
In this system, creation was enacted by a group of deities referred to as the Great Ennead.
This “group of nine” consisted of the sun god, in his form as Atum, and a series of eight descendents.
Map of Upper and Lower Egypt.
The Hermopolitan cosmology arose at the site of Hermopolis in Middle Egypt.
Hermopolis was a city sacred to Thoth, the god of wisdom.
The ancient Greeks equated Thoth with their god Hermes, which gives us the name Hermopolis, or “city of Hermes.” The ancient Egyptian name for this city was Khemnu, or “Eight-Town.” .
It was the capital of the 13thor Heliopolite Nomeof Lower Egyptand a major religious centre.
It is now located in Ayn Shams, a northeastern districtof Cairo.
Heliopolis was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, occupied since prehistoric Egypt.
