The ancient city of On

On, known today as Heliopolis or Ain-Shams, was considered the first Egyptian capital during the predynastic period


By Abdel-Rahman Sherief

On, known today as Heliopolis or Ain-Shams, was considered the first Egyptian capital during the predynastic period and was the birthplace of the first ancient Egyptian mythology.

On was the place where creation itself was believed to take place, the spot where life began, according to Egyptian myths. On was the home of the first and the mightiest Egyptian god of all, Atum, who was believed to have risen from the Benben stone in the great temple of On to light up the dark and empty universe.

Atum was believed to be the source of all other gods, like Shu, the god of air, which he exhaled out of his nose and Tefnut, the god of moisture, which flew from his mouth, to name but a few.

According to the old beliefs people came from Atum’s tears when he cried as a result of his pain and exertions.

On’s priests and astronomers were believed, according to Herodotus and many other historians, to be the inventors of the annual calendar that we use today and the city was the centre of science, philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. Students came from all over the world to study with its priests and scholars.

Out of the sea

Jenny Jobbins looks at the regional myths that ancient Egyptians associated with the creation of the world and finds an uncanny parallel with what science teaches us today


The Egyptians believed that the various ramifications of the sun god — Horus, the rising sun; Ra and Ra-Harakhte, the full sun; and Osiris, the setting sun — governed their lives and the lives of all living animals and plants. But how did they explain the creation of that world?
Their theory of creation depended on where — and, to some extent, when — they lived, and was woven around the cults of the different regional divinities. The main cult centres were in Hermopolis, Heliopolis, Memphis and Thebes.
To some extent there were common factors in these regional myths. In the beginning was chaos, envisaged as a vast ocean called Nu. From these waters rose a primaeval land mound, the pyramid-shaped benben, and at the same time life emerged from the benben’s rich, alluvial soil.

THE ENNEAD OF HELIOPOLIS: If you were born during the Old Kingdom in the area around Heliopolis, just to the northeast of modern Cairo, you would have grown up in the midst of a spiritually and politically charged atmosphere in the shade of the temple at the centre of the cult of Ra-Harakhte. Only one remnant remains today of this temple, Egypt’s first known temple to the sun god: the obelisk of Senusert I.
The people of Heliopolis (ancient Iwnw) attributed the creation to Atum, a deity who was associated with the sun-god Ra. Atum was the first god: he created himself, emerging on the primaeval mound from the water, Nu. According to the Heliopolitan myth, Atum single-handedly created his progeny, each with an element linked to the physical world. First he sneezed the air god with the onomatopoeic name of Shu, and spat out Shu’s sister, Tefnut. Shu and Tefnut were the parents of Geb, the Earth god, and Nut, the sky goddess. Despite being separated by their father, Shu, Geb and Nut nevertheless produced Isis, goddess of motherhood; Osiris, god of vegetation and resurrection; Set, god of the desert and of storms; and the protector goddess Nephtys. These nine gods, the family of the omnipotent Atum, formed the Ennead of Heliopolis. The hierarchy was perpetuated through the Pyramid Texts, which accompanied the deceased pharaoh and instructed him on how to conduct himself on his passage to the afterlife.
Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, and Anubis, son of Set and Nephtys, were the offspring of the last four members of the original Ennead.

Ancient Egyptian artifacts uncovered in Sharqiya, North Sinai

A German archaeological mission has unearthed a granite statue of King Ramses II, one of the most significant figures of the pharaonic modern kingdom.

Ramses ruled Egypt between 1304 and 1237 BC.

Adel Hussein, director of the Antiquities Ministry's Lower Egypt sector, said in a statement on Monday that the 2.47-meter statue has been discovered at Tal Basta in Sharqiya. The piece shows Ramses II sitting between the goddess Bastit and the god Atum, the statement said. Deep inscriptions with the king's name are found on its back.

The goddess Bastit was represented in the form of a cat and was worshipped at Tal Basta, where the Ramses II statue was unearthed.

Atum, a pharaonic word for "perfect,” was believed by ancient Egyptians to have created himself. Mythology holds he later united with the god Ra, becoming Atum Ra.

An Egyptian mission also discovered the remains of a citadel’s gates and pillars at Tal Habwa in North Sinai that date back to Ramses II’s time, the statement said. The findings bear inscriptions of the king’s name and phrases such as “Atum’s beloved one” and the “protector of Egypt.”

Source: http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/ancient-egyptian-artifacts-uncovered-sharqiya-north-sinai