Several creation myths survive from ancient Egypt, as different myths that emerged in different regions that were then loosely brought together when the country was unified under the pharaohs.
One of the most enduring creation stories from ancient Egyptian mythology involves the Ennead of Heliopolis. It features the Egyptian god Nun, or Nu, as the chaotic waters or primordial chaos that existed at the beginning of time, from which all life emerged. As creation myths crashed into one another, Nun became the primordial waters in other myths.
Nun was not actively worshipped by the ancient Egyptians and had no temples or priests. However, Nun was often depicted on temple walls. Nevertheless, Nun’s primal waters were seen as a powerful force in ancient Egyptian religion. It was also generally believed that all existence will be swallowed by the waters of Nun again at the end of time.
Creation Myths
In the creation myth of Heliopolis, in the beginning, the primeval waters of Nun are all that exist. There are a few different versions of what happens next.
In one version, Mehet-Weret, is a great cow with a sun disk between her horns who gives birth to the sun god Ra. Where she comes from is unclear, but her name means “Great Flood,” so it seems possible that she is a child of Nun in some way, or that she emerged from Nun’s watery abyss.
In other myths, the primordial mound Benben emerges from Nun as the waters of chaos, and there a lotus flower blossoms, from which the sun god Ra emerges.
In other myths, it is the ancient Egyptian god Atum, who is often considered as an aspect of Ra as the setting sun, who emerges first from the oceanic abyss of Nun. He is then the creator god who shapes the rest of existence.
According to the creation myth known as the Ogdoad of Hermopolis, which seems to be late, with the earliest evidence coming from the New Kingdom, there were eight deities in primordial times, each in male and female pairs, with the men having the heads of frogs and the women serpents. Nu and his consort Naunet were the first two gods in this pairing. They are described as sky and water, and are clearly meant to represent the primordial waters.
At Memphis, Nun was associated with their principal god Ptah, who was sometimes called Ptah-Nun, with Ptah sometimes emerging from Nun and making creation with his word.
When Thebes rose to prominence with its patron god Amun, they claimed that Nun was an inert force until Amun emerged from the primordial mound and created existence.
But what comes first is Nun, and life emerges from him. For this reason, from the Middle Kingdom, he was sometimes called the father of the gods.
Appearance and Iconography
In ancient Egyptian art, Nun was an anthropomorphic god depicted as a man with blue skin, representing water, holding a notched palm branch. While clearly male, he often had breasts to represent fertility, which was a common feature for many male gods. Nun was believed to exist in every drop of water, so was associated with the annual flooding of the Nile and the fertile soil left behind.
Because it was believed that the Nile also flowed through the afterlife, Nun embodies the Chthonic journey in the Book of the Dead. In some magical spells, Nun was imagined as the ultimate purifier from which life could be reborn.
Nun was often depicted holding the solar boat of Ra aloft, or the sun disk itself. He can also appear in his Ogdoad form with the head of a frog, or as a baboon greeting the rising sun.
At the sanctuaries at Karnak and Dendara, Nun was represented by a sacred cistern of lae.
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