08/11/2024
In ancient Egypt, the world was believed to have emerged from a dark and infinite cosmic ocean known as the primeval waters. This ocean was personified by a primordial being known as Nun. It was from the primeval waters that Nun first lifted the sun (known variously as Atum, Re, or Ra). Atum produced two children, Shu (‘air’) and Tefnet (‘moisture’), who mated and gave birth to Nut, the sky goddess, and Geb, the earth god; Shu then separated Nut from Geb. It was believed that at the dawn of each day, Nut gave birth to the sun, and at the end of each day she devoured the sun, which passed through her body during each night.
The Egyptians visualized planets, stars, and constellations as the embodiments and homes of myriad male and female deities of space and time whose interactions with humans were important in both life and death. Among the most important of these deities were Re, the sun god; the goddess Isis (embodied by the brilliant star Sirius); the god Osiris, lord of the underworld and of rebirth, embodied by the constellation Orion; and the sky goddess Nut, whose body spanned the sky. A personal relationship with these deities played a key role in establishing and maintaining the power and legitimacy of a long succession of Egyptian pharaohs.
Read more in Stephen Little's article "Mapping the Infinite: Cosmology Across Cultures" in our latest issue, see linkinbio.
Image:
1. Illustration ‘Zodiac chart from the Osiris Chapel of the Temple of Hathor, Dendera, Egypt’ (from the original bas relief, Ptolemaic
Period, c. 50 BCE) in Nuova illustrazione istorico-monumentale del basso e dell’alto Egitto by Domenico Valeriani (d. c. 1771),
published 1836–37
Photo: Getty Research Institute Library, Los Angeles, CA
2. ‘The Ptolemaic universe’, illustration from Harmonia Macrocosmica by Andreas Cellarius (c. 1596–1665), published 1661
Photo: Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA
