Well (Egyptian mythology)

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Well in hieroglyphics
Old empire
W24 W24 W24
N1 		N35A

New kingdom
W24 W24 W24
N1 		A40

Gr.-Roman. time
W24 W24 W24

N35
N35 		W24 W24
W24 		G43

Well
nwn the primeval tide
(of heaven)

Now is an ancient Egyptian god who formed a pair of gods with his wife Naunet . While Nun represented the upper heaven outside the earth , Naunet symbolized the surface and subterranean waters of the Duat .

Mythological connections

Now as a cosmic element

In the Nutbuch and in the grave of Seti I , the primeval water is described in more detail, a place of absolute darkness where "the exhausted" stay. In the pyramid slogans , hunger is ordered: “Go to the now!”, Because it cannot exist there and is thus destroyed.

“ 31 The top of the sky is the Keku-semau . The outside of heaven is in Reteh-qabet , which is the boundary of heaven. 32 Your boundaries (the perimeter) are unknown. 33 The boundaries are fixed in the Now as “Tired”. These are in the water by being depleted, that is, the places. 34 The ba does not rise there. Re does not go up there. 35 His land is not known by gods and transfigured ones, 35 that is, the place where darkness is. 36 There's no light in it at all. 37 Every place now spreads every shadow. 37 It is entirely covered with darkness, that is, the waters. 38 The countries are raised higher than the entire Duat . 38 The darkness there exceeds that of the Duat. "

- Plan of the course of the stars

The terms “tired” and “exhausted” refer to the cardinal points in the well that no longer exist there. It is a popular ancient Egyptian word game that explains the meaninglessness of the cardinal points in the Nun, similar to the modern comparison that in the universe cardinal directions lose their affiliation if there is no earthly location as a reference point. In the 58th scene of the gate book there is a similar description, where four times four "Tired in the Now" can be seen.

With the introduction of the Book of the Dead, however, the ideas of Nun found a theological change in the New Kingdom . The myth “ Book of the Celestial Cow ”, which probably originated in the Middle Kingdom , locates the sun god Re on the back of the groove and characterizes this area as a refuge for the Re. In the Nutbuch, on the other hand, Re can no longer enter the upper heaven of Nun, which is located on the back of the Nut, in its developed form as a deity. Likewise, the Duat area becomes the Nun region in the Port Book , although Naunet was responsible for this area as the wife of Nun in the Old Kingdom . The theological reinterpretations are also conspicuous in this context with the positioning of Qebehu .

Now as a deity

Now belongs to the older deities of Egypt. It is called "the old", the "origin of the gods". The representation is purely human, partly without special attributes, partly with a pair of feathers on the head. Like all male members of the Eightness of Hermopolis , Nun can be represented with a frog head.

The earliest references to Nun as a human deity are in Hermopolis Magna . In the respect there is, Nun and Naunet form the first pair of the family tree created by Atum since the New Kingdom . In Memphis she was closely associated with the deity Ptah at Ptah-Nun.

Primeval hill

One day the primeval hill rose up out of the primeval flood or primeval water, on which creation continued. The creation myths of Hermopolis, Heliopolis (ancient Egypt . Iunu ) and Memphis differ here.

The act of creation of the people of Khnum , who are formed from clay, also takes place on the primeval hill. Several cities claim to be the “high ground that grew out of now”.

See also

literature

  • Hartwig Altenmüller : Mindfulness. In: Lexicon of Egyptology. Volume 1: A - Harvest. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1975, ISBN 3-447-01670-1 , column 56-57.
  • Hans Bonnet : Achtheit, Nun , in: Lexicon of the Egyptian religious history . 3rd edition, Berlin 2000, p. 5f .; Pp. 535f., ISBN 978-3-937872-08-7
  • Wolfgang Helck , Eberhard Otto : Well , in: Kleines Lexikon der Ägyptologie , Harrassowitz Verlag Wiesbaden, 1999 ISBN 3-447-04027-0 p. 206f.
  • Reinhard Grieshammer: Well . In: Lexicon of Egyptology . Vol. 4, Wiesbaden 1982, columns 534-535.
  • Christian Leitz u. a .: LGG , Vol. 3 (series of publications: Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta 112) . Peeters, Leuven 2002, ISBN 90-429-1148-4 , pp. 543-547.
  • Kurt Sethe : Amun and the Eight Primordial Gods from Hermopolis, 1929
  • Alexandra von Lieven : Floor plan of the course of the stars. The so-called groove book. The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Eastern Studies u. a., Copenhagen 2007, ISBN 978-87-635-0406-5 ( Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications 31), ( The Carlsberg Papyri 8).