Egyptian cosmogonies were more about explaining the order of the world (personified as Maat), especially the rising of the sun and the flooding of the Nile, than the creation of mankind. The world would continue its orderly progression regardless of whether or not we mere mortals lived or died, although the kings and queens, as incarnations of the gods, counted, and religious rites symbolically helped maintain the order.

During the millennia during which ancient Egypt was a Mediterranean power to be reckoned with, different dynasties came to power, some African, some Asian, and later, the Greeks and Romans. One result of the long, heterogeneous history of Egyptian power is great variety in the myths of ancient Egypt. Tobin [Mytho-Theology in Ancient Egypt, by Vincent Arieh Tobin. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt (1988)] says the different and seemingly conflicting creation myths were but different sets of symbols used to articulate the same reality, rather than factual accounts of how the universe emerged. Two of the versions below have a sun god as the creator. A version not listed below, at Elephantine, has a potter as the creator god.

There were 3 main Egyptian creation myths, named for the gods and locations involved, which helped justify the political claims of these cities:

Other cities had their own cosmogonies that served to elevate the cities status. Another major, but short-lived theology was the so-called monotheism of the Amarna period.

Here youll find information related to the 3 main Egyptian creation myths and the major gods. Go to the hyper-linked articles for more information and the references.

The 8 gods of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad were mated pairs from a primordial chaos. Together they produced the world, but exactly what they produced varied with the telling, more so than the variation in the powers of the 8 chaotic deities. They may have produced a mass or an egg or the sun. Although the Ogdoad may not actually be the oldest Egyptian cosmology, the gods and goddesses