A Life-Bestowing Body Part of the Demiurge Atum in the Ancient Egyptian Religious Context: Textual and Archaeological Evidence

Document Type : research articles

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Lecturer, Department of Tourist Guiding, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract

In ancient Egypt, the hand played a life-giving role in both creating deities and perpetuating human beings. The Pyramid Texts describe the creative power of the hand of the god Atum, in creating the earliest divine couple. The emphasis of the life-bestowing hand when the world came into being demonstrates the pivotal role the hand of the demiurge god played in the creation of life. By the end of the Second Intermediate Period and beginning of the New Kingdom, the Hand of Atum became a special title borne by mothers of the children of Atum. In the iconography of the New Kingdom, the creative hand of the self-resurrected dead, who in this case incarnated Atum, was also essential for surviving in the afterlife. This paper seeks to characterize the culture of the fertile hand, which were of prime importance in activating the procreative ability of both the creator god, Atum, and the risen dead.

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Shedet
Volume 14, Issue 14
January 2025
Pages 438-461

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