Editing Atum (section)

==Role==
{{Ancient Egyptian religion}}
[[File:FacsímilPapiroHarrisAtón (46149983612).jpg|thumb|upright|Atum depicted between [[Ra-Horakhty]] and [[Hathor]] from the [[Harris Papyrus]], [[20th Dynasty]] (c. 1184–1153 BC)|right]]
In the [[Ancient Egyptian creation myths|Heliopolitan creation myth]], Atum was considered to be the [[creator deity|first god]], having [[causa sui|created himself]], sitting on a mound ([[benben]]) (or identified with the mound itself), and rose from the [[Cosmic ocean|primordial waters]] ([[Naunet|Nu]]).<ref>{{cite web|last=The British Museum|title=Picture List|url=http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/1.1.4-PICTURE.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922011609/http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/1.1.4-PICTURE.pdf |archive-date=2013-09-22 |url-status=live|access-date=2012-04-04}}</ref> Early myths state that Atum created the god [[Shu (Egyptian god)|Shu]] and goddess [[Tefnut]] by spitting them out of his mouth.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watterson |first=Barbara |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/53242963 |title=Gods of ancient Egypt |date=2003 |publisher=Sutton |isbn=0-7509-3262-7 |location=Stroud |oclc=53242963}}</ref><ref name=Philae>{{cite web|title=The Egyptian Gods: Atum|url=http://www.philae.nu/akhet/NetjeruA.html#Atum|access-date=2006-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020817021937/http://www.philae.nu/akhet/NetjeruA.html |archive-date=2002-08-17}}</ref> One text debates that Atum did not create Shu and Tefnut by spitting them out of his mouth by means of saliva and semen, but rather by Atum's lips.{{sfn|Lloyd|2012|p=409}} Another writing describes Shu and Tefnut being birthed by Atum's hand. That same writing states that Atum's hand is the title of the god's wife based on her Heliopolitan beginning.{{sfn|Lloyd|2012|p=150}} Other myths state Atum created by [[masturbation]], with the hand he used in this act that may be interpreted as the female principle inherent within him because the word for hand in Egyptian is feminine (''ḏr.t'') {{sfn|Wilkinson|2003|p=17-18, 99}} and identified with goddesses such as [[Hathor]] or [[Iusaaset]]. Yet other interpretations state that he made union with his shadow.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.experience-ancient-egypt.com/egyptian-creation-myth.html|title=The Egyptian Creation Myth&nbsp;— How the World Was Born|website=Experience Ancient Egypt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109182713/http://www.experience-ancient-egypt.com/egyptian-creation-myth.html |archive-date=2010-01-09}}</ref>

In the [[Old Kingdom]], the Egyptians believed that Atum lifted the dead king's soul from his pyramid to the starry heavens.<ref name=Philae/> He was also a [[solar deity]], associated with the primary sun god [[Ra]]. Atum was linked specifically with the evening sun, while Ra or the closely linked god [[Khepri]] were connected with the sun at morning and midday.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2003|p=205}}

In the [[Coffin Texts]], Atum has a vital conversation with [[Osiris]] in which he describes the end of the universe as a time in which everything will cease to exist with the exception of the elements of the primordial waters, stating that after millions of years he and Osiris would be the only ones to survive the end of time as serpents.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2003|pp=20–21}} He claims that he will destroy everything he created in the beginning of existence and bring it back to Nu, the primeval waters,<ref>{{Cite book |first=Nicolas |last=Wyatt |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/893336455 |title=Space and Time in the Religious Life of the Near East. |date=2001 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-567-04942-1 |oclc=893336455}}</ref> thus describing the belief that the gods and goddesses would one day cease to exist outside of the primeval waters.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2003|pp=20–21}}

In the [[Book of the Dead]], which was still current in the Graeco-Roman period, the sun god Atum is said to have ascended from [[chaos (cosmogony)|chaos]]-waters with the appearance of a [[serpent (symbolism)|snake]], the animal renewing itself every morning.{{sfn|Toorn|Becking|Horst|1999|p=121}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ellis|first1=Normandi|title=Dreams of Isis: A Woman's Spiritual Sojourn|publisher=Quest Books|isbn=9780835607124|page=128|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJ9j6EE_dL0C&q=ouroboros+atum&pg=PA128|language=en|date=1995-01-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bernal|first1=Martin|title=Black Athena: The linguistic evidence|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=9780813536552|page=468|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFLm_M_OdK4C&q=Atum+Ouroboros&pg=PA468|language=en|year=1987}}</ref>

Atum is the god of [[pre-existence]] and [[post-existence]]. In the binary [[Diurnal motion|solar cycle]], the serpentine Atum is contrasted with the scarab-headed god [[Khepri]]—the young sun god, whose name is derived from the Egyptian ''ḫpr'' "to come into existence". Khepri-Atum encompassed sunrise and sunset, thus reflecting the entire cycle of morning and evening.{{sfn|Toorn|Becking|Horst|1999|p=123}}