Creator

Ptah

ptḥ

CraftsmenCreation through speechMemphis

How it changed

The Memphite Theology has Ptah create the world by conceiving it in his heart and speaking it, centuries before comparable ideas appear elsewhere. That text is also nakedly political: it argues Memphis, and Ptah, outrank Heliopolis and Ra.

Cult centre

Memphis

Best attested

Old Kingdom onward

Family

Consort of Sekhmet; father of Nefertem in the Memphite triad.

Epithets

“He who is south of his wall”
“Lord of truth”

How to recognise the figure

A mummiform man in a tight cap, holding a staff combining was, djed and ankh.

Appears in

Inscribed c. 700 BCE, claiming a much older original

Creation by speech at Memphis

Ptah conceives the world in his heart and speaks it into existence, and the text arguing this is a piece of political propaganda.

Carries

Ankh Djed pillar Was sceptre

Worshipped at

Inbu-hedj

now Mit Rahina, south of Cairo

Others in this group

Thoth

Hermopolis

Amun

Thebes

Maat

Worshipped throughout Egypt rather than centred anywhere

Atum

Heliopolis