Atum

Atum is an ancient Egyptian deity regarded as a creator god in the Heliopolitan (rope of the sun) cosmogony. He is associated with the origins of the world and with the sun, and his cult center was in Heliopolis (Iunu). In later periods, Atum became linked with Ra as Ra-Atum, the sun god, and he was sometimes identified with other creator figures in syncretic worship such as Amun-Ra.

In the primeval myth, Atum emerges from the watery chaos of Nun and is sometimes described as self-created. He is said to create the first beings, Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), by self-generation—by thinking or by spitting or masturbation, depending on tradition. Shu and Tefnut then give birth to Geb (earth) and Nut (sky), who in turn produce the next generation of gods, including Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. Through these relationships, Atum is portrayed as a progenitor who establishes cosmic order and the structure of the world.

Iconography and worship commonly depict Atum as an aged man, often shown with the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, though he is also represented in animal or abstract forms in some inscriptions. His primary cult center was the temple complex at Heliopolis, and his worship influenced later solar and creator deities within Egyptian religion. In the New Kingdom and later periods, Atum’s identity was increasingly merged with Ra and, in some traditions, with Amun, contributing to the composite forms Ra-Atum and Amun-Ra that dominated Egyptian religious thought for centuries.