benben

Benben, or the benben stone, is a sacred symbol in ancient Egyptian cosmology. It represents the primeval mound that rose from the chaotic waters of Nun at the moment of creation and is closely associated with the sun god Ra (Re) and the creator god Atum. The benben is especially linked with Heliopolis (Iunu), the major cult center of the sun and the site where creation was mythologized as an act of emergence.

In Egyptian art and temple inscriptions the benben appears as a small, rounded or pyramid-shaped stone on a mound, sometimes with solar motifs such as a disk or rays. It served as a visual shorthand for creation, emergence, and the ordering of the world, and it was used to symbolize kingship and cosmic renewal.

Historical evidence for the benben motif appears in the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom and remains a common emblem in later temple reliefs and inscriptions. Its visual associations informed architecture and the iconography of the solar cult at Heliopolis and beyond, reinforcing ideas of origin and renewal within the Egyptian religious imagination.

In modern scholarship, the term benben is the established name for this symbol in Egyptology. It is primarily of interest to researchers and historians of religion, and while its imagery is tied to the city of Heliopolis, the benben itself is a symbolic concept rather than a contemporary geographic place.