Egyptian Mythology - The Creation Quiz

Answer: Nun

The Egyptians, perhaps more than any other civilization, had a habit of portraying inanimate objects as divine beings, such as Meskhenet, a goddess often depicted as having the head of a human and the body of a house brick. Similarly, the endless waters of Nun were portrayed in some myths of ancient Egypt as being a wise old sage, whom other gods would come to for advice and guidance.

Answer: The sun

Some myths of ancient Egypt describe the story of a perfect egg suddenly appearing in the waters of Nun, and hatching to give the powerful god known as Re. Other myths differ slightly, describing the rising of a mound of earth from Nun, on which the great god Re was seated. Yet another account says that Re came from a lotus flower, rather than an egg.

Answer: The scarab beetle

Khepri (or Khepara) was the early morning sun, and his link to the scarab beetle came from this creature's tendency to roll a ball of dung, which was seen as analogous to the rising of the sun each morning from the Eastern horizon. Since the sun was believed to be destroyed each night, Khepri (and scarab beetles) came to be linked with rebirth. Re followed on from Khepri and personified the midday sun, while Atum represented the setting sun.

Answer: The atmosphere

Specifically, Shu (the male) represented the dryness of the atmosphere and Tefnut (the female) represented moisture. Again, there is some discrepancy between the local mythologies of Egypt, concerning what exactly these two deities represented, but it is generally accepted that they were created by Re *only*.

Answer: Men

Faced with the needle-in-a-haystack task of locating his children from the expansive waters of Nun, Re recruited his Eye (often portrayed as a separate being) to find them. The Eye of Re faithfully carried out its duty and returned Shu and Tefnut to Re, whose tears of grief turned to tears of joy.

Answer: Earthquakes

Geb's sacred bird was the goose, whose call was said to be similar to his own peculiar laugh. The tradition of sibling marriage (which arose to prevent the mixing of royal blood with that of commoners) was carried on by the reigning kings and queens of Egypt, who were regarded as semi-divine.

Answer: The stars

Nut (the sky) ate her children, who remained in her stomach and were invisible during the day, but shone brightly at night. This angered Geb, who had to be separated from his sister-wife Nut by their father, Shu. Shu tried to calm his son by saying that Nut was actually protecting their children by allowing them to live inside her during the day, and being reborn each night

Answer: Hapi

Hapi, whose name means "runner", was a male deity but with female attributes, such as breasts. He should not be confused with the similarly named Hapy, who was the son of Horus and is depicted as the baboon-headed canopic jar traditionally used to store the lungs of a deceased person.

Answer: Apep

Apep (or Apophis) was the enemy of Re, the personification of the sun. This great serpent was said to lie beneath the horizon, just out of view of the people of Egypt, and would attempt to destroy the sun each night. Re, assisted by a host of deities including Seth, battled Apep each night so that the sun could be safely reborn the following morning.

Answer: Duat

Duat is the equivalent of Hades in Greek mythology and, to an extent, Hel in Norse mythology. It is the battleground of Re and Apep (as described in question 9) and is the resting place for souls after their judgement. Since the concept of death is such a huge part of Egyptian mythology, I will be looking at it in greater detail in a separate quiz.