The Ogdoad | Eight gods from Hermopolis | ||||||||||||||||||||
This was group of gods from the Upper Egyptian town of Khemenu (Hermopolis) capital of nome number 15 ("The Hare") in Middle Egypt. Thoth was the local main god who was considered to be the inspierer to the creation of the world. The first gods he made were the eight reptiles of the Ogdoad (Greek for a "group of eight") and they provided the elements which made life on earth possible. They were:
During the New Kingdom gods from Upper Egypt came into fame and thus the creator god Thoth was replaced (on a national level) by Atum-Re and Niau and Niaut by Amon and his otherwise seldom mentioned wife Amonet. The gods of the Ogdoad were mostly seen as humans with their animals' heads, or just depicted as snakes and frogs. |