"Coffin Text Spell No. 76 / Utterance 301" English Translation of Hermopolis Creation Myth by Leonard H. Lesko
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From: Book · Byron E. Shafer · 1991

"Coffin Text Spell No. 76 / Utterance 301" is an English Translation of the Hermopolis creation myth by Leonard H. Lesko. It was published in 1991 and based on Coffin Text Spell no. 76 and Utterance 301 of the Pyramid Texts. It outlines how the eight core Egyptian deities (the "Ogdoad") were created; and, the role that Atum played.
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Text: Full Translation

Archaic Egyptian  ⟶  English a

Translation
p. 94
Utterance 301
Your offering-cake belongs to you, Niu and Nenet,
who protect the gods,
who guard the gods with your shadows.
Your offering-cake belongs to you, Amun and Amaunet,
who protect the gods,
who guard the gods with your shadows.
Coffin Text Spell No. 76
Going forth to the sky, going down to the barque of Re, becoming a living god.
O you eight Heh (chaos) gods, keepers of the chambers of the sky, whom Shu made from the efflux of his limbs, who bound together the ladder of Atum, come in front of your father with me, give me your arms. Bind together the ladder for me; I am the one who created you and made you, as I was created by your father, Atum.
I am weary of the supports of Shu since I raised up my daughter, Nut, from upon me, so that I might give her to my father Atum in his presinct. I have placed Geb under my feet. This god binds together the two lands for my father, Atum; he assembles for himself the Great Flood (heavenly cow). I have placed myself between them, so the Ennead cannot see me. I am Shu, whom Atum created, from whom Re came to be. I was not fashioned in the womb, I was not bound together in the egg, I was not
p. 95
conceived, but my father, Atum, spat me out in the spittle of his mouth, together with my sister Tefnut. She went forth after me. I was covered with the breath of the throat.
The phoenix (Benben) of Re was that from which Atum came to be as Heh (chaos), Nun (the watery abyss), Kek (darkness), Tenem (gloom). I am Shu, father of the gods; Atum used to send his Sole Eye seeking me and my sister, Tefnut. I made illumination for her because of the darkness, and she found me as man of millions (Heh). I am the one who begot the Heh gods again as Heh, Nun, Tenem, Kek. I am Shu who begot the gods.
O you eight Heh gods, whom I made from the efflux of my flesh, whose names Atum made, when the mdw[?] of Nun was created, on that day when Atum spoke in Nun, Heh, Tenem, Kek.
Source(s) a Shafer et al., RIAE, 94-95 launch .

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ancient-egyptian-religion-lesko-pg-94
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Sourcebooks.google.comRetrieval date06/26/2020
Sourcebooks.google.comRetrieval date06/26/2020
Source record No.p. 94MediumPrintImage date1991CreatorLeonard H. LeskoSource notesShafer et al., RIAE, 94.
Source record No.p. 95MediumPrintImage date1991CreatorLeonard H. LeskoSource notesShafer et al., RIAE, 95.
Source a Shafer et al., RIAE, 94-95 launch .

Background

"Coffin Text Spell No. 76 / Utterance 301" is an English translation of the Hermopolis creation myth by Leonard H. Lesko.

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MLA Modern Language Association (8th ed.)

OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. ""Coffin Text Spell No. 76 / Utterance 301": English Translation of Hermopolis Creation Myth by Leonard H. Lesko." OMNIKA – World Mythology Index, OMNIKA Foundation, 19 Nov. 2019, omnika.org/stable/326. Accessed 20 May. 2024.

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APA American Psychological Association (6th ed.)

OMNIKA (2019, November 19). "Coffin Text Spell No. 76 / Utterance 301": English Translation of Hermopolis Creation Myth by Leonard H. Lesko. Retrieved from https://omnika.org/stable/326

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CMS Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.)

OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. ""Coffin Text Spell No. 76 / Utterance 301": English Translation of Hermopolis Creation Myth by Leonard H. Lesko." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created November 19, 2019. Accessed May 20, 2024. https://omnika.org/stable/326.

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Bibliography

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Breasted, James H. A History of the Ancient Egyptians. Vol. V, The Historical Series for Bible Students. Edited by Charles F. Kent and Frank R. Sanders. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908.
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Clark, R. T. R. Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt. London, UK: Thames and Hudson, 1959.
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de Buck, Adriaan, and Alan H. Gardiner, trans. "Coffin Text No. 76." In The Egyptian Coffin Texts, Vol. 2 / OIP 49: Texts of Spells 76-163, 1-8, edited by Adriaan de Buck. Oriental Institute Publications, no. 49. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press, 1938.
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Hart, George. The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. 2nd edition. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005.
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Lesko, Howard H., David P. Silverman, and John R. Baines. Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice. Edited by Byron E. Shafer. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.
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Pepi II. Pyramid Texts: Pepi II Funerary Inscriptions, ca. 2246–2152 BCE. Inscription carvings. Necropolis of Pepi II, Pyramid of Pepi II, Saqqara Necropolis, Saqarah, Egypt.
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Egyptian Hermopolis Creation myth Myth icon
Egyptian Belief system
Atum Main deity

Before the world began, eight deities called the Ogdoad (sometimes the 'Ennead') were separated into four men and four women. They lived in primedal water and rose out of the water to create what we know as land, the sun, and everything else we inhabit on Earth.

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