creation of the world according to the Kmtic
(ancient Egyptian) priesthood of Khmnw
(Hermopolis to the Greeks), which literally means
city or nation of eight. The genius of Kmt’s priests
is reflected in their manner of addressing the con-
ceptualvacuumlogicallycreatedbetweentheorig-
inal formless void and the eventual world teaming
with life. The priesthood of Khmnw focused on
the premanifest world to lessen this area of the
unknown. The priesthood acknowledged that the
manifest world was characteristically finite, visi-
ble,andilluminatedandhadsolidform.Theman-
ifest world, however, was the result of a previous
stateofexistenceinwhichanoppositesetofchar-
acteristicsreigned.Theincarnationoftheseprena-
tal characteristics took place within the Eight
Deities of the Ogdoad.
The earliest known records mentioning the
Ogdoad are found in the Old Kingdom of Kmt in
thePyramidTexts(circa2350BC)andlaterinthe
Coffin Texts. Creation stories were apt to change
overKmt’s4,000-yearhistoryevenwhenthedeities
remained consistent. In one creation story, the
eight deities were said to have arisen from the
Nun, the formless watery primordial substance,
when Djhwdy, the initial creator in this version,
called for them. Another rendition of the Ogdoad
claimsthatthedeitieswereself-created.Inbothof
theserenditions,theOgdoadhelpstogivebirthto
the Sun deity as either Ra or Nfrtm, who pro-
ceeded to create the rest of the living creatures.
The Ogdoad then lives on Earth during Kmt’s
goldenerauntiltheymakethepassagetothenext
life. Their passing, however, does not make them
inert because they continue to manage the forces
of the flood or the inundated Nile River.
Althoughthecreationstoriesvaried,thedeities
consistently emerged as four pairs, with each pair
reflectinganequivalentbalanceofmaleandfemale
force. Thus, there were four male deities pictori-
ally represented as frogs and four female deities
pictoriallyrepresentedasserpents.Therearealter-
nativerenderingsofthesedeities,butthefrogand
serpent rendition provides the most insight to the
relationship that these deities have with the Nun.
Frogs and serpents were the first and most obvi-
ousformsoflifethatappearedonthebanksofthe
receded Nile River.
TheEightDeitieswereNun(male)andNaunet
(female) of the watery void, Kuk (male) and
Kauket (female) of darkness, Heh (male) and
Hehet (female) of infinity, and Amun (male) and
Amaunet (female) of invisibility. Reflecting the
harmonic balance of gender duality, the descrip-
tion of the Ogdoad extends procreating potential
to the inverted properties of the manifest world.
The proof of their fecundity is in their resultant
offspring, the Sun god, who goes on to create the
otherlivingcreatures.Thedialecticalnatureofthe
Ogdoad is proof of the Kmtic ability to articulate
abstract concepts.D. Zizwe PoeSee alsoAmen; Ptah; RaFurther Readings
Allen, J. P. (1997). The Celestial Realm. In D. P.
Silverman (Ed.),Ancient Egypt(pp. 23–40).
NewYork: Oxford University Press.
Egyptian Mythology. (1965). New York: Tudor.
Naydler, J. (1996).Temple of the Cosmos:The Ancient
Egyptian Experience of the Sacred. Rochester, VT:
Inner Traditions.OGUN
Ogun is a major West African divinity whose
history covers several centuries and whose wor-
ship stretches onto many continents. Some schol-
ars have suggested that Ogun may be worshipped
by as many as 70 million individuals around the
world, and the number of Ogun worshippersmay
well be increasing constantly.
Although it may not be possible to date with
precision the emergence of the deity Ogun, it is
likelythatitgoesbacktothebeginningoftheIron
Age and attendant ironwork in Africa. Indeed, in
itsoriginalpersona,Ogunisfirstandforemostthe
divinity of iron and, by extension, the divinity of
warandhunting.Althoughtheearliestironsmelt-
ing sites emerged in Central Nigeria, thus making
Ogun a preeminent Yoruba deity (Orisha), the
worshipofOgunhasbeenattestedthroughoutthe
Guinea Coast, where it had spread since ancient
times, with shrines to Ogun found in virtually
everyforge.IntheKingdomofDahomey(nowtheOgun 481