THE BENNU BIRD

Ra-Atum, Atum, Egyptian Mythology, Egyptian sun god, mythology, greek mythology, egypt, bennu bird, benben stone, iset goddess, isis goddess, history, egyptian history, cosmogony, universe, universe origins, tyche goddess, teach, learn, art, egyptian pharaoh, sacred geometry, afterlife, egyptian afterlife

For Ancient Egyptians, the sun-deity, Atum, was an all powerful entity that created himself through sheer will. They believed he was the creator of mankind and the other gods (including ISET, who is a descendent). Atum, would shift names throughout the day as the sun matures into night. These myths would explain the daily cycle of creation through nature.

Ra-Atum, is the god personifying the sun in its strength. In one of the myths, Ra-Atum is symbolized by the Bennu bird, a huge golden hawk with a heron’s head [pictured above]; which alighted at dawn on the Benben, an obelisk representing a ray of the sun, to disperse the darkness of Nun (‘Infinity, Nothingness, Nowhere, & Darkness’). The deceased would often be greeted by the Bennu bird upon arrival to the afterlife. In Greek mythology, the Phoenix is comparable to the Bennu bird. {photo is from a tomb in Thebes} 

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