Atum

AH-toom

egyptian: Itm

Definition

Atum (Egyptian Itm) is the Egyptian creator-god of Heliopolis and the oldest of the gods in that cosmology — the self-made one who emerged from the primeval waters (Nu) and brought forth the first divine pair, Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture). His astral identity is the evening Sun: at sunset the Sun was seen as Atum, in his aged, completed, returning-to-source form. He is the third face of the day's solar cycle — Khepri at dawn, Re at noon, Atum at dusk. (See Khepri, Ra (Re), and Aten for the others.)

In Tradition

Egyptologists treat Atum as the Heliopolitan creator who generated the cosmos out of himself, and as the setting Sun in the daily solar drama. The three-part scheme — rising Khepri, mid-day Re, setting Atum — is how the Egyptians named one Sun across the arc of a single day, so that the same star was the youthful scarab in the morning and the aged creator at evening.

In Practice

In Egyptian astral religion, Atum is the dusk pole of the solar cycle. Where Khepri the scarab is the Sun being born at the eastern horizon and Re is the Sun at full strength, Atum is the Sun going down in the west — the "completed" Sun returning toward the primeval source from which it first arose. This evening identity made Atum the natural god of the Sun's descent into the Duat, the underworld it crosses through the night before its dawn rebirth. In the Pyramid Texts the dead king is repeatedly identified with Atum or made his son, joining the creator at the close of the day. Keep Atum distinct from Re (the Sun at strength), Khepri (the dawn Sun), and Aten (the visible solar disk).

Historical Origin

Atum is attested from the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts (Dynasties 5-6, c. 2400-2300 BCE), where the dead king is identified with him — "your lower arms are of Atum... your belly of Atum" (Spell 146; Allen 2005). The Coffin Texts elaborate his self-creation: "Atum spat me out as Shu together with my sister Tefenet" (Spell 76; Faulkner, *The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts* Vol I). Standard reference: Richard H. Wilkinson, *The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt* (2003).

Further Reading

  • James P. Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts
  • Raymond O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, Volume I
  • Richard H. Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt