The Egyptian Ogdoad

These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations. Genesis 10:20

"If Noah’s family became objects of pagan worship as deified ancestors, then it would be likely that they had their own worship temple and center, predicting a ‘cult of the eight’ in ancient Egypt, with its own temple, lore, and textual tradition.
Also, the names of Noah, Ham, Shem, and Japheth should be preserved in ancient Egyptian onomastics, if Ham passed on the knowledge of them to his sons and so forth.

Egyptologists are well aware of a group of eight gods known as the Ogdoad derived from the Greek meaning ‘eight’, which in modern hieroglyphic transliteration is written ḫmnw (Khemnw). The Ogdoad are also well known in later Ptolomaic and Roman period texts where they receive much theological speculation.

Egyptologist David Silverman offers an introductory summary of them explaining their role in Egyptian cosmological theology concerning the creation of the universe from the watery abys called the Nun:“... in a series of abstract concepts: waterniness (nwj)... the most basic qualities, enshrined in the names ofthe water (Nu, Nun); infinity (hhw); darkness (kkw);(tnmw, literally ‘lostness’) or hiddenness (jmnw) ...they are usually depicted as four pairs of gods and goddesses, whose names are masculine and feminine counterparts of each other: Nun and Naunet, Huh and Hauhet, Kuk and Kauket, Ammun and Amuanet."
 

Collectively, the eight deities are known as the Ogdoad... [who] were venerated as creator-deities: ‘the fathers and mothers who were before the original gods’ ... .” The earliest complete set of names and images of the Ogdoad, discovered (so far) by archaeologists, comes from the 26th Dynasty tombs of El-Bawiti (664–525 bc) in the oasis of Baḥaria. 

 

The Ogdoad is shown anthropomorphic and serpent-headed (creatures the Egyptians associated with water) and comprise four males and their emale consorts, whose names are written in cartouches above their heads. ...the Ogdoad as apes (creatures the
Egyptians associated with worship of the first sunrise at creation,  unnamed images of which occur in earlier Middle Kingdom temple inscriptions..... Both depictions show the Ogdoad assisting the air god Shu in supporting the sky, upon which the solar bark of the sun god Re sails.

The Egyptians believed the Ogdoad’s role was to maintain creation’s balance, by stopping the sky from collapsing back into the Nun (the Egyptian idea of a primeval flood), which in Egyptian cosmology was believed to be a state of chaos, from which the creation emerged. This is strikingly parallel to the concepts of Creation as revealed in Genesis 1 and also mirrored within the Flood account in the role of the tehôm—the Great Deep. 

 

The chief god is called Nu—which is phonetically similar to Noah, Nu’s wife is the feminine form—Naunet. The other gods are Heh and Hauhet, Kek and Kauket, and Amun and Amaunet.

 Meanings of the names of the Ogdoad are derived from contextual evidence from the texts from which they occur.
Egyptologist Geraldine Pinch summarizes these names as
follows: “Nun and his female counterpart Naunet, the deities of the primeval waters ... Amun and Amunete, deities of invisible power, or the breath of life ... Primeval darkness was represented by Kek and Keket ... Heh and Hehet ... may originally have embodied the strong currents in the Primeval Waters”.

 

The following relationships, as a
working hypothesis, are summarized below:

Noah ≈ Nu
Ham ≈ Kek
Shem ≈ Amun
Japheth ≈ Heh

The connections are intriguing .

 

By the end of the Old Kingdom, texts were being inscribed on the walls and corridors of Pharaonic pyramids....... Saqqara is also known as the location of the first pyramid to be constructed in Egypt—the stepped pyramid of King Djoser (3rd Dynasty).  

The 5th Dynasty texts, which are highly esoteric spells for the afterlife, represent the oldest corpus of religious writings preserved from ancient Egypt.
The first pharaoh to incorporate these magical spells into his pyramid was Unas, (W) who was the last king of the 5th Dynasty.

Other pyramids of interest are Pepi Meryre I pyramid, Queen Neith (Nt) (daughter of Pepi I), Merenre and Pepi Meryre I pyramids. These contain the names associated with the Ogdoad—specifically two pairs, Nu and Naunet, and Amun and Amaunet in Unas pyramid spell W 301§446.  PT
text 585§1580b–1581, located in Queen Neith’s chamber, refers specifically to the Ogdoad as an unnamed group, or possibly the city dedicated to them, repeated in Merenre and Pepi Meryre I pyramids.

 

Two terms for the Great Flood occur.

The divine title mḥy.t-wr.t (“Great Flood”) occurs in W 317§508; and Nt 493§1059 which states: “May you cause  that Neith eat as Ne[per] who comes into being there, like Osiris who is upon the Great Flood.” 

The other term for “Great Flood” occurs in Pepi 1 pyramid and Unas pyramid. 

From Egyptologist R.O. Faulkner’s translation, PT311§498–500 states:
“... contend with fierce roaring(?) with those who are in trouble, with those whom they would destroy. May they not make opposition when I turn to you ... this name of yours of Great Flood ... .” 

An analysis of the Pyramid Texts demonstrates that all the names associated with the Ogdoad are present, appearing either as divine names, or impersonal, cosmological concepts, along with two terms
for the ‘Great Flood’. 

Do these Ogdoad and Flood names and concepts survive into later stages of Egyptian history? 

...the Egyptian Coffin Texts (CT), which represent funerary spells adorning coffins during the Middle Kingdom. CTs are so called because they were written in ink on interiors, and more rarely
exteriors of coffins belonging to wealthy Middle Kingdom Egyptians. 

 CTs cover a diverse set of genres including hymns, prayers, and magical spells. 

The following CT spells are of interest from a point of view of discussing the Ogdoad.
The title “eight Chaos-gods” which take their name from Ogdoad member Heh, occurs in CTs 76, 78–81, (known as the “Book of Shu”—Shu being the name of the airgod), and the title “Chaos-gods”.

 

Because these names appear in the oldest Egyptian texts we can be confident that they are not a later invention.

As the Bible clearly links Egypt with Ham and his son Mizraim, this study has concentrated its efforts there.  

The question has been asked, is there a memory of Noah and the Flood readily identifiable in the religious writings of ancient Egypt?

Egypt’s oldest known texts— the 5th Dynasty Pyramid Texts.
These texts contain the names known from later history that make up the Ogdoad, along with their designation Khemnw (either referring to the eight gods, or “Eight City”, being the city of the Ogdoad, and two terms for the Great Flood."

GavinCox/CMI