Hermopolis

Ancient Khmun, Gr: Hermopolis, nowadays el-Ashmunein, was once the main cult center with a great temple to Djehuty (Gr: Thoth)

The name of Hermopolis comes from the Greek way of equating Djehuty with their god Hermes, as the Egyptian Djehuty was a patron of wizdom, writing and healing. The remains of the temple building are ascribed to Nectanebo I, in Dyn 30, but was probably of earlier origin. There are other temple ruins dated to the Middle and New Kingdom, and a colossal statue of Djeuty (Thoth) in baboon form, from the time of Amenhotep III.

The Ogdoad

The Ogdoad, the Creation myth which originated here, consisted of eight personified primeval forces, conceived of as four couples of deities (the number four being the number of totality and completeness). From this the ancient name of Khmun; 'eight-town', is probably originated. The significance of these primeval beings is not easy to understand today. They also lack any greater mythological context and neither is there much personification of the four couples of deities. It concerns more the primeval physical matters of existence than the organic world, and of these eight deities, only Amun developed into a remarkable status and moved to Thebes with his female counterpart Amaunet.

At el-Ashmunein was unearthed only very scanty inscriptions, telling us very little about this cosmogony. The main part of evidence is taken from Theban monuments which were pieced together in 1929 by Kurt Sethe in his survey: 'Amun und die acht urgotter von Hermopolis'.

But the eariest references to the Hermopolitan cosmogony is found in the Pyramid Texts, § 446:

Pyramid Texts, § 446, transl. R.O. Faulkner

There are four pairs of deities which complement each other. For every 'male' deity there is the 'female' counterpart, to make up a whole, according to the Egyptian complementary way of thinking. The male ones are shown with frogs´heads and the female ones with snakes´heads, such forms are frequently said in ancient texts to inhabit the primeval waters.

The Ogdoad and their concepts:

These deities were thought to comprise the very substance out of which creation was made. At Hermopolis the opinion was that at some point these primeval beings interacted whereupon a great explosion occurred, which somehow laid free the Primeval Mound. The mound later became Hermopolis, though at first it was called the Isle of Flame, as the sun god was said to be born and to rise there for the first time. Hermopolis claimed to predate the cosmogony of Heliopolis. Just as other creation centers maintained that their location was the original one, where creation first had come into being, so was also the case at Hermopolis.

The Ogdoad were 'the fathers and the mothers who came into being at the start, who gave birth to the sun and who created Atum'. From there on the rest of the cosmos is developed. But there are twists to the story:

The Cosmic Egg

The eight divinities of the Ogdoad are thought to jointly have created the Cosmic Egg out of the primeval waters (Nun). This egg was invisible as it was created already before the sun came into being. From this egg, according to some sources, the bird of light, an aspect of the sun-god, burst. Other sources say that the egg was filled with air, which then brings the association of the couple of Amun and Amaunet. In the Coffin Texts this is the first created thing of all:

Coffin Texts, spell 223, transl. R.O. Faulkner

The Great Cackler

In another version of this myth, the egg is laid by a goose; the Primeaval Goose or the 'Gengen Wer', with which Amun was associated as the creator. The goose is thought to carry the egg out of which creation comes. This myth is only given in fragments but obviously it states that the sun in the form of a bird came out of the egg which the Primeval Goose laid in the waters of Creation. It is also a form of Amun in his creator god aspect.

So the Ogdoad:
1: created existence in the form of the Primeval Mound,
2: or in the form of the Cosmic Egg
3: the Cosmic Egg was created by the Primeval Goose.
4: the Cosmic Egg held air or:
5: the Cosmic Egg held a bird and:
6: the bird was a form of the sun.

To sum it up:

All forms of initial creation happened in the darkness of the primeval waters.
Creation was circular, as was the egg.
Birth lead to decline-death-rebirth-renewal of the cyclic existence.

This means that:

Some things existed before existence.
One of this was Nun.
Another was primeval beings like frogs and snakes.
Frogs were associated with fertility.
Snakes were associated withe circularity and rebirth, i.e, they shed their old skin.
The first creator god is created out of Nun by some interaction between these primeval creatures.
Then the creator god creates the rest of the cosmos.

Above belongs to those things which will always be subject to further study and pondering.

Petosiris and Djehuty (Thoth)

Late in the history of ancient Egypt, after the conquest of Alexander the Great, a tomb in the form of a small temple was built for Petosiris, High Priest of Djehuty (Thoth) (332B.C). According to the inscriptions there, Djehuty was the 'Lord of Khemnu', and Petosiris had made extensive restorations to the temple complex at Hermopolis. He also had an enclosure built around the temple as it had been vandalized by hooligans. The place is now called the 'birtplace of every god' and it states that this is where the relics of the cosmic egg were buried . Djehuty is now said to have flown with the comsic egg to the primeval mound which later became Hermopolis, so the sun-god could be born there. This was possibly an adaption of the original myth to enhance Hermopolis as the center of creation.