Exploring The Ancient Egyptian Story of ReDiscover the captivating story behind one of Egypt's oldest creation myths. Follow Re, the solar god, on his journey through time and space.
Before the land of Egypt even existed, there was nothing, but a gigantic water waste called Nun in the beginning. The strength of Nun caused a large, bright egg, which was Re, to appear out of the shadows.
Re was now all-powerful and capable of taking on various forms. His secret name was where his strength stemmed from; but, if he used other names, the things he named manifested.
He declared, "I am Khepera at dawn, Re at noon, and Atum at dusk. The sun then rose, travelled across the sky, and began to set.
The first winds began to blow when he named Shu, and the first rain began to fall when he named Tefnut the spitter. The goddess Nut was the sky draped over the world, her feet on one horizon and her hands on the other. He next called Hapi, and the mighty River Nile flowed through Egypt and made it bountiful. Finally, he named Geb, and the Earth came to life.
Following this, Re named everything on earth, and it grew. Last but not least, he mentioned humanity, which included both men and women living in Egypt.
So Re became a human form and became the first Pharaoh, ruling over the entire nation for countless ages and producing such abundant harvests that the Egyptians never stopped talking about the pleasant things "which happened in the time of Re."
But, because Re was a man, he aged. With time, men stopped respecting his authority or fearing him. They mocked him and said: "Check out Re! His flesh is like gold, his bones are like silver, and his hair is lapis lazuli in colour."
When Re heard this, he became even more incensed at the horrible things that people were committing in defiance of his laws. So he gathered the gods he had created, including Nun and Shu as well as Tefnut, Geb, and Nut. The goddesses and the gods soon gathered about Re in his Hidden Place. Yet, humanity was unaware of what was taking place and continued to mock Re and disobey his commands. In front of the gathering gods, Re then addressed Nun, saying, "Elder gods, you who made me; and you gods whom I have made: behold upon humans who came into being at the flash of my Eye. I want to know what the men are planning to do to me, what they are saying about me, and what I should do to them. So I won't annihilate humanity until I hear your advice.
Nun then commanded Re, the god who was more powerful than both his creator and those he had created, to send destruction their way in the form of Sekhmet, Re's daughter.
Re responded, "Right now, at the sound of my voice, fear is engulfing them, and they are running into the desert and hiding in the mountains in terror."
All the other gods and goddesses screamed out, kneeling before Re until their foreheads touched the ground, "Send against them the look of your Eye in the form of Sekhmet!"
The fiercest of all goddesses, his daughter, was therefore created in response to the terrifying gaze of Re's Eye. She charged at her target like a lion, and she enjoyed blood most when she killed her prey. She entered Upper and Lower Egypt at Re's command to murder people who had rejected and disobeyed him. She did this by killing them in the scorching deserts, along the banks of the Nile, and amid the mountains that flank the river. She slaughtered everyone she came across, revelling in the bloody taste of death.
Re then turned to survey the landscape and saw what Sekhmet had accomplished. "Come, my daughter, and tell me how you have obeyed my directions," he then called to her.
"With the life which you have given me, I have certainly done vengeance on mankind, and my heart rejoices," said Sekhmet in the dreadful sound of a lioness tearing her prey.
Sekhmet's feet were red as she travelled throughout all of Egypt, killing and killing, for many nights at this point. The Nile was also stained with blood during this time.
Re now turned to face the Earth once more, and although men had revolted against him, he now felt compassion for them. But no one, not even Re himself, could stop the vengeful goddess Sekhmet; she had to stop killing on her own, and Re realised that the only way to do this was by being cunning.
Then he issued the following order: "Send before me quick messengers who will travel the Earth as stealthily as shadows and at the speed of the storm winds." "Go as quickly as you can up the Nile to where it surges ferociously over the rocks and among the islands of the First Cataract; go to the island that is named Elephantine and collect from it a big store of the red ochre that is to be found there," he instructed them when they arrived with these.
The messengers travelled quickly and arrived in Heliopolis, the city of Re, carrying the blood-red ochre. There, they found the stone obelisks with points of gold that resemble fingers pointing towards the sun. When they arrived in the city it was now dark, but the women of Heliopolis had been preparing beer as Re had instructed all day.
The gods accompanied Re to the location where the beer was waiting in 7,000 jars to see how he would save humanity via his wisdom.
Re commanded the barley beer to be mixed with Elephantine's red ochre, and it was carried out. As a result, the liquid sparkled scarlet in the moonlight like men's blood.
Take it now to the location where Sekhmet plans to kill men when the sun rises, Re instructed. The powerful beer, whose other name is "sleep-maker," was then taken and poured out over the fields while it was still night, covering the ground to a depth of nine inches, or three times the size of an adult male's hand.
Sekhmet the dreadful arrived as day broke, licking her lips at the prospect of the men she would kill. She discovered the area to be underwater and without any sign of life, but she did notice some beer that looked like blood and assumed it was the blood of the victims she had killed.
She then burst out laughing, and her laugh echoed the roar of a lioness on the prowl. She knelt and drank, certain it was blood. She drank over and over while giggling with pleasure, and as the beer's potency built up in her head, she was no longer able to kill.
She eventually stumbled back to where Re was waiting, having not even slain one man that day.
"You come in peace, beautiful one," Re then remarked. Her name was changed to Hathor, and she also acquired the qualities of tenderness in love and ferocity in desire. From that point forward, Hathor solely used the enormous power of love to bring down men and women. But, as they celebrated her festival every New Year, her priestesses continued to do so by consuming beer from Heliopolis that had been tinted with Elephantine's crimson ochre in her honour.
As a result, mankind was rescued, and Re continued to rule even after growing old. Yet, his departure from Earth to rule eternally in the sky and the installation of the younger gods in his stead was rapidly approaching. Re was losing his wisdom since he was living in the body of a man, a Pharaoh of Egypt, but he still maintained his rule because his authority was in his hidden name, which no one knew but himself. Re would no longer rule over the planet if someone could only figure out his Name of Power, but this was only attainable through magic.
Geb and Nut had children, whose names were Osiris and Isis, Nephthys and Seth, and who were the younger gods whose time had come to rule. Isis was the wisest of these; she was more intelligent than a million men and knew more than a million of the noble dead. She was fully aware of everything in heaven and on earth, except for the Hidden Name of Re, which she now set out to learn through deception.
Re is now ageing day by day. He walked across Egypt with his head trembling from age, his jaw clenching, and his mouth drooling like the very old among men. Isis scooped up the dirt that was created when his spittle hit the ground and mixed it with her hands as if it were dough. She then shaped it into a serpent shape, creating the first cobra—the uraeus, which later became the regal emblem adorned by Pharaoh and his queen.
As Re travelled daily through his two realms of Upper and Lower Egypt, Isis positioned the first cobra in the sand of the highway. The cobra bit him as Re passed by and then slithered into the grass. Yet, the venom from its bite coursed through Re's veins, rendering him voiceless for a spell, save for one loud wail of agony that resounded across the planet from the eastern to the western horizon. The gods who pursued him gathered around and inquired: "Is it what? What's wrong?" But he was speechless; the poison flowed throughout his body like the Nile does when Egypt was flooded; his lips trembled, and he shook from head to toe. Re exclaimed, "Help me, you whom I have made," when he was finally able to speak. I've been harmed, but I'm not sure what it was. Even though I made everything else, I did not create this. It is a pain unlike any I have ever felt before, and nothing else compares to it. But who can harm me? No one knows my Hidden Name, which gives me unlimited power and protects me from both witchcraft and wizardry magic. Yet as I travelled through the two places I've taken great care of and the world I've created, something pricked me. It is like fire but is not fire, just as it resembles water but is not water. I quiver and burn, and my entire body trembles. So summon up all the gods who are knowledgeable about magic, skilled in healing, and possess heavenly wisdom.
The gods then flocked to Re, mourning and wailing at the dreadful event that had befallen him. Isis, the healer and magic queen who can breathe life into the dead and knows the phrases to bring them back to life, arrived with them. She then added:
"Dear Divine Father, what is it? Do you have a snake bite? Has a creation of your own raised its head in opposition to you? I'll expel it using my special powers and cause it to quake and bow down before your glory.
Re responded, "I travelled along the normal route across my two territories of Egypt because I wanted to see everything that I had created. And as I was moving, a snake that I couldn't see and that I hadn't made bit me. My face is already covered in sweat, and I feel as though I am burning with fire and shivering from the water filling my veins. On the warmest summer days, it drips down the faces of males.
Isis responded in a soft, comforting voice, "Give me your Hidden Name." Inform me, Divine Father, for I can only heal you by using your name in my spells.
Then Re uttered the various names that belonged to him, saying, "I am Creator Heaven and Earth." "I am the mountains' builder. All around the world, I am the source of water. Darkness and Light make up me. The Grand River of Egypt was made by myself. Well, I am Khepera in the morning, Re at midday, and Tum in the evening. I am the Kindler of the Fire that burns in the sky."
But, Isis remained silent, and Re's veins began to fill with poison. She understood that he had only revealed to her the names that were common knowledge among men and that his Secret Name, the Name of Power, remained concealed within his heart.
"You know well that the name which I need to learn is not among those which you have said," she finally remarked. Come, reveal the Hidden Name, for if you do the poison will release and your suffering will end.
Re finally shouted out: "Let the Name of Power travel from my heart into the heart of Isis!" The poison burnt with a fierce burning, greater than any fire flame. But before it does, make a promise to me that you won't tell anybody else about it but your son, Horus, who you will have.
And then make him swear under oath that he will keep the name to himself and not give it to any other gods or people.
After taking the pledge, Isis the great magician received knowledge of the Name of Power from Re's heart.
She then uttered the following: "By the name I know, let the poison depart from Re forever!"
As a result, it left him, and he felt at peace. But he was no longer king of Earth. Instead, he assumed his position in the upper heavens, traversing the sky every day in the form of the sun itself and, at night, traversing Amenti's underworld in the Boat of Re and the twelve divisions of Duat, where many perils lie. The departed souls who are aware of all the necessary charms, prayers, and phrases accompany Re as he travels safely. A copy of The Book of the Dead was buried in the graves of lesser men so that they could read it as well and travel safely to the land beyond the West where the dead reside. This was done by the Egyptians so that no man would embark on his voyage in the Boat of Re unprepared. They painted every scene of that journey on the walls of the Pharaohs' tombs.
