Ogdoad (Egyptian)

This article is about the deities in Egyptian mythology. For the concept in Gnosticism, see Ogdoad (Gnosticism).
A depiction of the Ogdoad from a Roman era relief at the Hathor temple in Dendera in which some have frog heads and others have serpent heads
The Ogdoad with both their male and female consorts
Drawing of a representation of the Ogdoad in the temple of Philae[1]

In Egyptian mythology, the Ogdoad (Ancient Greek: ὀγδοάς "the Eightfold"; Ancient Egyptian: ḫmnyw, a plural nisba of ḫmnw "eight") were eight primordial deities worshiped in Hermopolis.

The earliest certain reference to the Ogdoad is from the Eighteenth Dynasty, in a dedicatory inscription by Hatshepsut at the Speos Artemidos.[2]

Texts of the Late Period describe them as having the heads of frogs (male) and serpents (female), and they are often depicted in this way in reliefs of the last dynasty, the Ptolemaic Kingdom.[3]

  1. ^ "Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a photograph by Béato. C.f. Lepsius, Denkm, iv.pl.66 c.", published in Maspero (1897). The scene is collapsed from "the two extremities of a great scene at Philae, in which the Eight, divided into two groups of four, take part in the adoration of the king."
  2. ^ Zivie-Koch, Christiane (2016). "L'Ogdoad d'Hermopolis à Thebes et ailleurs ou l'invention d'un mythe". Egitto e Vicino Oriente. 39: 57–90.
  3. ^ Smith, Mark (2002), On the Primaeval Ocean, p. 38