ColossiansOne

celestial hierarchy

The Heliopolitan Ennead

Nine gods in four generations, from Atum's self-creation to the four children whose quarrel becomes the Osiris myth. Egypt ran several creation accounts at once and treated them as complementary; this is the one from Heliopolis.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead · c. 1550 BCE onward

Entries per grouping

Source base of members

  • 80+4
  • 50–796

10 of 14 nodes link to a profile; the rest are structural labels from the source text.

14 nodes

the whole structure as one tree

Nun — the primeval watersNot part of the Ennead: the fo…Nun — the primeval waters — Not part of the Ennead: the formless water it rises out of.First generationThe self-created.First generation — The self-created.AtumMakes himself, then the next t…Atum — Makes himself, then the next two.Second generationAir and moisture, the first di…Second generation — Air and moisture, the first division.ShuAir. Holds the sky off the ear…Shu — Air. Holds the sky off the earth.TefnutMoisture. His twin.Tefnut — Moisture. His twin.Third generationSky and earth — female above, …Third generation — Sky and earth — female above, male below, the reverse of the usual arrangement.NutThe sky, arched overhead.Nut — The sky, arched overhead.GebThe earth, lying beneath.Geb — The earth, lying beneath.Fourth generationTwo couples, one murder, and t…Fourth generation — Two couples, one murder, and the whole of Egyptian funerary religion.OsirisMurdered, restored, …Osiris — Murdered, restored, made judge of the dead.IsisHis wife, who reasse…Isis — His wife, who reassembles him.SetHis brother, who kil…Set — His brother, who kills him.NephthysSet's wife, who sides with Isi…Nephthys — Set's wife, who sides with Isis.

Reading this tree

Nodes with a coloured dot and an underline link to a full profile. Structural nodes — spheres, ranks, offices — are labels from the source text itself and have no separate entry. Where a figure appears in more than one hierarchy, its profile lists every placement.

The book this structure comes from

A hierarchy is one text's arrangement, not a consensus. This is the text.

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