Ptah

Picture: Gilded statuette of Ptah the creator from the tomb of Tutankhamun. The pedestal on which the god stands may represent the mound of creation or the craftsman's level and the hieroglyphic symbolfor truth. 18th Dynasty. Egyptian Museum. Cairo.

Mythology of Ptah

Ptah appears to be one of the oldest Egyptian gods and is attested representationally from the 1st dynasty onward. Nevertheless, the great god of Memphis was perhaps originally only a locally important deity whose influence developed and spread slowly over time. Even in the Pyramid Texts Ptah is mentioned only indirectly if this is due to an early relative lack of importance, a lack of function in the mortuary sphere, or the desire on the part of the Heliopolitan theologians to minimize the position of the Memphite deity. Mythologically, the consort of Ptah was the lioness-goddess Sekhmet, and her son Nefertem completed the major divine triad of the Memphite region. Eventually the god fulfilled several important roles.

Ptah lord of Memphis

There is no doubt that the primary geographic association of Ptah was with the general region of Memphis. The founding of 'Ineb-hedj' or 'White Walls' - the city later called Memphis - as the administrative capital of Egypt at the time of the unification of the country around 3000 BC doubtless had a profound effect on the development of Ptah's importance, and the god soon became the chief deity of the area. By the Middle Kingdom Ptah was thus called 'Lord of Ankh-tawy', referring to the city of Memphis; and many scholars believe that the name Egypt itself is based on the Greek form of the Egyptian 'Hut-ka-Ptah', 'the temple of the ka of Ptah'. The Memphite locality was also the origin of several of Ptah's frequent titles such as Ptah re-ineb-ef, 'Ptah who is south of his wall', in reference to the position of the god's sanctuary beyond his temple's great temenos wall to the south of Memphis, and Ptah khery-bak-ef, 'Ptah who is under his moringa tree', referring to an ancient tree-god of Memphis who was absorbed by Ptah at an early date.

Ptah the Craftsman

If Ptah was not originally a god of craftsmanship, this aspect of his identity was certainly an ancient one as it can be seen at an early date and then remains constant throughout the god's history. The artistic and cultural development of the Old Kingdom and the great increase in the number of craftsmen needed to serve the capital of Memphis and to produce the funerary goods needed for its necropoleis could well have been influential in the rise of the god. During the Old Kingdom the high priest of Ptah bore the title wer-kherep-hemu 'great leader of the craftsmen'; and while the god's name gives no firm clue to his origin, it is perhaps based on a root of later words meaning 'to sculpt' and thus related to his identity as a craftsman god. In this role Ptah was both the sculptor or smith of mankind and creator of the arts and crafts, and the Memphis deity of craftsmen became particularly associated with the dwarves who seem to have traditionally worked as jewellers and artisans in Old Kingdom workshops. Ptah was already clearly associated with other groups of craftsmen such as the workers of Deir el-Medina who constructed the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Naturally enough the Greeks and Romans associated Ptah directly with their own smith gods Hephaistos and Vulcan.

Picture: Ptah within his shrine. The straight beard and particular style of necklace counterpoise at the god's back are distinctive attributes rarely seen with other ancient Egyptian gods.Tomb of Amenherkhepeshef. Valley of the Queens. Western Thebes.

Ptah the Creator

As a result of his identification with craftsmanship, or concurrent with it, Ptah became a god of creation and was known as the 'sculptor of the earth' who, like the ram god Khnum was believed to form everything on his potter's wheel. More fundamentally, Ptah came to be known as the 'ancient one' who united in his person both the masculine primeval deity Nun and his feminine counterpart Naunet, so that he was seen as the primordial deity whose creative power was manifest in every aspect of the cosmos. He was sometimes worshipped as Ptah-Nun or even Ptah-Naunet in this role, though the creative process was also attributed to the god alongside the Old memphite earth god Tatenen under the name Ptah-Tatenen. The story of creation as attributed to Ptah by the priests of Memphis - whereby the god was said to have created the world through his thought and creative word or command - was one of the most intellectual creation myths to arise in ancient Egypt and in the whole of the ancient world.

Ptah the Chthonic and Afterlife God

As a result of his proximity to the Memphite earth god Tatenen and the mortuary deity Sokar, Ptah took on some of the aspects of those deities. He was thus sometimes venerated in a creative, chthonic aspect as Ptah-Tatenen. Although Ptah himself was not frequently associated with the afterlife, as the composite deity Ptah-Sokar and later as Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, he gained considerable importance in this area also. The mummification nature of Ptah in his painted and carved representations also must have served as a constant reminder of the funerary and afterlife associations of the god.

Ptah, Hearer of Prayers

As with most deities, the epithets accorded Ptah were wide-ranging and complimentary. Honourific titles such as nefer-her 'merciful of face' or neb-maat 'lord of truth' are often given to the god in inscriptions, but epithets extolling the god as a hearer of prayers seem to have had particular significance. Many votive stelae have been found in the area of Ptah's temple at Memphis and elsewhere in ancient Egypt carved with representations of human ears and dedicated to Ptah as mesedjer-sedjem, 'the ear which hears', who would hear the petition of his devotees. As both the god of craftsmen and hearer of prayers we find evidence of Ptah being beseeched by the workmen of Deir el-Medina such as one Neferabu who admits on a votive stela that he made a false oath in Ptah's name and subsequently lost his sight in some manner so that he begs 'the ear which hears' for forgiveness. On the perimeteres of temples we also find shrines or chapels of the hearing ear which likewise served the purpose of transmitting the individual's prayer to the deity within the temple. The god Ptah often figures in these shrines, as in the one constructed at the entrance to the great mortuary temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu.

Picture: Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figues such as thisfused the creator god with the ancientmortuary deity Sokar and with Osiris.Late Period. Kunsthistorische Museum.Vienna.

Iconography of Ptah

The iconography of Ptah was particularly stable and persisted in essentially the same form throughout most of the dynasty era - beginning with the earliest known depiction of the god on a 1st Dynasty bowl from Tarkhan. Ptah was almost invariably represented anthropomorphically as a standing, mummiform figure with with feet together and with his hands protruding from his tightly wrapped shroud to hold his characteristic scepter (comprising a was scepter surmounted by ankh and djed symbols). the god usually wears a close-fitting skull cap without any additional elements of headdress, though in his association with Osiris, Ptah sometimes is depicted with a small disk atop his head flanked by the two tall plumes worn by that god.

From the Middle Kingdom onwards he wears a distinctive straight beard rather than the usual curved divine beard found on representations of other Egyptian gods. Ptah is also usually depicted wearing either what appears to be a large tassel at the rear of his garment or a beard collar which is balanced by a counterpoise hanging behind his back. This counterpoise is rounded at the top and sometimes flared at the bottom like a narrow, tube-like bell and is distinctive enough to allow even partial images of Ptah to be differentiated from similar representations of the god Khonsu who wears a key-hole shaped counterpoise. Unusually Ptah is represented standing on a narrow plinth like one of the hieroglyphs used to write the word maat or 'truth' and which also resembles the measuring rod used by Egyptian workmen, or upon a stepped dias suggestive of the primeval mound. Frequently he is depicted within an open shrine.

The god was perhaps also depicted as a dwarf, as Herodotus claimed to see statues in this form in the temple of Hephaistos (Ptah) at Memphis (see Pataikos), and though these statues could also have been votive representations of dwarf workmen rather than the god himself, the god also appears in the form of a dwarf on some of the magical cippi (healing plaques) of the Late Period.

Worship of Ptah

Although little remains of Ptah's chief temple at Memphis, surviving historical and archaeological evidence indicates that it was a great complex befitting a god who ruled supreme in his own area for well over 2000 years. The present remains date mainly to New Kingdom times, though it is evident that there were structures honoring Ptah at this site at far earlier dates. It was also at Memphis that the sacred Apis bull, which served as a manifestation and intermediary for Ptah, resided with an important cult of its own. Although he was perhaps originally associated only with the Memphite area, the veneration of Ptah soon spread throughout ancient Egypt and the god is represented in almost all major ancient Egyptian sites. He had his own sanctuary in the precinct of the great temple of Amun at Karnak since at least Middle Kingdom times and this temple continued to be expanded and embellished throughout the rest of the dynastic age, showing a clear continuity in the god's importance and worship in Upper Egypt. Ptah was also venerated in Egyptian Nubia where his presence is found in a number of temples including those of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel, el-Derr, and Gerf Hussein. The god's particular importance in New Kingdom times is also seen in his inclusion in the grouping of the major deities Ra, Amun and Ptah (as seen in the statuary group in the shrine of the Great Temple of Abu Simbel) and in the names of a number of kings such as Merenptah (beloved of Ptah) and Siptah (man of Ptah), as well as high-ranking officials.

As the patron deity of craftsmen, Ptah was particularly venerated at sites such as Deir el-Medina where workmen and artisans lived; and as the god 'who hears prayers' he remained a favorite deity frequently addressed by the common people, although amulets of the god are surprisingly rare. Of those that do exist the plaqueform amulets depicting the god flanked by Sekhmet and Nefertem are mainly of 26th Dynasty date and may have been utilized primarily in life rather than in funerary contexts. Ptah also played at least an indirect role in the funerary aspect of Egyptian religion by way of the 'opening of the mouth' ceremony performed on funerary statues and on the mummy of the deceased by the setem-priest who utilized a ritual metal chisel suggestive of the craftsman deity.