Tatenen

Picture: Tatenen and Ramesses II.

Mythology of Tatenen

Taten was a Memphite god who first clearly appears in the Middle Kingdom, although he may be identical to an earlier deity known as Khenty-Tjenenet attested in Old Kingdom times. The god's name means 'risen land' and, like the Heliopolitan ben-ben, he symbolized the emerging of the primeval mound from the waters of original creation, though in a secondary sense Tatenen could also symbolize the emergence of the fertile silt from the Nile's annual inundation, and by extension the resultant vegetation. From Ramessid times Tatenen was associated with the great Memphite god Ptah and was often viewed as a manifestation of that god and fused with him as Ptah-Tatenen. As an earth god Tatenen could also be symbolize Egypt itself and could be associated with the earth god Geb. His primeval aspect meant that he could be viewed as a bisexual deity and in one text he is called the creator and 'mother' of all the Egyptian gods. Tatenen also had a chthonic aspect in which he was viewed as a protector of the deceased king in the netherworld. In the New Kingdom Litany of Ra he is cited as the personification of the phallus of the dead king, perhaps based on a linguistic play on the idea of rising or risen conveyed in his name.

Iconography of Tatenen

Usually Tatenen was represented anthropomorphically as a bearded man with a headdress consisting of a sun disk with ram's horns and two plumes. Because he was a chthonic deity and linked to the emergence of vegetation, his face and limbs may be painted a dark hue of green or some other color.

Worship of Tatenen

The cult of Tatenen is known to have flourished at Memphis, and although the god may be found in temples in other areas of Egypt, his own sanctuaries remained primarily in the Memphite area.