Ennead

<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en" >Ennead</h1>

<div id="siteSub" >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div>

<div class="hatnote" >Not to be confused with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneads" title="Enneads" >Enneads</a>.</div>

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<td class="mbox-text" >This article <b>does not <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources" >cite</a> any <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability" >references or sources</a></b>. Please help <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ennead&action=edit" >improve this article</a> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Introduction_to_referencing/1" title="Help:Introduction to referencing/1" >adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability" >removed</a>. <small><i>(November 2011)</i></small></td>

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<th ><b>The Ennead</b>

three <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_(sculpture)" title="Register (sculpture)" >registers</a>:

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in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs" title="Egyptian hieroglyphs" >hieroglyphs</a></th>

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<p >The <b>Ennead</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek" >Ancient Greek</a>: ἐννεάς, meaning <i>a collection of nine things</i>) was a group of nine <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pantheon" title="Egyptian pantheon" class="mw-redirect" >deities in Egyptian mythology</a>. The Ennead were worshipped at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliopolis(Ancient_Egypt)" title="Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)" >Heliopolis</a> and consisted of the god<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atum" title="Atum" >Atum</a>, his children <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu(Egyptian_deity)" title="Shu (Egyptian deity)" class="mw-redirect" >Shu</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefnut" title="Tefnut" >Tefnut</a>, their children <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geb" title="Geb" >Geb</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut(goddess)" title="Nut (goddess)" >Nut</a> and their children <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris" title="Osiris" >Osiris</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis" title="Isis" >Isis</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set(mythology)" title="Set (mythology)" class="mw-redirect" >Set</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephthys" title="Nephthys" >Nephthys</a>.

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<h2 >Contents</h2>

  [<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ennead#" id="togglelink" >hide</a>] </div>

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<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ennead#Terminology" >1 Terminology</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ennead#Development_of_the_Ennead" >2 Development of the Ennead</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ennead#Accounts_of_the_Ennead" >3 Accounts of the Ennead</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ennead#Gallery" >4 Gallery</a></li>

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<h2 >Terminology[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ennead&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Terminology" >edit</a>]</h2>

<p ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_mythology" title="Egyptian mythology" >Egyptian mythology</a> established multiple such groupings of deities, known as <i>Pesedjets</i>. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Texts" title="Pyramid Texts" >Pyramid Texts</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_dynasty_of_Egypt" title="Fifth dynasty of Egypt" class="mw-redirect" >5th</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_dynasty_of_Egypt" title="Sixth dynasty of Egypt" class="mw-redirect" >6th</a> dynasties mention the <i>Great Pesedjet</i>, the <i>Lesser Pesedjet</i>, the<i>Dual Pesedjet</i>, plural Pesedjets, and even the <i>Seven Pesedjets</i>. Some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaoh" title="Pharaoh" >pharaohs</a> established pesedjets that incorporated themselves among the deities. The most notable case is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seti_I" title="Seti I" >Seti I</a> of the 19th dynasty, who in his temple at Redesiyah worshipped a pesedjet that combined six important deities with three deified forms of himself.</p>

The Rosetta Stone in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum" title="British Museum" >British Museum</a>.</div>

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<p >The Greek term <i>Ennead</i>, denoting a group of nine, was coined by Greeks exploring Egypt, its culture and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_religion" title="Ancient Egyptian religion" >religion</a>, especially after the conquest by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great" title="Alexander the Great" >Alexander the Great</a> and during the subsequent rule of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_Dynasty" title="Ptolemaic Dynasty" class="mw-redirect" >Ptolemaic Dynasty</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language" >Greek</a> became the language of learned studies and hence Greek terms were used by Greek and Roman authors to describe Egyptian phenomena. These others also made use of parallels between Egyptian and Greek deities to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncretism" title="Syncretism" >identify</a> the two.</p>

<h2 >Development of the Ennead[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ennead&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Development of the Ennead" >edit</a>]</h2>

<p >Among Egyptian pesedjets, the most important was the <i>Great Pesedjet</i>, also called the <i>Ennead of Heliopolis</i>, after its centre of worship. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliopolis_(Ancient_Egypt)" title="Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)" >Heliopolis</a> (Egyptian: <i>Aunu</i>, "Place of Pillars") was dedicated to the worship of the god <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atum" title="Atum" >Atum</a> and thrived from the Old Kingdom until its decline under the Ptolemaic rulers.

The development of the Ennead remains uncertain. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptologist" title="Egyptologist" class="mw-redirect" >Egyptologists</a> have traditionally theorised that the priesthood of Heliopolis established this <i>pesedjet</i> in order to stress the pre-eminence of the sun god above other deities, incorporating gods which had been venerated elsewhere for centuries while ignoring others. The most prominent of such deities was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris" title="Osiris" >Osiris</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetation_deity" title="Vegetation deity" >god of vegetation</a> and of the netherworld, who was incorporated into the Ennead as Atum's great-grandson. However, in the 20th century, some Egyptologists<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" >[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch" >who?</a></i>]</sup> question the whole scenario.

What appears almost certain is that the Ennead first appeared when the cult of the sun god <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra" title="Ra" >Ra</a>, which had gained supreme ascendency during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_dynasty_of_Egypt" title="Fifth dynasty of Egypt" class="mw-redirect" >5th dynasty</a>, declined during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_dynasty_of_Egypt" title="Sixth dynasty of Egypt" class="mw-redirect" >6th dynasty</a>. After propagation of the Ennead, the cult of Ra - identified with Atum - saw a great resurgence until being superseded by the worship of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus" title="Horus" >Horus</a> and the identification of the two as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra-harakhty" title="Ra-harakhty" class="mw-redirect" >Ra-harakhty</a> (<i>Ra, who is Horus of the Two Horizons</i>).

The Ennead faced competition by other groupings: At <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis,_Egypt" title="Memphis, Egypt" >Memphis</a>, the priests of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptah" title="Ptah" >Ptah</a> identified their deity with the primeval mound, the place on which Atum arose first, giving him precedence over the Ennead.</p>

<h2 >Accounts of the Ennead[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ennead&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Accounts of the Ennead" >edit</a>]</h2>

<p >The creation account of Heliopolis relates that from the primeval waters represented by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naunet" title="Naunet" class="mw-redirect" >Nun</a>, a mound appeared on which the self-begotten deity Atum sat. Bored and alone, Atum spat or, according to other stories, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masturbation" title="Masturbation" >masturbated</a>, producing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu(Egyptian_deity)" title="Shu (Egyptian deity)" class="mw-redirect" >Shu</a>, representing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air(classical_element)" title="Air (classical element)" >air</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefnut" title="Tefnut" >Tefnut</a>, representing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_(classical_element)" title="Water (classical element)" >moisture</a>. Some versions however have Atum—identified with Ra—father Shu and Tefnut with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iusaaset" title="Iusaaset" >Iusaaset</a>, who is accordingly sometimes described as a "shadow" in this pesedjet.

In turn, Shu and Tefnut mated and brought forth <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geb" title="Geb" >Geb</a>, representing the earth, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_(goddess)" title="Nut (goddess)" >Nut</a>, representing the nighttime sky. Because of their initial closeness, Geb and Nut engaged in continuous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copulation" title="Copulation" class="mw-redirect" >copulation</a> until Shu separated them, lifting Nut into her place in the sky. The children of Geb and Nut were the sons Osiris and Set and the daughters Isis and Nephthys, which in turn formed couples.</p>

<h2 >Gallery[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ennead&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Gallery" >edit</a>]</h2>

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<p ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefnut" title="Tefnut" >Tefnut</a></p>

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<p ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris" title="Osiris" >Osiris</a></p>

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<p ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephthys" title="Nephthys" >Nephthys</a></p>

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Ennead

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