Tatenen
Egyptian · deity · primordial · deity
Tatenen is the first dry ground. Every Egyptian creation account needs a moment when something stands clear of the water, and at Memphis that moment has a name and a god: risen land. He is androgynous, which is usual for a figure that has to precede the distinction between things, and he holds the produce of the earth — food, offerings, minerals — because the mound is not merely geological but the source of everything that can be grown or dug. The benben stone, the mastaba and the pyramid are all restatements of him in stone.
Domains
- earth
- harvest
Relations
- counterpart of: Ptah
Sources
- Reference treatments of Tatenen, of the primordial mound and of Memphite theology.