"Utterance 600" English Translation of Heliopolis Creation Myth by Leonard H. Lesko

Text summary

From: Book · Byron E. Shafer · 1991

"Utterance 600" is an English translation of the Heliopolis creation myth by Leonard H. Lesko. It was published in 1991 and translates Utterance 600 of the Pyramid Texts. The passage details how Atum came from the earth and created the other main deities by means of ejaculation.
Text cover art

Text: Full Translation

Archaic Egyptian  ⟶  English a

Translation
P. 92
Utterance 600
Atum Kheprer, you have come to be high on the hill, you have arisen on the Benben stone in the mansion of the Benpen in Heliopolis, you spat out Shu, you expectorated Tefnut, and you put your two arms around them as the arms of a Ka symbol (|_|), so that your ka (personality) might be in them. O Atum, place your arms around the king, around this edifice, around this pyramid as the arms of a ka, so that the King's ka may be in it, firm forever and ever. O Atum, place your protection over this king, over this pyramid of his, over this edifice of the king, so that you may guard against anything happening evilly against him forever and ever, just as your protection was placed over Shu and Tefnut.
O great Ennead which is in Heliopolis—Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephthys—children of Atum, extend his heart (good-will) to his child (the king) in your name of Nine Bows. Let his back be turned from you toward Atum, so that he may protect this kind, so that he may protects this pyramid of the kind, so that he may protect this edifice of his from all the gods [and] from all the dead, and so that he may guard against anything happening evilly against him forever and ever.
Source(s) a Shafer et al., RIAE, 92 launch .

Original source data

Page images a

Sourcebooks.google.comRetrieval date06/26/2020
Source record No.p. 92MediumPrintImage date1991CreatorLeonard H. LeskoSource notesShafer et al., RIAE, 92.
Source a Shafer et al., RIAE, 92 launch .

Background

"Utterance 600: English Translation of Heliopolis Creation Myth by Leonard H. Lesko" is a version of the Heliopolis creation myth by Leonard H. Lesko. The translation is based on the Pyramid Texts, or, inscriptions found inside the Pyramid of Pepi II in Saqqara, Egypt. It was published in 1991. Leonard H. Lesko is a prominent Egyptologist who taught at Brown University.

Cite this page

MLA Modern Language Association (8th ed.)

OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. ""Utterance 600": English Translation of Heliopolis Creation Myth by Leonard H. Lesko." OMNIKA – World Mythology Index, OMNIKA Foundation, 19 Nov. 2019, omnika.org/stable/325. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.

APA American Psychological Association (6th ed.)

OMNIKA (2019, November 19). "Utterance 600": English Translation of Heliopolis Creation Myth by Leonard H. Lesko. Retrieved from https://omnika.org/stable/325

CMS Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.)

OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. ""Utterance 600": English Translation of Heliopolis Creation Myth by Leonard H. Lesko." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created November 19, 2019. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://omnika.org/stable/325.

Bibliography

Lesko, Howard H., David P. Silverman, and John R. Baines. Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice. Edited by Byron E. Shafer. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.
Pepi II. Pyramid Texts: Pepi II Funerary Inscriptions, ca. 2246–2152 BCE. Inscription carvings. Necropolis of Pepi II, Pyramid of Pepi II, Saqqara Necropolis, Saqarah, Egypt.
rightColToggle

About

Egyptian Heliopolis Creation myth Myth icon
Egyptian Belief system
Atum Main deity

The first main Egyptian deities and the rest of the world were created by Atum (later known as Ra or Horus) out of water. Atum gave rise to Shu and Tefnet, who later birthed the deities that would make up the rest of the world, including Isis and Osiris. Isis and Osiris may have represented fertility and motherhood, which gave rise to humanity.