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In Egyptian mythology,
Hu (also spelt Huh) is the deification of the first word, the
word of creation, that Atum was said
to have exclaimed upon ejaculating, in his masturbatory act
of creating the Ennead. As the word
of creation, he is very similar to the later Hindu concept of
Aum, and also to the later hellenic concept of Logos, the thought
that thought exists, which was later adopted into the Gospel
of John (usually translated as in the beginning was the word
rather than in the beginning was the Logos).
His name is thought to originate as an onomatopoeia of the
act of drawing breath, although it can also be translated,
in which situation it means eternity. It was later said that
Atum split this aspect from himself
by extracting blood from his own penis and turning it into
Hu and Saa, the deification of wisdom.
Due to this shared birth, and the close kinship between the
concepts, Hu and Saa were considered
boyfriends.
The aspect of such creative power, the attribute of Atum
that mattered most, was one with which Pharaohs were keen
to associate themselves. Consequently, as sometimes Pharaohs
depicted their divine power in statuary as a sphinx, a seated,
human-headed, lion, Hu was occasionally shown in this form.
In particular, in years much later after its construction,
the Great Sphinx, at Giza, was seen as a representation of
Hu.
When Atum and Ra
were later identified as each other, becoming Atum-Ra, Hu
became also the offspring of Ra, in which
capacity he is more frequently mentioned.
Gods
and Goddesses Menu
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