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In Egyptian mythology, Ptah ("creator") is a creator god and patron deity of Memphis, Egypt, as well as craftsmen. Unlike Seker, another crafts god, Ptah was associated with stone-based crafts. Apis was his oracle. Later, he was combined with Seker and Osiris to create Ptah-Seker-Osiris. As Tanen, Ptah was known as a chthonic deity.
He is married to Sekhmet or (more rarely) Bastet. His children included Nefertem, Mihos, and Imhotep . In some myths, he created Ra as well.
In art, he is portrayed as a mummified man with his hands holding a sceptre adorned with an ankh, was and djed (symbols of life, power and stability, respectively). Often he wore a skullcap.
In the Memphite mythology, he is considered to be the head of creators and the sole creator of the entire world and everything within. He is not created but simply is. He is also sometimes considered to be a personification of the primal matter, [Ta-tenen].
The important role Ptah has played in history can really be undestood as we learn that "Egypt" is a Greek corruption of the phrase "Het-Ka-Ptah", or "House of the Spritit of Ptah".
Other names
- Tanen
- Ta-tenen
- Tathenen
- Peteh
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