Egyptian funerary religion
Ogdoad of Hermopolis
Tirard describes Hermopolitan teaching as doubling four elemental divinities into male and female forms. Together they become an Ogdoad, called the fathers and mothers of the world. The accompanying discussion considers apes and frogs greeting sunrise in funerary vignettes. Her proposed explanations of these animal forms remain interpretations, rather than names or a full reconstruction of the eight deities.
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalTirard describes Hermopolitan teaching as doubling four elemental divinities into male and female forms. Together they become an Ogdoad, called the fathers and mothers of the world.
Further detail
TraditionalThe accompanying discussion considers apes and frogs greeting sunrise in funerary vignettes. Her proposed explanations of these animal forms remain interpretations, rather than names or a full reconstruction of the eight deities.
Context & interpretation
Tirard’s 1910 account interprets selected funerary texts and rituals through the scholarship of her period. Local cults and surviving manuscripts vary; her comparisons and proposed origins are not a modern Egyptological consensus.
Original passages
Source 1
The Book of the Dead
of Hermopolis, so as to form an Ogdoad, or company of Eight ; these were called the fathers and mothers of the world. The vignette ofOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Egyptian funerary religion; active reader leaf 97
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0039-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0039-E001-P0097
- Original scan leaf
- 107
- Recorded leaf number
- 97
- Current Reader position
- 90
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
- Location review
- Original scan location confirmed against the reviewed Reader mapping; the earlier recorded number is retained above.
Source 2
The Book of the Dead
creature, might have arisen out of the chaos of earth and water that existed before the creation of the world. It is an interesting fact thatOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Egyptian funerary religion; active reader leaf 98
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0039-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0039-E001-P0098
- Original scan leaf
- 108
- Recorded leaf number
- 98
- Current Reader position
- 91
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
- Location review
- Original scan location confirmed against the reviewed Reader mapping; the earlier recorded number is retained above.