Ptah

**Ptah**


 * Other Names:**

Peteh, Phtah


 * Meaning of Name:**

“Opener” or “Sculptor”


 * Hieroglyphics:**




 * Titles**

//Wer Kherep Hemut// (“Great Leader of Craftsmen”)

“Guardian of Egypt”

//Nefer-Her// (“Merciful of Face”)

“Sculptor of the Earth”

//Neb-maat// ("Lord of Truth")

"The Self-Created One"

//Mesedjer Sedjem// (“The Ear Which Hears”)

“Divine Artificer”

//Kherty-bak-ef// ("He Who is Under His Moringa Tree" - Ptah's sacred tree)

“He Who Makes Gods”

//Ptah-Pataikoi// ("Ptah the Dwarf")

"Noble //Djed"//

//Ankh-Tawy// ("Life of the Two Lands")

"South-of-His-Wall"

"Lord of Memphis" (the main center of his worship) //Mesenty// ("Lord of Creation")


 * Family:**

Ptah was thought to be the brother-husband of Sekhmet and Bast, and the father of Nefertem and Maahes. Sometimes he was considered to be the husband of Tefnut or Wadjet, the father of Imhotep and Astarte, and the creator of Atum, Sia, Hau, Khnum, and Hauhet.

A very ancient creator god, the patron to those who would utilize the spoken or written word in their duty (as Ptah made gods by his words). He was unique amongst Egyptian creation gods in that his methods were intellectual, rather than physical – he created “with his heart and tongue.” His power was thought to manifest itself in the living, as the sound of one’s heartbeat. Hymns from the New Kingdom praise the trio Amun, Ra, and Ptah: “Three are all the gods, Amun, Ra, and Ptah, their equal does not exist.” Ptah’s importance may be discerned when one learns that “Egypt” is a Greek corruption of the phrase //Het-Ka-Ptah// (Aigyptos), or “House of the Spirit of Ptah.”

According to inscriptions on the Shabaka Stone, "Every word of the god came into being, through what the heart mediated and the tongue commanded. Ptah was one who had made all things and who had created the gods, and from whom all things proceeded." Scholars have pointed out that Ptah's use of vocal utterance as a tool of creation closely parallels that of the Judeo-Christian god as depicted in the Bible: "And God said, 'Let there be Light,' and there was light . . . in the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word was God." As scholar Vincent A. Tobin says, "The myth of Ptah's creation must be regarded as one of the most important products of the Egyptian mind because it shows that the Egyptian intellect was capable of dealing with material that would later form the subject of theological speculation in the Jewish and Christian works."

Known as //Mesedjer Sedjem// (“The Ear Which Hears”) worshipers left carved stone ears in Ptah's temples in hopes that the god would hear their prayers. He was a patron of the arts, and artists called themselves “Priests of Ptah.” One of the most powerful of all the religious titles, “High Priest of Ptah,” was the nearest to the concept of pontiff that Egypt ever knew. The High Priest was the supreme director of the armies of builders, sculptors, potters, woodcarvers, and metal smiths of all kinds. His role in planning royal tombs and temples was crucial. Often, the pharaoh’s eldest son was installed in this office.

It was Ptah who built the barques for the souls of the dead to use in Sehet Aaru. It was believed that Ptah created the heavens and the earth while Khnum fashioned the animals and people on his pottery wheel. The important Opening of the Mouth ceremony was believed to have been devised by him. Ptah was considered to be a great magician and lord of snakes and fish. His sacred tree was the moringa. Ptah was also associated with the bull, especially the Apis bull. He was said to have taken the form of a ram in order to father Ramses II. Small amulets of Ptah, made of gold, faience, bronze, and lapis lazuli, were popular.

Craftsmen regarded Ptah so highly that it was claimed that he controlled their destinies. A sculptor was called “he who gives life,” and his work was described as “giving birth.” It was said that the god Ptah himself decreed that the “bodies of the gods,” that is, the sacred images in the temples, should be made “according to the wishes of their deities’ hearts” so that they would happily enter wood, stone, clay, and other sculptural methods. In the Blessing of Ptah he claims that "I have set thee as everlasting king, ruler established forever. I have wrought thy limbs of electrum, thy bones of copper, and thy organs of iron."

Ptah was shown as a man with green or blue skin, mummiform, with shaven head and skull cap, carrying a //Was// scepter, or sometimes the crook and flail. Occasionally he carried a staff formed of a //djed//-pillar. Ptah’s beard was often straight, rather than the normal curved beard of pharaohs. Like many smith gods, Ptah was sometimes pictured as //Ptah-Pataikoi// ("Ptah the Dwarf"), as dwarfs were thought to have special artistic skills. In ancient Egypt, dwarfs were called the "Sons of Ptah " and often worked as jewelers.

Thutmose III described in a text how he had rebuilt the great Temple of Ptah at Karnak: "I found this temple made of mudbrick and wooden columns, and its doorway of wood, beginning to go to ruin. I made it as a monument to my father Ptah, erecting for him the House of Ptah anew of fine white sandstone, with doors of new cedar . . . I overlaid for him [Ptah] his great seat with electrum of the best of the countries. All vessels were of gold and silver, and every splendid, costly stone, clothing of fine white linen, ointment of divine ingredients, to preform his pleasing ceremonies at the feasts of the beginning of the seasons, which occur in this temple . . ."


 * Fea****st and Holy Days:**

August 1 (Month of Ptah)

October 11th (Appearance Before Ptah)

December 16 (Ptah Lifts Up Ra With His Hands) January 6th (Feast of Ptah)

March 15th (Offerings to Ptah)

July 12 (Festival of the Estate of Ptah)


 * Egyptian Names Honoring This Deity:**

Merneptah, Ptah-may Ptahardis, Ptahmes, Ptahdjedef ("He Who Endures Like Ptah"), Ptah-hotep (“Ptah is Satisfied”), Meryet-Ptah ("Beloved of Ptah"), Ptahemhat ("He Who is in Front of Ptah"), Ptahmose ("Born of Ptah"), Neferkaptah ("Beautiful Ka of Ptah")


 * Outside of Egypt:**

The Greeks equated Ptah with their own smith god, Hephaistos.

Egyptian Deities - P