Atum

 In the myth of the creation of the world in ancient Egypt, in particular in the very ancient Heliopolitan cosmogony, Atum occupies the place of the demiurge: he does not create the world ex nihilo, but fashions beings from pre-existing matter and separates them . It is he who from his seed engenders the first divine couple, Shu and Tefnut, from whom descend the main gods of ancient Egypt (the great Ennead).

“Atoum says...: “I was solitary in the Nun and inert. I couldn't find a place where I could stand, I couldn't find a place where I could sit. The city of Heliopolis where I was to reside was not yet founded, the throne on which I was to sit was not yet formed. I had not yet created Nut above me, the first 'corporation' of gods had not yet been brought into the world, the Ennead of the primordial gods did not exist, they were still within me... I was floating absolutely inert. »

The account of the creation of the first 

divine couple (twin and sexual) varies, Atum having no partner to procreate.

According to an early legend, the creator god masturbates, and it is from his seed that the male god Shu and his twin sister, the goddess Tefnut are born. According to the Pyramid Texts:

“Atoum appeared as a masturbator in Heliopolis. He seizes his member and arouses enjoyment there »

— Texts of the pyramids, 

In the Middle Kingdom, in a transparent allusion to the onanist gesture, the goddess Djeretef, "the Hand of the god", will be added. In the Saïte period, the subject was watered down and “the Golden, the Divine Hand of Ra” “closed on the divine seed”, “became pregnant” and “had become a beautiful young woman pleasant to look at”.

According to another version from the texts of the sarcophagi, it is by his spitting that he gives birth to them.

Finally, a last legend says that he engenders his children by his simple word, by naming them. Or that it was the tears of Atum, weeping following the estrangement of his children when his eye disappeared, that men would have been born.

Originally, Atum was the Sun god, but he was quickly equated with Ra, who eventually replaced him in the Egyptian pantheon. According to the Egyptologist Isabelle Franco, Atum is only the principle, while Re is the engine. Under the name of Ra-Atoum and in the guise of a bent old man, he embodies the setting sun in the triad of Heliopolis: "I am Khepri in the morning, Re at noon, Atum in the evening".