In
Egyptian mythology,
Ptah ("creator") (or
Tanen or
Ta-tenen or
Tathenen or
Peteh) 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".