Also called Ptah-Tatenen, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, He who listens to prayers, Hephaestus (to the Greeks).
Their story
Ptah was the god of Memphis, the old royal capital, and husband of Sekhmet and father of Nefertum. The text on the Shabaka Stone teaches that he created the gods and the world by conceiving them in his heart and speaking them with his tongue. Craftsmen and sculptors looked to him as their patron, and his high priest held the title Greatest of the Directors of Craftsmen. At Deir el-Medina workmen set up stelae to Ptah who hears prayers, some carved with rows of ears.
Best times to give to them
- Festival of Sokar
- Wepet Renpet
- the start of a new piece of work
What they like being given
- bread
- water
- incense
- something you have made with your own hands
How to honour them
- Dedicate a piece of craft, writing or building to him before you begin.
- Speak your intention aloud, since in Memphite thought the world was made by heart and tongue.
- Place a simple drawing of ears on your shrine, as people did when asking Ptah to hear them.
How they can help you
- creative work
- skill and craftsmanship
- being heard
- planning something new
Symbols
- close-fitting skullcap
- mummiform body
- was-djed-ankh sceptre
- straight beard
- ears carved on stelae
The Memphite creation text survives on a Twenty-fifth Dynasty copy that claims to reproduce an older original.
Sources
- Shabaka Stone (British Museum EA 498)
- Stela of Neferabu (British Museum EA 589)
- Herodotus, Histories Book 2
- Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
More Egyptian gods
- Osiris Lord of the afterlife and new growth
- Horus The falcon, protector of the rightful king
- Ra The sun who sails the sky
- Thoth Scribe of the gods, lord of wisdom
- Anubis Guardian and guide of the dead
- Khonsu The Traveller, the moon who heals
- Amun The hidden king of the gods at Thebes
- Atum The self-created first god of Heliopolis