Bennu- Egyptian CreatureCreature · Beast"The Phoenix"
Also known as: Benu
Titles & Epithets
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Description
Its cry broke the silence before creation and called reality into being. The Bennu alighted on the first mound of land to rise from the waters of Nun, a grey heron sacred to Heliopolis, soul of Ra, self-created from flames in a sacred tree.
Mythology & Lore
The First Cry
Before anything existed, there was Nun, the infinite dark water. The benben, the primeval mound, rose from it. The Bennu alighted on the mound and uttered the first sound. Its cry broke the silence and set creation in motion, determining what would exist and what would not. In the Coffin Texts, the cry did not merely announce creation but caused it, a word of power that called the world into being. Nothing had spoken before. Nothing had lived before. The Bennu was the first.
Fire and Renewal
The Bennu was Ra's ba, his soul in bird form. It generated itself from the flames of the sacred ished tree at Heliopolis, then rose renewed to begin another cycle. The Pyramid Texts place it on the benben stone, the sacred pyramidal object that represented the original mound of creation.
In the Book of the Dead, the dead could become the Bennu. Chapter 83 gave them the words: "I am the Bennu, the soul of Ra, who guides the gods to the Duat." To speak this spell was to take the bird's form and pass through death as Ra passed through the night sky.
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