chapter six the silent god

6.1 The Silence of the Remote God Silence was one of the ways in which human beings tried to com- municate with their deities (Section 4.6). In Chapter 5 we have demonstrated that divine messages were usually mediated by hu- man beings. What did it mean when deities were believed to remain silent, even if humans implored them to speak or act?

6.1.1 In the Ancient Near East According to Egyptian theologians of the New Kingdom stillness reigned on the primordial earth before the Sun-god Amun-Re created everything that exists, including the first deities.1 He did so by being the first to speak.2 Without the word of the Creator of life, the earth was silent. An Amun-hymn from a Leiden papyrus states,

He opened speech from within the stillness: and he opened each eye, letting it see; He began sounds while the world was silent – and his unchallenged victory-shout encircled the earth.3

According to the creation theology of the Egyptian city of Heli- opolis, the god Shu stilled the sky, earth and other deities before revealing his self-creation, ‘I shall speak. Become still, Ennead! Become silent, gods, and I will tell you my evolution myself.’4 So the Egyptians thought that silence reigned before it was broken by the speech of the creator. Already in the Wisdom of Merikare (c. 2000 bce) it is stated that the good creator god erected a chapel for himself among his human creatures; when they weep, he listens to them.5

1Assmann 1999, No. 32:15-20 (117); No. 136:20-25 (330); Allen, CoS, vol. 1, 24. 2Assmann 1999, No. 136:15-19, 21-22 (330); Allen, CoS, vol. 1, 24. 3Translation Foster 1995, 76. 4Allen, CoS, vol. 1, 8-9. See also Coffin Texts Spell 1130, Allen, CoS, vol. 1, 26. 5Lichtheim 1973, 106; Foster 2001, 203; Altenmuller¨ 2009, 25. 232 chapter six

Can humans really hear the voice of the creator god? In prin- ciple this is deemed impossible. The absolute transcendence of the creator god Amun is expressed as follows in a Theban eulogy,

Amun is one, hiding himself from them.6 He is concealed from the gods, and his aspect is unknown. He is farther than the sky, he is deeper than the Duat.7 No god knows his true appearance, no processional image of his is unfolded through inscriptions, no one testifies to him accurately. He is too secret to uncover his awesomeness, he is too great to investigate, too powerful to know.8

From another hymn to Amun-Re,

Whose Form is mysterious, there is no knowing him, who conceals himself from all the gods; Who hides himself in the sundisk, there is no comprehending him. who masks himself even from those who emerged from him.9

Communication with such a transcendent, remote deity seems impossible.10 Yet the same text affirms that messages are sent by him from the sky and heard in the sanctuaries of Heliopolis, Memphis and Thebes.11 Although Amun-Re is infinitely remote, he is at the same time very close to his worshippers. It is therefore understandable that he became the focus of the much discussed ‘personal piety’ which reached its culmination point under the Ramessides, probably as an answer to the chill of the monotheistic revolution in the Amarna period. Now it becomes possible to address Amun-Re directly and the supplicant may expect the god to listen to his prayer and deliver him from distress,

6The great gods who had been created by Amun just before. 7The Abyss. 8Translation Allen, CoS, vol. 1, 25. 9Translation Foster 1995, 67. 10The Egyptian pessimistic sage Ipuwer states about the high god Ptah, ‘There is none who can reach him’ (Ipuwer 5.9; translation Enmarch 2008, 227, with his comments 110). 11Allen, CoS, vol. 1, 26.