Neith

Neith brought herself into being from the primordial waters. She existed before the ordered world and before the gods. As the Great Mother, she became the first source of generation, although no childbirth had existed before her act of creation.

At Esna, one tradition says that Neith created the whole world with seven magic words. Through this act, she brought the gods into existence and established the ordered world. Creation could also be understood through thought and authoritative speech. Thought allowed the creator to form things in the mind. Speech brought them into being through naming. Some accounts instead describe creation through weaving.

Neith was also connected with the creation of the sun god Ra. At Sais, she was called the great mother who gave birth to Ra. This made her older than the beings who came after her and allowed her to claim the place of the first mother. Some traditions say that she created Ra directly during the formation of the cosmos. Others express her role through his birth.

Neith’s creative power was also linked with the primeval flood. She was often equated with Mehet-Weret, whose name means the Great Flood, and described as the mother of the creator sun god. Her association with water connected her with the earliest state of existence, before the gods and the ordered world had appeared. Later traditions retained her as a creator and mother. They also presented her as a protector who used her arrows against the enemies of Ra, including her offspring Apophis.