Ptah - Ancient Egyptian God of Creation and Artistry
Ptah was depicted as a mummified man with green skin and a straight beard.
Photo by Met Museum.
Ptah was a creator god who made everything.
Ptah existed before there was anything, and brought the world into existence through the power of his mind and his words.
Ptah was the patron of craftsmen.
He made all things and was the patron of people who made things, including potters, sculptors, shipbuilders and carpenters. Workers would pray to Ptah for skill and success in their trades, and he would guide their hands as they created beautiful objects.
Ptah had a unique appearance among Egyptian gods.
Ptah was depicted as a mummified man with green skin, but he was the only god to be consistently with a straight beard, as opposed to a curved one. He also held a staff that combined symbols of life, stability, and power.
Part of the word “Egypt” comes from Ptah.
The English word for Egypt comes from the Greek word Aigyptos, which comes from the Egyptian phrase for House of Ptah, Hwt-ka-Ptah.
The Great Temple of Abu Simbel was designed so that Ptah would always stay in darkness.
Twice a year, at the famous temple of Abu Simbel, sunlight enters the sanctuary inside the temple where the statue of Ptah sits with three other gods. The other statues are lit by the sun, but Ptah's statue always remains in darkness because he was associated with the underworld and the chaos before the world existed.
