What is the Ogdoad?
Depiction of the Ogdoad Twenty-first Dynasty (c. 1075–945 BC)
The Ogdoad is a Ma'atian precept that posits the pre-existence of four complimentary forces in nature that interact with matter.
Ogdoad (group of eight "gods" "Ntr "} of [Khmunu ("City of Eight"] Hermopolis , which embodied the inchoate world before creation and consisted of four pairs of male & female deities [four fundamental interactions ] with abstract names such as Darkness,, Absence, and Endlessness. The earliest certain reference to the Ogdoad is from the Eighteenth Dynasty. - Britannica
The Ogdoad was a system of eight 'deities': four 'gods' and their consorts (the number four was considered to represent completeness). Each pair represented the male and female aspects of the four creative powers or sources. Nun and Naunet represented the primeval waters; Heh and Hauhet represented eternity; Kuk and Kauket represented darkness; and Amun and Amunet represented air (or that which is hidden). However, the gods [names] differ from one source to another." - Ancient Egypt Online
These forces would culminate to produce "Atum-Re
' (Atom
). - see "Stolen Legacy" by George G. James Ph.D. (2009
).
Nun - Nothingness
Egyptian cosmogony and cosmology traditions eventually devolved into religion but were originally scientific. It is important to note that the concept of the Ogdoad begins with Nun or nothingness. The Egyptians envisioned this to be a watery void of substance/matter without differentiation. It is described as the "primordial Chaos from which the primordial mound arose" and the point from which the atom (Atum-Re) emerges. This is comparable to the concept of mbûngi in the Bantu-Kongo tradition.
The central circle in the image represents the mound, and the three orange circles correlate to the 3 generations of matter in the Standard Model chart. The figures at either side representing both matter and energy pouring out the watery substance (matter/energy) that becomes the source for observable matter. Nun or "nothingness" does not mean a lack of substance merely a lack of differentiation.
A more complete envisioning of this cosmology, the Men-Nefer or Memphite Theology (encompassing the Ennead and the 'ntr' Ptah), was presented later in Egyptian history in the Shabaka Stone of the 25th Dynasty.
An better explanation of the similarities between the Memphite theology and modern cosmology can be seen here: Shabaka Stone Memphite Theology of Ptah - African Scientific Cosmology