Ptah

This was altered August 2020, to give Ptah dark golden eyes and slightly darker skin.


I have also a printable and colorable version
©Joan Ann Lansberry, October 22, 2011 (June 19, 2021)

I created the linear version as part of the process of gathering Was-scepter images for the gathering of Set-related imagery. I used a larger version of a photo in _Tutankhamun_, text T. G. James, photos A. DeLuca as a tracing guide. The gilded wood statue of Ptah, with bronze Was scepter, inlaid with gold and (seen during the Tutankhamun exhibit) is gorgeous. But its lines needed clarification for the book.

Having created the linear version, I wanted to color it. But my two printer prints came out faded. I just put a new cartridge in, did I use up all of its ink? My bad results encouraged a digital version.

Ptah is "one of the oldest of Egypt's gods and is attested representionally from the 1st dynasty onward. Nevertheless the great god of Memphis was perhaps originally only a locally important deity whose influence developed and spread slowly over time." "If Ptah was not originally a god of craftsmanship, this aspect of his identity was certainly an ancient one as it can be seen at an early date and then remains constant throughout the god's history." "During the Old Kingdom the high priest of Ptah bore the title we-kherep-hemu 'great leader of the craftsmen': and while the god's name gives no firm clue to his origin, it is perhaps based on a root of later words meaning 'to sculpt' and thus related to his identity as a craftsman god. In this role Ptah was both the sculptor or smith of mankind and creator of the arts and crafts..."

"As a result of his identification with craftsmanship, or concurrent with it, Ptah became a god of creation and was known as the 'sculptor of the earth' who, like the ram god Khnum was believed to form everything on his potter's wheel. More fundamentally, Ptah came to be known as the 'ancient one' who united in his person both the masculine primeval deity Nun and his feminine counterpart, Naunet, so that he was seen as the primordial deity whose creative power was manifest in every aspect of the cosmos."

Honourific titles:
Nefer-her - 'merciful of face' (beautiful of face?)
Neb-Ma'at - 'lord of truth' (justice, balance)
Mesedjer-sedjem- 'the ear which hears'

All info from _The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt_, by Richard Wilkinson, pages 123-126


A reversed version, just because I could... (October 2015)


And a cropped version for 4x6... (October 2015)


And a dark version with green skin, just because I could... (October 2015, revised August 2020)

June 2017, and I've got more plans for this little drawing (to be actualized SOMEday....:

The title above is a classic title of Ptah, “Lord of Ma'at”. It means he exemplies as a creator god what is true, what is just, what is balanced.


This is a simplified version of the round, designed to be 1.5 to 2 inches big.


And here engraved by "NorthernDragon Crafts", 1.5 inches big.

For the bottom image, I took inspiration from a couple of hymns to Ptah, the Berlin hymn, and the Shabaka stone:


As a creator god, Ptah gives life to all the gods: