Page 75 - STOLEN LEGACY By George G. M. James

III. The doctrine of the Demiurge in Creation.

This doctrine which is ascribed to the authorship of Plato, did not by any means originate from
Plato. It was not only a current doctrine at the time of Plato, but was well known among the
Eastern Ancient nations and taught by them many centuries before his time (427–347 B.C.).
History tells us that the Persians taught this doctrine more than six centuries B.C. through their
leader Zoroaster. History also tells us that Pythagoras (500 B.C.), taught the same doctrine
expressed in terms of Monads. The universe consisted of two unities, i.e., (a) the Unity from
which the series of numbers or beings is derived, being absolute Unity, which is the source of all,
i.e., the Monad of Monads or the God of Gods and (b) the One, i.e., the first in the series of
derived numbers or beings. It is opposed to and limited by plurality, and therefore it is relative
unity, i.e., a created Monad or God (a Demiurge), consequently the opposition between the One
and the many is the source of all the rest. Furthermore, history likewise tells us that the original
source of the doctrine of a Demiurge in creation was Egypt, and it dates back to the creation
story of Egypt 4000 B.C. which is to be found in the account given by the Memphite Theology:
an inscription on a stone, now kept in the British Museum. It contains the theological and
cosmological views of the Egyptians which date back to the very beginning of Egyptian history,
when the first dynasties had made their new capital at Memphis, the city of the God Ptah, i.e.,
about 4000 B.C., or even earlier.

The Egyptian cosmology must be presented in three parts; each part being supplementary to the
other, and presenting a complete philosophy by their combination. Part (I) deals with the Gods of
chaos, part (II) deals with the Gods of order and arrangement in creation, and part (III) deals with
the Primate of the Gods, through whose Logos creation was accomplished. In part (I) pre-
creation or chaos is represented by (i) Ptah, the Primate of the Gods, emerging from the primeval
waters Nun in the form of a Hill, Ta-tjenen, i.e., The Risen Land (ii) Atum, i.e., Atom, the sun
God, immediately joining Ptah, by emerging also from the chaotic waters Nun, and sitting upon
him (the Hill). (iii) A description of the other qualities within the chaos follows:—There are four
pairs of male and female Gods in the form of frogs and serpents. Their names are (a) Nun and
Naunet, the primeval ocean and primeval matter; (b) Huh and Hauhet, the Illimitable and the
Boundless, (c) Kuk and Kauket, Darkness and Obscurity; and (d) Amon and Amaunet, the
Hidden and concealed ones. (Memphite Theology in Ancient Egyptian Religion by Frankfort, p.
10, p. 21; Frankfort's Intellectual Adventure of Man, p. 10, 21, 52).

In part (II) the Gods of order and arrangement are represented as follows:

The same first pair of pre-creation Gods are together present, i.e., Ptah, the primeval Hill, who is
the thought and word of all the Gods, together with Atum, who rests upon Ptah. Atum, i.e.,
Atom, having absorbed the thought and creative power of Ptah, then proceeds with the work of
Creation. He names four pairs of parts of his own body, which become Gods, and in this way,
eight Gods are created, who together with himself become nine Gods in one family or Godhead,
called the Ennead.
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Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy by George G. M. James
The Journal of Pan African Studies 2009 eBook