Numbers in Egyptian mythology

What it is

Numbers in Egyptian mythology are the figures that ancient Egyptians treated as sacred or magical, especially 2, 3, 4, 7, and combinations built from them. They are not a separate cult but a way of reading meaning into myth, religious art and story. Three is the clearest case: it stood for plurality, and even the hieroglyph for "plurality" was three upright strokes. Groups of three deities were used to express a complete system. Seven carried ideas of perfection, effectiveness and completeness. Five appears less often, though it marks the extra days of the year and the children of Nut and Geb. The numbers work as signs, not as arithmetic.

Where it comes from

The meanings are recorded across ancient Egyptian myth and religious art rather than in one founding account. Tales of Re, the doomed prince and the mage contest between Egypt and Ethiopia use repeated numbers as plot devices. Artistic symbols give the same numbers visible form: the three-loop Knot of Isis, the five-pointed star of the afterlife, and the seven zigzags of the Pool sign for water. Richard H. Wilkinson's study of symbolism in Egyptian art is cited for the core meanings of two, three, four and seven.

How it is done

The numbers are used by repetition, grouping and emblem. In myth, an action may be tried three times, a period may last seven years, or five children may be born on five added days. In writing, three vertical strokes make a plural. In iconography, the tiet or Knot of Isis has three loops, the star has five points, and the Pool sign contains seven zigzag lines. These are conventions of depiction and storytelling, not steps in a spell.

Tools and materials

The signs include the three-stroke hieroglyph for plurality, the tiet or Knot of Isis with three loops, the five-pointed star linked to the afterlife, and the Pool symbol with seven zigzag lines. The Gold symbol has seven spines beneath it. Myth also uses quantities as emblems: seven thousand barrels of red beer, seven scorpions guarding Isis, and a tower seventy cubits high with seventy windows. The Knot of Isis stands for life; the star stands for the afterlife; the Pool stands for water.

What it is for

The system gives Egyptian myth a way to signal completeness, plurality, perfection and effectiveness. Three marks a group or a plural; a divine triad can stand for a whole set of gods. Seven points to a finished or potent state, as in a seven-year famine or a set of seven scorpions. Five is rarer and often marks a set of five, such as the children of Nut and Geb or the added days of the calendar. The numbers are used by storytellers and religious writers to make a point, not as calculations.

Who does it

The users are the ancient Egyptians who told and recorded these myths, and the religious writers who shaped divine groups. The tales also feature mages: one boasts of causing three days of darkness, another tries three times to beat Egypt's greatest mage, and an Egyptian mage throws powder on a fire three times while attempting to enter the land of the dead. These figures are characters in story, and their repeated actions show how number patterns build a narrative.

Peoples and places

Egypt is the setting for the myths, symbols and calendar references. Ethiopia appears through a story of rival mages: an Ethiopian magician challenges Egypt's finest, and a king of Ethiopia is mentioned in the same cycle. The number lore is presented as Egyptian; Ethiopia provides a narrative contrast rather than a separate tradition of number symbolism.

What people believe

Behind the numbers is a world of gods and ordered signs. Re is named three times to mark dawn, noon and evening. Atum's shift from singularity to a group of three involves Shu and Tefnut. Horus, Osiris and Isis form a triad. Seven belongs to perfection, effectiveness and completeness. The star stands for the afterlife, the Pool for water, and the Knot of Isis for life. The numbers are part of a religious view in which repeated patterns in myth and art express how the world is put together.

When it is done

The calendar gives five a fixed place. Thoth is said to have won five extra days for the year through a contest with the Moon, and these days allowed Nut and Geb's five children to be born: Osiris, Nephthys, Isis, Set and Haroeris. Seven appears in a famine said to have lasted seven years; the Nile's lowest helpful flood was seven cubits, and the highest was twenty-eight. The number lore is tied to mythic time and to the shape of the year.

How scholars and sceptics see it

Richard H. Wilkinson's Symbol & Magic in Egyptian Art is cited for the meanings of numbers, including the plural sign and divine triads. Donald Mackenzie's retellings supply the doomed prince, the seven-year famine and the sun cult's creation story. James B. Pritchard's Ancient Near East volume is cited for the seven lean years and the Nile cubits. Plutarch is the reference for Osiris being divided into fourteen pieces. Mircea Eliade's history of religious ideas cites that division. The examples therefore come from art history, myth collection and comparative religion.

Compare and confuse

A comparison is drawn with numerology and with numbers in Norse mythology. A note links Thoth's title "thrice-great" with Hermes Trismegistus. The Egyptian set has its own symbols: three strokes for plurality, the three-loop Knot of Isis, the five-pointed star and the seven-line Pool sign.

Questions people ask about Numbers in Egyptian mythology

Good reading and sources

• Numbers in Egyptian mythology on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data