god had emerged from the waters of the Underworld and was self-created. From him came the other deities, such as OSIRIS, and these were followed by the creation of human beings. The cult of Ptah in the Thinite period of MEMPHIS gave its chief deity priority over all other gods, regarding him as contemporary with the Underworld waters themselves. Ptah was the great cosmic mind who by the projection of his thought produced the world and its contents. Even the other gods were only manifestations of