The principal religious beliefs of the Egyptians may be summarized thus: The =Creation=.—In the beginning there existed an immense mass of water wherein lived the god Nu. He felt the desire to create this universe, and his heart, or intelligence, who was called Thoth, spake a word expressing this desire, and the world came into being. The first act of creation was the appearance of the sun from out of the water; the light separated the heavens from the earth, and the sky was placed upon four pillars 𓉽𓉽𓉽𓉽, which marked the cardinal points. [Illustration: The god Khnemu fashioning a man on a potter’s wheel which he works with his foot. Behind stands Thoth, marking the years of his life on a notched palm branch.] =Creation of gods.=—According to the priests of On, the god Kheperȧ, a form of Rā, who was self-begotten and self-produced, fashioned a god and a goddess out of the matter of his own body, and these became the parents of a number of other gods and goddesses, _e.g._, Osiris and Isis, Set and Nephthys, Horus and Anubis, etc. The priests of Hermopolis declared that Thoth was the primeval god, and that the gods he created were Nu and Nut, Ḥeḥu and Ḥeḥut, Kekui and Kekuit, Ḳerḥ and Ḳerḥit. The first pair represent the watery mass out of which everything came; the second, indefinite time, or eternity; the third, darkness; and the fourth, night. The priests of Saïs taught that their goddess Net (Neith) was self-begotten and self-produced, that she was the mother of Rā, the Sun-god, and at the same time a virgin-goddess. =Creation of men.=—According to a very old legend, mankind was divided into four races: 1. RETH, or REMT, _i.e._, “Men,” 𓂋𓐰𓍿𓀀𓁐𓏪; these were the Egyptians. 2. ĀAMU 𓌙𓅓𓅱𓏪, or the peoples of the Eastern Desert. 3. THEMEḤU 𓍿𓐰𓎖𓅱𓏪, _i.e._, the Libyans. 4. NEḤESU 𓅘𓎛𓋴𓅱𓏪, _i.e._, the black and brown peoples, and Negroes and Negroids, of the Sûdân. The Egyptians or “Men,” were formed out of the tears which fell from the Eye of Rā; these dropped upon the members of his body and then turned into men and women. The Libyans came into being through some act of the Sun-god in connection with his Eye, and the Āamu and the Neḥesu were descended irregularly from Rā. Another legend declared that man was made out of potters’ mud on a wheel by Khnemu, the ram-headed god of Philae.