Texts describing the earliest origins of the Egyptian Pantheons date to the Pyramid texts of Dynasties V and VI circa 2649 to 2152 BCE. These texts outline the earliest of the pantheons, which seem to have evolved from the time of the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under King Narmer circa 3000 BCE.

The texts indicate that the Egyptians believed that the Cosmos originated from an endless expanse of still waters, called Nu or Num. The pools beside many Egyptian temples we see today trace this belief. And it was believed that after the Creation of the Universe, the earth, sun, moon, starts and underworld were still surrounded by these waters. Then comes the formation of the Ennead, the group of Gods and Goddesses. From Nun rose Atum.

As the major city in Egypt was Heilopolis, the City of the Sun, the God Atum became the Lord of Heilopolis and the Pantheon was called the Theology of Heilopolis, or the Pesdjet of Heilopolis.

Atum is the Creator of the World, the Lord to the limit of the skies, and created the elements of the universe. He is Monad, the Supreme being. He rose to stand upon a mound, which became known as the benbeu, the pyramid to support the Sun God. From Atum, the life force passed to create the God and Goddess. These were Shu, the air God and Tefnut, the moisture or dew Goddess. They give birth to Geb, the God of Earth, and Nut, the Sky Goddess. There are many representations of Nut stretched over Geb, with Shu, air, between them, as the eternal representation of the relationship between earth and sky.

Nut gives birth to four children, and here we find the origins of the Osiris Myths with Osiris, Isis, Seth an Nepthys. Being separated from the Monad, we find that the Egyptians divided their Gods as their people, with the Older Gods and Goddesses representing the Spiritual aspect of Life (Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb and Nut) while the younger Gods and Goddesses are the physical, representing the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth. This is the balance, the duality of the universe, chaos and order: Osiris is the heir to Egypt, but Seth destroys the heir. This is the completion of the Ennead of the Heilopolis.

The other symbolism used in this pantheon is the lotus blossom, which is used to explain how Atum was born. A lotus blossom arose from Nun, along with the mound from which Atum emerged as a child.

Atum also assumes a triple aspect as the Sun God. He is Re, th Physical Sun, the disk in the sky; Harakhi, the hawk soaring; and Khepi, the sun on the Scrab beetle.