
Ptah, holding the emblems of life and power, bronze statuette, Memphis, circa 600–100 elipsis
In
Egyptian religion, the creator god. The patron of craftsmen, especially sculptors, Ptah was identified by the Greeks with
Hephaestus, the divine blacksmith. He was represented as a man in mummy form, wearing a skullcap and a short, straight false beard. He was originally the local deity of
Memphis, capital of Egypt from the 1st dynasty onward; the political importance of Memphis caused Ptah's cult to spread across Egypt. With Sekhmet and Nefertem, he was one of the Memphite Triad of deities.
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.