Introduction
Atum is the self-generated creator god at the head of the Heliopolitan cosmogony (the Ennead), understood to have brought himself into being on the primeval mound rising from Nun's waters.
Family
The First Act of Creation
Atum created the first divine pair, Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), through an act variously described in different texts as masturbation, spitting, or sneezing — emphasizing that creation proceeded from Atum alone, without a partner. From Shu and Tefnut descended Geb and Nut, and from them Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys, completing the Ennead, the group of nine foundational deities of Heliopolitan theology. Atum was frequently identified and merged with the sun god Ra as Atum-Ra, representing the setting or aged sun as distinct from Ra's daytime, youthful aspect (often figured as the scarab god Khepri at dawn).
Ancient Egyptian religion spanned three millennia and many regional cult centers, so parentage, roles and even gender pairings for a given deity often differ between the Heliopolitan, Hermopolitan, Memphite and Theban theological systems; the account above follows the most widely attested classical version.