The Statue of Ptah is one of the treasures discovered in the tomb of the golden pharaoh Tutankhamun. God Ptah is one of the very ancient gods of ancient Egyptian religion. His worship goes back to the earliest part of the dynastic period. Ptah was the creator god of Memphis, Head of the Memphite Creation theory.He was also the patron god of craftsmen.
The origin of the name of Egypt: Ht kA PtH, the house of the ka of Ptah is related to his name. His name means the opener and this name is associated with the ceremony of opening the mouth, as he used to open the mouth of the deceased. His main cult centre was at Memphis where he formed his triad with his wife goddess SEKHMET and their son god NEFERTUM (the lotus god).
He was represented as a man in a mummy form completely wrapped except for his hands which are protruding from the mummy wrappings and he was holding in his hands a composite sceptre comprising: the Djed pillar, the Ankh sign and the Was. His head was shaven and covered with a tight fitting skull cap leaving his ears exposed often coloured in blue.
Later on, he was mingled with SOKAR (ancient god of Memphis) forming the god PTAH-SOKAR. Then by the Late Period this combined deity was associated with OSIRIS as PTAH-SOKARIS-OSIRIS taking the attributes of a god of the dead represented in mummiform or as a hawk or as a dwarf. This deity incorporated the principle gods of creation, death and the afterlife.
