One of the Most Significant Deities of Ancient Egypt You Have Never Heard Of

We’re sure you’ve heard of the sun god Ra or the death god Anubis before, but Egyptian mythology contains lots of underrated gods too. The reason you know Ra and Anubis so well is that they are gods from the late days of ancient Egypt. In other words, their remains are mostly found in archaeological excavations because they are historically quite new. 

However, Egyptian mythology covers a period of thousands of years and contains countless deities. Some of these are far more important than others, and some are even considered powerful enough to create the universe, including other gods. Atum is one of these gods, and it is the most powerful being. You may not have heard his name before, but you can be sure that he is the most powerful god in Egyptian mythology. The ancient Egyptians believed that Atum created all of us and everything else. Moreover, the creation story of the universe is very similar to the stories told by ancient and modern religions. If you are interested in Atum and want to learn more about it, you can read this article we have prepared and play a game developed by Microgaming. Below, we give detailed information about both.

So, Who Was Atum?

Ancient Egyptians have many myths about how the universe was created, and most of them are described in the Pyramid Texts that can be found on the tomb walls. The Pyramid Texts date from a large period called the Old Kingdom, spanning 2780 to 2550 BC. There are very few papyri from this period, but the tomb texts have survived intact as they were engraved on the stone walls. According to the creation myth described in these texts, the world originally consisted of only an eternal and lifeless sea. 

This sea was named Nu, and it didn’t quite resemble the seas you know – it was more like a slime of chaos. All texts agree that the first gods created themselves from this slime, but there is a geographical difference of opinion as to who the first god was. In the Pyramid Texts of the inhabitants of the city of Hermopolis, it is written that the first gods consisted of eight deities named Ogdoad. The Pyramid Texts in the city of Heliopolis simply say that the first god was Atum and that he rose from the slime to create the earth and the universe. The first thing Atum created was a pyramid called benben. Later, he created two more gods, Ptah and Amun, to help him. After this tiring job was over, he began to create the universe.

If you wonder how he did this work, he used his own body fluids to create the gods and tears to create humans. After creating everything that exists, he returned to Nu. So he is not considered an active god. He simply created everything and returned back to the chaos slime. The ancient Egyptians believed that Atum carried the souls of the dead buried in the pyramids to the stars and dedicated each pyramid to him. If you are wondering what Atum looks like, we can say that it looks quite usual. While he was sometimes portrayed as a serpent, he was almost always portrayed as a man wearing a simple headgear. In other words, he was a pretty normal-looking dude – there were no wings or goat heads. 

Atum completed the creation of the universe thousands of years ago and left us. There are two things that remind of him today. First, an obelisk 20 meters long and weighing 120 tons in Cairo. Known as Al-Masalla obelisk, this monument still stands where it was built thousands of years ago. The second is a slot game developed by Microgaming. If you want to thank Atum for creating everything, you can play this game, and if you’re lucky enough, you can win enough to make even Ancient Egyptians jealous. 

Book of Atem by Microgaming

Atum can also be translated as Atem, and it seems Microgaming preferred this translation. This classic video slot machine is actually developed by All 41 Studios, a subsidiary of Microgaming. You may remember this name from the Le Kaffee Bar slot, which was a very successful 243-way game. Well, the Book of Atem slot does not contain that many lines, but it still offers a satisfying win frequency. Plus, it costs way less to play. Let’s start with the basic features of the slot: 

• Reels: 5
• Paylines: 10
• RTP: 96.45%
• Minimum Bet Value: 0.10 coins (per spin)
• Maximum Bet Value: 100 coins (per spin)
• Highest Payout: 5.000x total bet (540.000 coins)

First of all, the game looks good. It has a certain art style and clear graphics, unlike many other “Book of” slot games. It looks pretty modern, and the win animations are of high-quality too. Like any other video slot machine, your goal is to land two same symbols next to each other on a payline – this is how you qualify for a payment. The win value will be determined by which and how many symbols you landed. In this context, the symbol payouts change between 50 and 50.000 coins.

We will talk about payouts below, but let’s continue with symbols. Book of Atem slot contains 9 symbols in total, and 4 of them are represented by pictures that are related to the theme, i.e. snake and Nile flower. The others are simply shown with playing card symbols, such as 10, J, and Q. As can be guessed, picture symbols pay more. More importantly, landing two of them is enough to qualify for a payout – playing card symbols require at least three. Here is the paytable that shows the payout values of each symbol:

Now, the most important thing you need to know about this paytable is that it is dynamic. The values above show how much you can win when you play with the maximum bet value (100 coins per spin). If you lower the bet value and play with, for example, 0.10 coins per spin, the symbols will pay much less. So, here is a simple tip to maximize your winnings: always play with the maximum bet amount. 

You may be wondering about the book symbol on this list. What is it? Well, there is a book symbol in the game that acts as a wild and scatter. It is shown with a book picture, as can be guessed, and can substitute all other symbols. In other words, you can use it to complete any winning combination. Moreover, it is a scatter symbol, so it pays anywhere on the screen. You don’t need to land this symbol on a payline to qualify for a payout, anywhere is fine. And scatter payouts are multiplied by the total bet amount, so this is a huge advantage. As long as you see at least three book symbols on the screen, you can be sure that there will be a big payout. The book symbol is also used to trigger the bonus round, which we will explain below. 

Bonus Features of the Book of Atem Slot Machine

Landing three book symbols anywhere on the screen will trigger the bonus round automatically and award 10 free spins. These spins will be used automatically with the same bets that triggered the round. However, before the round starts, one of the symbols in the game will be chosen to become the expanding symbol. This is completely random, and any symbol (other than the book symbol) can be picked. The chosen symbol can expand to cover the entire reel – as can be guessed, this greatly increases your winning chances. 

To start playing the Book of Atem slot, simply specify your bet amount and click the spin button. If you want to take a look at the rules and symbol payouts, you can open the paytable by clicking the dots at the bottom left corner of the interface. You can also use the auto-spin feature to spin the reels automatically. You just need to keep spinning the reels until you win a prize or activate a bonus round: That’s it. 

And, as always, you can play slots for fun, even the Book of Atem slot game can be played completely for free first. The demo version of the game comes with 100.000 complimentary coins, which can be used for hours of free gameplay. Even if you want to play with real money, use the demo version first to try the game & learn the rules. You can play from mobile devices too, Book of Atem is a modern slot game. We are sure that you will start winning in no time and make Atem proud. May the reels always spin in your favour!