Principal god of the city of Memphis, he was portrayed as a mummy, or wearing the beard of the gods on his chin. His godhood was achieved by himself, much like his creation power, done merely by act of will. A patron of craftsmen, he also was seen as a healer, in the form of a dwarf. In the death trilogy (Anubis, Osiris, Ptah), he was seen as the god of embalming. His wife was the cat-headed Sekhmet, and his son was the lotus god Nefertem.