Ra was portrayed as afalcon and shared characteristics with the sky-godHorus. At times, the two deities were merged asRa-Horakhty, "Ra, who is Horus of the Two Horizons". When the godAmun rose to prominence during Egypt'sNew Kingdom, he was fused with Ra asAmun-Ra.
The cult of theMnevisbull, an embodiment of Ra, had its center inHeliopolis and there was a formalburial ground for the sacrificed bulls north of the city.
All forms of life were believed to have been created by Ra. In some accounts, humans were created from Ra's tears and sweat, hence the Egyptians call themselves the "Cattle of Ra". In themyth of the Celestial Cow, it is recounted how humankind plotted against Ra and how he sent his eye as the goddessSekhmet to punish them.
Religious roles
Journey of the Sun
Ra on the solar barque on his daily voyage across the sky (𓇯), adorned with the sun-disk
According toEgyptian myth, when Ra became too old and weary to reign on Earth, he relinquished and went to the skies.[7] As the Sun god, his duty was to carry the Sun across the sky on hissolar barque to light the day. When the sun set and twilight came, he and his vessel passed through theakhet, the horizon, in the west, and traveled to the underworld.[8] At times, the horizon has been described as a gate or door that leads to the Duat. There, he would have to sail on the subterrestrialNile and crossed through the twelve gates and regions.[8] Through the course of his underworld journey, he would transform into his Ram-headed form.[9] Every night,Apophis would attack Ra in an attempt to stop the sun-boat's journey. After defeating the snake, Ra would leave the underworld, returning at dawn, lighting the day once again. He was said to have traveled across the sky in his falcon-headed form on the Mandjet Barque through the hours of the day, and then switch to the Mesektet Barque in his ram-headed form to descend into the underworld for the hours of the night.[10]
Sun as a creator
Jewelry of Ra as a falcon with spread wings, adorned with the sun-disk and holding theankh, thehieroglyphic symbol of life
The Sun is the giver of life, controlling the ripening of crops that were worked by man. Because of the life-giving qualities of the Sun, the Egyptians worshipped the Sun as a god. The creator of the universe and the giver of life, the Sun or Ra represented life, warmth and growth. Since the people regarded Ra as a principal god, creator of the universe and the source of life, he had a strong influence on them, which led to him being one of the most worshipped of all the Egyptian gods and even consideredKing of the Gods.
Inlay depicting the squatting Ra with the sun-disk placed atop his falcon head
At an early period in Egyptian history, his influence spread throughout the whole country, bringing multiple representations in form and in name. The most common form combinations are with Atum (his human form),Khepri (the scarab beetle) and Horus (the falcon).[11] The form in which he usually appears is that of a man with a falcon's head, which is due to his combination with Horus, another sky-god. On top of his head sits a solar disc with a cobra, which in many myths represents theEye of Ra. At the beginning of time, when there was nothing but chaos, the sun-god existed alone in the watery mass ofNun which filled the universe.[12] The universe was enrapt by a vast mass ofprimordial waters, and theBenben, a pyramid mound, emerged amid this primal chaos. There was alotus flower with Benben,[13] and from this, when it blossomed, emerged Ra.[14] "I am Atum when he was alone in Nun, I am Ra when he dawned, when he began to rule that which he had made."[12] This passage talks about how Atum created everything in human form out of the chaos and how Ra then began to rule over the Earth where humans and divine beings coexisted. He created Shu, god of air, and the goddess of moisture, Tefnut. The siblings symbolized two universal principles of humans: life and right (justice). Ra was believed to have created all forms of life by calling them into existence by uttering their secret names. In some accounts humans were created from Ra's tears and sweat.[12]
In the underworld
Ra in his ram-headed form traveling through the underworld in his solar barque on the subterrestrial Nile, from the copy of the Book of Gates in the tomb of Ramses I (KV16)
Ra was thought to travel on the Atet, two solar barques called theMandjet (the Boat of Millions of Years) or morning-boat and theMesektet or evening-boat.[9] These boats took him on his journey through the sky and theDuat – twelve hours of night which is also the literal underworld of Egypt. While Ra was on theMesektet, he was in his ram-headed form.[9] When Ra traveled in his sun-boat, he was accompanied by various other deities includingSia (perception) andHu (command), as well asHeka (magic power). Sometimes, members of theEnnead helped him on his journey, includingSet, who overcame the serpentApophis, andMehen, who defended against themonsters of the underworld. When Ra was in the underworld, he would visit all of his various forms.[9]
Apophis, the god of chaos (isfet), was an enormousserpent who attempted to stop the sun-boat's journey every night by consuming it or by stopping it in its tracks with a hypnotic stare. During the evening, the Egyptians believed that Ra set asAtum or in the form of a ram. The night boat would carry him through the underworld and back towards the east in preparation for his rebirth. These myths of Ra represented the sun rising as the rebirth of the sun by the sky-goddess Nut; thus attributing the concept of rebirth and renewal to Ra and strengthening his role as a creator god as well.[15]
When Ra was in the underworld, he merged withOsiris, the god of the dead.[9]
Ra was portrayed as a man with the head of most likely either alanner orperegrine falcon,[16] adorned with a sun disk with aCobra around it,[9] and shared characteristics with the sky-godHorus.
Ra was represented in a variety of forms. Other common forms are a man with the head of a beetle (in his form asKhepri), or a man with the head of a ram. Ra was also pictured as a full-bodied ram, beetle, phoenix, heron, serpent, bull, cat, or lion, among others.[17]
He was most commonly featured with a ram's head in the Underworld.[9] In this form, Ra is described as being the "ram of the west" or "ram in charge of his harem.[9]
In some literature, Ra is described as an aging king with golden flesh, silver bones, and hair oflapis lazuli.[9]
A woman worships Ra-Horakhty, who blesses her with rays of light.[19]
Ra's local cult began to grow from roughly theSecond Dynasty, establishing him as a sun-deity. By theFourth Dynasty,pharaohs were seen as Ra's manifestations on Earth, referred to as "Sons of Ra". Ra was called the first king of Egypt, thus it was believed pharaohs were his descendants and successors. His worship increased massively in theFifth Dynasty, when Ra became a state-deity and pharaohs had specially alignedpyramids,obelisks, andsun temples built in his honor. The rulers of the Fifth Dynasty told their followers that they were sons of Ra himself and the wife of the high priest of Heliopolis.[9] These pharaohs spent much of Egypt's money on sun-temples.[9] The firstPyramid Texts began to arise, giving Ra more and more significance in the journey of the pharaoh through theDuat (underworld).[9]
During theMiddle Kingdom, Ra was increasingly affiliated and combined with other chief deities, especiallyAmun and Osiris.
At the time of theNew Kingdom of Egypt, the worship of Ra had become more complicated and grander. The walls oftombs were dedicated to extremely detailed texts that depicted Ra's journey through the underworld. Ra was said to carry the prayers and blessings of the living with the souls of the dead on the sun-boat. The idea that Ra aged with the sun became more popular during the rise of the New Kingdom.
Many acts of worship includedhymns, prayers and spells to help Ra and the sun-boat overcome Apophis.
"Ra-Horakhty" redirects here. For the Egyptian month named in his honor, seeMesori.
As with most widely worshipped Egyptian deities, Ra's identity was often combined with other gods', forming an interconnection between deities.
Amun and Amun-Ra
Ra andAmun, from the tomb ofRamses IV.Amun was a member of the Ogdoad, representing creation-energies withAmaunet, a very early patron ofThebes. He was believed to create via breath and thus was identified with the wind rather than the Sun. As the cults of Amun and Ra became increasingly popular in Upper andLower Egypt respectively, they were combined to create Amun-Ra, a solar creator god. It is hard to distinguish exactly when this combination happened, but references to Amun-Ra appeared in pyramid texts as early as the Fifth Dynasty. The most common belief is that Amun-Ra was invented as a new state-deity by the Theban rulers of theNew Kingdom to unite worshippers of Amun with the older cult of Ra around the 18th Dynasty.[21] Amun-Ra was given the official title "King of the Gods" by worshippers, and images show the combined deity as a red-eyed man with a lion's head that had a surrounding solar disk.[21]
Atum and Atum-Ra
Atum-Ra (or Ra-Atum) was another composite deity formed from two completely separate deities; however, Ra shared more similarities withAtum than withAmun. Atum was more closely linked with the Sun, and was also a creator god of theEnnead. Both Ra andAtum were regarded as the father of the deities and pharaohs and were widely worshipped. In older myths, Atum was the creator ofTefnut andShu, and he was born from theoceanNun.
Ra-Horakhty
Pyramidion of Khonsu, with the image of Ra-Horakhty in the middle.In later Egyptian mythology,Ra-Horakhty was more of a title or manifestation than a composite deity. It translates as "Ra (who is)Horus of theHorizons". It was intended to link Horakhty[22] (as a sunrise-oriented aspect of Horus) to Ra. It has been suggested thatRa-Horakhty simply refers to the sun's journey from horizon to horizon as Ra, or that it means to show Ra as a symbolic deity of hope and rebirth. (See earlier section#Journey of the Sun).
Ra-Horakhty is very present in the Book of the Dead of the 3rd Intermediate Period. He can be seen sitting on his throne in the Book of the Dead of Nedjmet,[24] Padikhons,[25] Nestanebetisheru,[26] Djedkhonsiusankh,[27] Tameniu[28] and in the Amduat Papyrus Inscribed for Nesitaset.[29]
Khepri and Khnum
Khepri was a scarab beetle who rolled up the Sun in the mornings and was sometimes seen as the morning manifestation of Ra. Similarly, theram-headed godKhnum was also seen as the evening manifestation of Ra. The idea of different deities (or different aspects of Ra) ruling over different times of the day was fairly common but variable. With Khepri and Khnum taking precedence over sunrise andsunset, Ra often was the representation of midday when the sun reached its peak at noon. Sometimes different aspects of Horus were used instead of Ra's aspects.
Montu and Montu-Ra
Sculpture ofThutmose III (now headless), who stands hand in hand with the god Montu-Ra (falcon-headed) and the goddess Hathor.
A very ancient god,Montu was originally a manifestation of the scorching effect of Ra, the sun – and as such often appeared under the epithet Montu-Ra. It is possible that Montu-Ra and Atum-Ra symbolized the two kingships, respectively, ofUpper and Lower Egypt.[30] Montu had several consorts, including a female aspect of Ra,Raet-Tawy.[31] InEgyptian art, Montu was depicted with his head surmounted by the solar disk, because of his conceptual link with Ra.[32]
Raet-Tawy
Raet orRaet-Tawy was a female aspect of Ra; she did not have much importance independent of him. In some myths she was considered to be either Ra's wife or his daughter,[33] as well asMontu's wife.
Images
Ra-Khepri was sometimes depicted as ascarab pushing a sun disk.
Ra-Horakhty depicted as a falcon wearing a sun disk
The ba of Ra depicted as a ram-headedfalcon based on a depiction inKV14, the joint tomb ofTausert andSetnakhte
Ra-Horakhty was depicted likeHorus, but wearing a sun disk instead of aPschent, in modern and ancient times, Ra proper is often just represented like this.
While in theunderworld, Ra (Khnum-Ra) was depicted with the head of aram and a sun disk.
Amun-Ra was depicted similar toAmun but had a sun disk on his headdress.
Amun-Ra (himself a combination of Amun and Ra) was occasionally equated withMin to form a God called Amun-Ra-Kamutef, who was depicted similar toMin but had a sun disk on his headdress.
Gods created by Ra
In some myths, Ra was thought to have created almost every other Egyptian god.[34]
Bastet
Bastet (also called Bast) is sometimes known as the "cat of Ra".[35] She is also his daughter byIsis and is associated with Ra's instrument of vengeance, the sun-god's eye.[35] Bastet is known for decapitating the serpentApophis (Ra's sworn enemy and the "God" of Chaos) to protect Ra.[35] In one myth, Ra sent Bastet as a lioness to Nubia.[35]
Sekhmet
Sekhmet is another daughter of Ra.[36] Sekhmet was depicted as a lioness or large cat, and was an "eye of Ra", or an instrument of the sun god's vengeance.[36] In one myth, Sekhmet was so filled with rage that Ra was forced to turn her into a cow so that she would not cause unnecessary harm.[36] In another myth, Ra fears that humankind is plotting against him and sends Hathor (another daughter of Ra) to punish humanity. While slaughtering humans she takes the form of Sekhmet. To prevent her from killing all humanity, Ra orders that beer be dyed red and poured out on the land. Mistaking the beer for blood, Sekhmet drinks it, and upon becoming intoxicated, she reverts to her pacified form, Hathor.[37]
Hathor
Hathor is another daughter of Ra.[38] When Ra feared that humankind was plotting against him, he sent Hathor as an "eye of Ra".[36] In one myth, Hathor danced naked in front of Ra until he laughed to cure him of a fit of sulking.[38] When Ra was without Hathor, he fell into a state of deep depression.[39] In the New kingdom, Ra came to be associated with the epithet "Kamutef" ('Bull of his mother') alongside Amun. As Kamutef, he was seen as the son and husband of Hathor who impregnates his own mother to give birth to himself.[40]
Ptah is rarely mentioned in the literature of Old Kingdom pyramids.[42] This is believed by some to be a result of the Ra-worshipping people of Heliopolis being the main writers of these inscriptions.[42]
Isis
In one myth,Isis created a serpent to poison Ra and only gave him the antidote when he revealed his true name to her. Isis passed this name on to Horus, bolstering his royal authority.[43]
Apep
Apep, also called Apophis, was the god of chaos and Ra's arch-enemy. He was said to lie just below the horizon line, trying to devour Ra as Ra traveled through the underworld.[44]
Aten
Aten was the focus ofAtenism, the religious system established in ancient Egypt by the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaohAkhenaten. The Aten was the disc of the sun and was originally an aspect of Ra.[45]
^Lana Troy:Patterns of queenship in ancient Egyptian myth and history. Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm 1986, ISBN 91-554-1919-4, S. 21–22 und S. 54–59.
Hart, George (1986).A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Inc.ISBN978-0-415-05909-1.
Pinch, Geraldine (2004).Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-517024-5.
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