Ra is the sun god of ancient Egypt. He is one of the oldest deities in the Egyptian mythlogy.The Egyptian term for "sun" is Ra. Ra was a solar deity who represented the sun's power and was also believed to be the sun itself. The great god was pictured as riding in his barge over the heavens during the day and descending into the underworld at sunset. Every night, as he made his way through the darkness beneath the earth, the huge serpent Apophis, also called Apep, attacked him in an attempt to stop the sun from rising and wipe out all life on the planet.
Origin Myth
In the beginning, the universe was an infinite body of water called Nun. Nun was unconscious, unthinking, motionless, and eternal. Amidst this eternal nothingness, Ra willed himself into existence. In what is best understood as an anatomically implausible sequence of events, Ra then created the twins Shu and Tefnut via masturbation.
In another version of the story, Amun created himself from the primordial void of Nun. With Ptah, the god who “represented the transformative force that turns a creative thought into action and material reality,” Amun created an egg which floated through Nun. Before long, Ra emerged from the egg.
While the stories vary, the basic process of creation in Egyptian mythology was one of differentiation. From a single homogenous state, the universe divided itself into individuals who continued this pattern of division without diminishing themselves in the process.
Creating the Sun, Moon, and Humanity
There was no light to guide Ra when he created the gods Shu and Tefnut, and the world was just an endless ocean. Ra created an eye and sent it out to find his children in order to solve this problem.
When the eye came back, the eye discovered that Ra had created a second eye for himself in its absence. The first eye became angry, and in order to pacify it, Ra gave it more power than the second. Thus, the first eye became the sun and the second eye became the moon.
Some tales said that after creating the gods and celestial bodies, Ra wept and his tears became humanity. Other versions held that humanity sprung from the tears of the first eye as it wept during its search for Shu and Tefnut. The reason for its weeping was never specified but it could have been from loneliness or anger upon discovering it had been replaced. A third explanation was that upon his birth, Ra wept because he was alone and could not see his mother, Neith
Ra’s Curse on Nut the Egyptian Calendar
Ra’s children, Shu and Tefnut, gave birth to Geb and Nut. Contrary to most mythologies, the male Geb ruled the earth while the goddess Nut ruled of the sky.
Ra expected Nut to be his wife, but she fell in love with Geb and spurned Ra. Furious at this turn of events, Ra placed a curse on her, declaring “that she should not give birth to a child in any month or year.”
Meanwhile, the god Thoth had been gambling with the moon over games of draughts and had won several times. He took his winnings in the form of the moon’s light, totalling 1/72nd of her illumination. Altogether, he had accumulated an additional 5 days.
The Egyptian calendar year only consisted of 360 days and the additional five days were simply added to the end of the year to bring the Egyptian calendar and the solar calendar into agreement. As a result, the extra five days that Thoth had won did not fall under the auspices of Ra’s curse. When the intercalated days finally arrived, Nut gave birth to Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, and Nephthys.
Ra's Solar Journey
In ancient Egypt, the sun god Ra was revered as the supreme deity of light and creation. His daily journey across the sky was both a divine ritual and a testament to his power. However, Ra’s story is also one of struggle and transformation, intertwined with his ceaseless battle against the forces of darkness.
Each day, Ra embarked on a grand voyage in his celestial barque, a magnificent solar boat that carried him across the heavens. From dawn until noon, Ra sailed through the sky, bringing light and warmth to the world. This journey symbolized the triumph of order over chaos, as Ra’s radiance dispelled the shadows of the night.
By midday, Ra reached the zenith of his journey. The sun shone with its full strength, reflecting Ra’s divine power and the vitality he bestowed upon the earth. This period was considered sacred, as the sun’s energy was at its peak, nurturing all life.
However, as Ra approached the evening, his journey took a more perilous turn. Descending towards the western horizon, he prepared to enter the Duat, the Egyptian underworld. This descent marked the beginning of his nocturnal voyage, a journey fraught with danger and challenge.
In the Duat, Ra faced the monstrous serpent Apophis, a harbinger of chaos and darkness. Each night, Apophis threatened to engulf Ra and plunge the world into eternal darkness. Yet, Ra fought valiantly, employing his divine strength and wisdom to overcome the serpent and ensure the sun’s return.
Throughout his journey in the underworld, Ra was accompanied by a host of gods and goddesses. They aided him in navigating the treacherous realms of the Duat, encountering various trials and adversaries. This nightly ordeal was a symbolic representation of death and rebirth, a reminder of the cyclical nature of existence.
As dawn approached, Ra emerged from the underworld, reborn and renewed. His resurrection signified the eternal cycle of life and the restoration of light. With the rising sun, Ra began a new day, continuing his celestial voyage and reaffirming his role as the sustainer of life and order.
Ra’s journey across the sky and through the Duat was more than just a daily routine; it was a cosmic drama that underscored the principles of creation, order, and renewal. It exemplified the eternal struggle between light and darkness, and Ra’s unwavering role as the harbinger of life and order in the universe.
Ra’s secret name
The Egyptians believed that names held power, so much so that gods went by pseudonyms to keep their power safe. It was for this reason the goddess Isis embarked on a mission to discover Ra’s secret name.
By this time, Ra had grown old and feeble; he napped and drooled as he sat upon his throne. Surreptitiously, Isis collected some of this drool and combined it with a handful of earth. Using her magic, she shaped this mixture into a venomous snake.
Ra was a creature of habit, and strolled the same route each day to survey his creation. Isis set the snake loose at a crossroads and waited. The snake struck as soon as Ra had arrived at the crossroads. While Ra was normally immune to such attacks, this poison had come from his own being, and as such he had no immunity to it and was beset by great pain. Now in great agony, Ra called his followers and told them he had been grievously wounded. He asked if any of them could offer a cure, but none could give him what he sought. After all of the others had tried and failed, Isis told Ra she could help him, provided that he told her his true name. Sensing there was trickery at play, Ra answered:
I am the maker of heaven and earth, I am the establisher of the mountains, I am the creator of the waters, I am the maker of the secrets of the two horizons. I am the light and I am darkness, I am the maker of the hours, the creator of days. I am the opener of festivals, I am the maker of running streams, I am the creator of living flame. I am Khepri in the morning, Ra at noontime, and Atum in the evening.
Unimpressed with his prevarications, Isis insisted that without his true name she could not cure him. Wracked with pain, Ra eventually conceded and told Isis his true name. Reciting a magical incantation, Isis dispelled the poison from Ra’s body. In exchange for her ‘help,’ she demanded that Ra give her yet-to-be-born son Horus both of his eyes: the sun and the moon.
When Horus was old enough, he took over Ra’s position as sun god, allowing the elderly deity to retire from his tiresome daily responsibilities.
Ra, the Composite God
The Egyptian religion was extremely long lived, and over the span of thousands of years changes were made to it as different groups rose to or fell from power. From the religion’s foundation onward, Ra had always been an important deity; this central status made him a popular candidate for combining with emergent deities.
Ra has been merged so many different times that mentions of a singular Ra are now relatively uncommon.
Ra-Horakhty / Ra-Herakhty
Horus and Ra were conflated early on in the development of the Egyptian religion. The name Ra-Horakhty meant “Ra-Horus of the Double Horizon” and signified the sun conquering its enemies during the night so that it could rise again.
Horus was a complicated god, and had no fewer than 15 forms associated with him. Of these forms, the most consistent was the falcon. Ra-Horakhty blended the imagery of Ra and Horus, taking the form of a falcon crowned by a solar disk or, alternatively, a winged solar disk.
Amun-Ra
Around 2020BCE, the Theban ruler Mentuhotep II overthrew the Heracleopolitan dynasty and unified Egypt under his rule. This marked the beginning of what is now known as the Middle Kingdom (2066-1780BCE).
Amun was one of Thebes’ most significant gods, and it was during this period of Theban control that Amun transitioned from being a relatively obscure local god to one of great prominence. By the 18th Dynasty (1550-1292) Amun had grown to national significance and fully merged with Ra.
When the two gods merged, most of the myths associated with Ra were rebranded as the mythology of Amun-Ra.
Atum-Ra
Atum was a creator deity similar to Amun. In fact, the legends associated with Amun and Atum often overlapped, and the two deities essentially served as mirrors of one another.
Like Ra, Atum was a solar god, though his role was more specific. Atum represented the elderly component of Ra and personified the setting sun. As the setting sun, he was often juxtaposed with Khepri, the god of the rising sun.
Atum-Ra was regarded as the god of Lower Egypt, while his counterpart Montu-Ra was regarded as the god of Upper Egypt.
Aten-Ra
When King Amenhotep IV took power (Either 1351BCE or 1353BCE), Amun or Amun-Ra was the central deity of the Egyptians. This could be seen in Amenhotep’s name, which meant “Amun is Satisfied.” Five years into his reign, however, Amenhotep changed his name to Akhenaten. His new name meant “One effective on behalf of Aten,” and reflected his efforts to increase the centrality of Aten over Amun.
Prior to Akhenaten’s efforts to promote him as Egypt’s ultimate deity, Aten had been worshipped primarily as god of the solar disk. With Akhenaten in power, Aten was merged with Ra-Horakhty. At the same time, Akhenaten banned the worship of Amun-Ra and discouraged the worship of the other members of the Egyptian pantheon.
The changes Akhenaten made did not have popular support, and were gradually reversed following his death. Aten would resume his position as an aspect of the sun god, and Amun would likewise return to his role as chief deity of the state religion.
Khepri
Yet another sun god, Khepri was specifically associated with the morning sun. In the legend of Ra’s hidden name, Ra said that he was Khepri in the morning.
Khepri was at times connected with Atum, and in the guise of Atum-Khepri was regarded as the god of personal transformations. These transformations, called kheperu, included the passages from childhood to adulthood and from life to death.
Khnum
The god Khnum was associated with the regular flooding of the Nile River, as well as the First Cataract of the Nile. He was also connected with pottery wheels, hence his epithet: “lord of the wheel.”
Though Khnum’s origins were unclear, it is known that he was only recognized as a creator deity relatively late in Egyptian history. However, his cult persisted until the second or third century CE. Khnum became connected to Ra once he became regarded as a creator deity.
Montu-Ra
Montu was another Theban god who was ultimately blended with Ra. A falcon-headed star god, Montu served as the chief deity of Thebes, and was considered an aspect of Ra from the twentieth century BCE onward.
Montu-Ra was regarded as the god of Upper Egypt, while his counterpart Atum-Ra was regarded as the god of Lower Egypt.
Raet-Tawy
Raet-Tawy was the female aspect of Ra. In classical depictions, she was often adorned with a sun disk and Hathor’s cow-horned headdress.