Ra, or Re, was the most important of the various Egyptian gods associated with the sun. He was associated with the noon-day sun, when it was at its height in the sky, rather than the rising or setting sun. But it was also Ra who drove the sun barge through the underworld each night and fought off the nightly assault by the chaos demon Apophis.
At many points in Egyptian history, Ra was considered the ruler of all, the sky, the earth, and the underworld, and he was even sometimes described as the first pharaoh of Egypt.
Early in the Old Kingdom, he became one of the most important gods in the Egyptian pantheon, and he continued to be so until the widespread conversion to Christianity. He was so important that other gods were combined with him to increase their importance, such as Amun-Ra, Ra-Horakhty, and Sobek-Ra.
Journey of the Sun
The Egyptians often had multiple gods for important natural phenomena, embodying that phenomenon during its different stages. This is seen with the Nile, which was represented by the gods Hapi as the Nile flood, Khnum as the silt of the Nile, and crocodile god Sobek as the dangerous aspects of the Nile.
The sun was arguably the most important natural phenomenon and so had many forms. Khepri represented the rising sun in the form of a scarab beetle pushing the sun over the horizon. Atum was the setting sun, and the Aten was the solar disk itself. Ra represented the midday sun, when it was at its most powerful.
It was also Ra who was believed to drive the sun barge, the Mandjet, through the underworld each night. When the sun set and twilight came, he passed through the Akhet horizon in the west to journey into the underworld, Atet. There, he navigated the subterrestrial Nile and passed through the twelve gates of the underworld. During this journey, he would transform into his ram-headed form to fight Apep or Apophis, a mighty chaos serpent that tried to destroy Ra each night. He would then bring the sun to the east to rise. During the day, he was sometimes described as traveling across the sky in his falcon form.
Several Egyptian gods were described as helping Ra protect the sun barge in different stories, notably the god of the desert, Seth. The sun barge was one of the most common images depicted in the tombs of the pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings.
The fact that Ra travelled through the underworld meant that he was also sometimes considered a chthonic god who could defend the deceased against the monsters of the underworld as they travelled through it to dwell in the Duat with Osiris.
Creator God
Since the sun is a giver of life, it is understandable that Ra was often conceived of as a creator god. According to one creation myth, in the beginning, Ra existed alone above the primordial waters of Nun. Alternatively, a pyramid mound called the Benben emerged from those waters, and Ra came out of a lotus plant on the mound and rose into the sky. He then created the world and mankind to populate it, calling them into existence by uttering their secret names. In other accounts, humans were created by Ra’s tears and sweat.
The true name of things was thought to hold power. According to one story, the goddess Isis gained power over Ra by convincing him to share his true name.
Appearance and Symbolism
Ra was usually portrayed as an anthropomorphic god with the head of a falcon, the same as Horus, another sky god, and wearing a sun disk crown. The disk is encircled by a cobra, representing the Eye of Ra, a fiery being, often considered to manifest as other gods, such as Sekhmet, that could wreak havoc in the mortal realm at Ra’s command.
He could also appear in the form of a beetle as the rising sun Khepri or as a man with the head of a ram as Atum. He was also sometimes depicted as a full-bodied ram, phoenix, heron, serpent, bull, cat, or lion.
As the first pharaoh, he was also sometimes described as an aging king with golden flesh, silver bones, and lapis lazuli hair. From the Old Kingdom, pharaohs were often called sons of Ra.
Temples and Worship
Ra was so widely worshipped across Egypt’s expanse and time that it can be challenging to characterize.
He had a major cult center at Iuni, meaning the “palace of pillars,” which was known as Heliopolis in Ptolemaic Egypt. There he was closely identified with Atum and was considered part of the Ennead of Heliopolis, who were the nine principal gods, which also included Isis and Osiris.
Inside his temple in Heliopolis was the Tree of Life, from which sprang fruit granting eternal life, reserved for the pharaohs and the gods. The Bennu bird, which was the embodiment of the soul of Ra, sat at the top of the Tree of Life
In the fifth dynasty, pyramids, obelisks, and temples were aligned with the sun to honor Ra. From that time onward, his temples were among the most commonly built in Egypt, and instead of containing statues of the god, they were designed to capture sunlight.
Merged Gods
Different gods rose in importance in Egypt as their cities became politically important. These gods were often connected to Ra to make the pantheon more coherent and increase the importance of the god. Some of his most common merged forms included:
- Amun-Ra – merged with the important Theban god Amun, who was also believed to be a creator, but using his breath, making him a god of wind and air. They would appear side by side, or as a red-eyed man with a lion’s head and solar disk crown.
- Atum-Ra – Atum was considered the creator god in the original Ennead of Heliopolis, and he was merged with Ra, becoming part of the sun god, and with Ra becoming the creator in his Atum form.
- Ra-Horakhty – Horus was the son of Isis and Osiris in the Ennead of Heliopolis. When his father’s position of ruler was usurped by Seth, Horus avenged his father’s murder and took his place as ruler, closely associating him with the pharaoh. Horus was a sky god, and so it was logical to merge him with Ra. In this form, he was often a falcon wearing a sun disk crown.
Infamously, the pharaoh Akhenaten promoted worship of the sun disk Aten as the only god in Egypt, probably in part to circumvent the power of the powerful Theban priests of Amun. The Aten was originally seen as an aspect of Ra, a source of power that Ra governed.
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