Ra

Ra

In one of his many forms, Ra has the head of a falcon and the sun-disk of Wadjet resting on his head.
God of the Sun
Name in hieroglyphs
Major cult center Heliopolis
Symbol The sun disc
Parents Ocean Nun

Ra (alternately spelled Ré), Egyptian *ri:ʕu, is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it is thought that if not a word for 'sun' it may be a variant of or linked to words meaning 'creative power' and 'creator'.[1]

The chief cult centre of Ra was Heliopolis (called Inun, "Place of Pillars", in Egyptian)[2], where he was identified with the local sun-god Atum. Through Atum, or as Atum-Ra he was also seen as the first being and the originator of the Ennead, consisting of Shu and Tefnut, Geb and Nut, Osiris, Set, Isis and Nephthys.

In later Egyptian dynastic times, Ra was merged with the god Horus, as Re-Horakhty ("Ra, who is Horus of the Two Horizons"). He was believed to rule in all parts of the created world the sky, the earth, and the underworld.[2] He was associated with the falcon or hawk. When in the New Kingdom the god Amun rose to prominence he was fused with Ra as Amun-Ra.

During the Amarna Period, Akhenaten suppressed the cult of Ra in favour of another solar deity, the Aten, the deified solar disc, but after the death of Akhenaten the cult of Ra was restored.

The cult of the Mnevis bull, an embodiment of Ra, had its centre in Heliopolis and there was a formal burial ground for the sacrificed bulls north of the city.

All forms of life were believed to have been created by Ra, who called each of them into existence by speaking their secret names. Alternatively humans were created from Ra's tears and sweat, hence the Egyptians call themselves the "Cattle of Ra." In the myth of the Celestial Cow it is recounted how mankind plotted against Ra and how he sent his eye as the goddess Sekhmet to punish them. When she became blood thirsty she was pacified by mixing beer with red dye.

Contents

Mythology

To the Egyptians, the sun represented light, warmth, and growth. This made the sun deity very important and the sun was seen as the ruler of all that he created. The sun disk was either seen as the body or eye of Ra.

Ra was thought to travel on two solar boats called the Mandjet (the Boat of Millions of Years), or morning boat and the Mesektet, or evening boat. These boats took him on his journey through the sky and the underworld. When Ra traveled in his sun boat he was accompanied by various other deities including Sia (perception) and Hu (command) as well as Heka (magic power). Sometimes members of the Ennead helped him on his journey, including Set who overcame the serpent Apep and Mehen who defended against the monsters of the underworld. Apep, an enormous serpent tried to stop the sun boat's journey every night by consuming it or by stopping it in its tracks with a hypnotic stare. In the evening the Egyptians believed that Ra set as Atum or in the form of a ram. The Mesektet or Night boat would carry Ra through the underworld back towards the east in preparation for his rebirth at sunrise. These myths of Ra represent the sunrise 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.

Composites

Ra and Amun, from tomb of Ramses IV.

As with most widely worshiped Egyptian deities, Ra's identity was often confused with others as different regional religions were merged in an attempt to unite the country.

Amun and Amun-Ra

Amun was a member of the Ogdoad, representing creation energies with Amaunet, a very early patron of Thebes. 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 and Lower Egypt respectively they were combined to create Amun-Ra, a solar creator god. The name Amun-Ra is reconstructed as *[riːʕu]). 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 the New Kingdom to unite worshipers of Amun with the older cult of Ra around the eighteenth dynasty.

Atum and Atum-Ra
Atum-Ra (or Ra-Atum) was another composite deity formed from two completely separate deities, however Ra shared more similarities with Atum than with Amun. Atum was more closely linked with the sun, and was also a creator god of the Ennead. Both Ra and Atum were regarded as the father of the deities and pharaohs, and were widely worshiped. In older myths, Atum was the creator of Tefnut and Shu, and he was born from ocean Nun.
 
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Ra-Horakhty
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 the Horizons". It was intended to link Horakhty (as a sunrise-oriented aspect of Horus) to Ra. It has been suggested that Ra-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: Ra and the sun)
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, the ram-headed god Khnum 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 and sunset, 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.

Worship

Ra on the Solar boat

His local cult began to grow from roughly the second dynasty, establishing Ra as a sun deity. By the fourth dynasty the pharaohs were seen to be Ra's manifestations on earth, referred to as "Sons of Ra". His worship increased massively in the fifth dynasty, when he became a state deity and pharaohs had specially aligned pyramids, obelisks, and solar temples built in his honour. The first Pyramid Texts began to arise, giving Ra more and more significance in the journey of the pharaoh through the underworld.

The Middle Kingdom saw Ra being increasingly combined and affiliated with other chief deities, especially Amun and Osiris.

During the New Kingdom, the worship of Ra became more complicated and grander. The walls of tombs were dedicated to extremely detailed texts that told of 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 with the rise of The New Kingdom. Eventually, during the reign of Akhenaten(mid 1350s-1330s), the worship reached the level of "uncompromising monotheism" [3]

Many acts of worship included hymns, prayers, and spells to help Ra and the sun boat overcome Apep.

Though worship of Ra was widespread, his cult center was in Heliopolis in Lower Egypt. Oddly enough, this was the home of the Ennead that was believed to be headed by Atum, with whom he was merged. The Holiday of 'The Receiving of Ra' was celebrated on May 26 in the Gregorian calendar.

The rise of Christianity in the Roman empire caused an end to the worship of Ra by the citizens of Egypt[4], and as Ra's popularity suddenly died out, the study of Ra became purely for academic knowledge even among the Egyptian priests.[5]

In popular culture

Dragon Form, Sphere Form (Sun Disk) and Phoenix Form.

Notes

  1. ↑ "Ra (Re)". Ancient Egypt: The Mythology. http://www.egyptianmyths.net/re.htm. Retrieved 28 August 2010. "His name is thought to mean "creative power", and as a proper name "Creator"." 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, George Hart ISBN 0-415-34495-6
  3. ↑ Metz, H. C. (Ed.). (1990). Historical setting. In Egypt: A country study (ancient egypt) [Report]. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from Sam Houston State University, Dept. of History Web site: http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Egypt.html
  4. ↑ Quirke, S. (2001). The cult of Ra: Sun-worship in ancient Egypt. (pp. 144). New York: Thames and Hudson.
  5. ↑ Müller, M. (2002). Ra. In D. B. Redford (Ed.), The ancient gods speak: A guide to Egyptian religion (pp. 328). New York: Oxford University Press, USA.

Additional reading