Ra: The Sun God and His Significance
Ra is the sun god. His Egyptian name “Ra” is usually written with a sun disk. He is often called “Ra Horakhty”; this should be understood as a title describing the deity's personality.
Ra was the most important god in the Egyptian pantheon because he created the world. His admiration was based on the fact that the cosmic dimension of the sun was beyond human comprehension.
A text from the Old Kingdom describes him as “glorious, magnificent, spiritual, powerful, mighty, far-reaching, extensive and far-reaching”.
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| Ra-and-the-Egyptian-pantheon Photographed by the British Museum; original artist unknown. British Museum (wikidata:Q6373). Origin/Photographer: Eternal Egypt: Masterworks of Ancient Art from the British Museum by Edna R. Russmann. |
Ra's Role in Creation and Daily Renewal
For the Egyptians, the sun's path was a measure of time. After its nocturnal absence, it would rise again on the horizon with perfect regularity. The sunrise symbolized the creation of the world, and the sun's daily path symbolized the cyclical renewal of the world, hence the paramount importance of Ra as the creator and master of life.
Ra's Connection with the King
The second factor in Ra's importance was his inextricable link to the king. The Lord of the Earth and the Lord of the Universe were of the same nature; they were mirror images of each other. In ancient Egypt, theology and political theory were intertwined: The figure of the king was always the center of attention, and the status of a god or man was measured by his proximity to the king.
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| Bas-relief at the mortuary temple of Ramesses III. Divine queen Shepenupet II stands before the gods Ra-Horakhti, Isis, and Amenirdis. Amenirdis was a divine queen. Date: October 2007. Source: Own work. Author: Asta. |
The Sun God's Early Historical Representations
The sun god is an interesting case in the history of religion because he is absent from early historical sources. Between the late Second and Fifth Dynasties, we can observe the way his image evolved as an example of the image of the king. From the very beginning, the king appeared as both a god and a human being at the same time. His divine aspect was personified in a falcon named Horus. In the Fourth Dynasty, the reigning king was called the “son of Ra,” thus defining the relationship between the pharaoh and the sun god. The relationship between the royal falcon and Ra was further solidified by the unification of the two in the symbol of the winged sun disk, an image that remained constant in temples and religious monuments as the permanent complement to the king, until the end of Egyptian history. The earliest images of the sun god as a man with a falcon head and a sun disk are preserved in the temples of the Royal Pyramid.
Sun Temples and Worship Practices
The kings of the Fifth Dynasty erected sun temples next to their pyramids in the tomb of Abu Sir. These structures differ from other temples of the time in that they feature a large open courtyard with an obelisk in the center, the obelisk rises on a high pedestal, and in front of it a large altar for offering sacrifices. Unlike other gods, Ra did not have a shrine with a cult statue; his image is the sun itself, which rises daily above the tip of the obelisk. The pyramid and several types of columns also appear as symbols of Ra. The most important temple to the sun at Heliopolis (now completely destroyed) may have been built during this period. The hieroglyphic inscription of the Egyptian name of that city contains a column resembling an obelisk.
Ra in the Pyramid Texts and Creation Mythology
The most important early source for the sun god is the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts, a collection of spells describing the deceased king's fate in the underworld that were inscribed on the walls of royal tombs in the late Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. The protagonist is the king again, who in death becomes united with his heavenly father Ra. The texts testify to a highly developed theology. The sun god is not a well-defined individual but has many names and images. His multiplicity is a reflection of his multiple capacities. The pyramid texts describe Ra as the sun that rises on the eastern horizon in the morning in the form of a jaal beetle called Khepri. In its bark, the gaal is elevated by primordial, incarnate water, or Nun. During the day, Ra crosses the sky in the bark accompanied by a large entourage of gods; at sunset he becomes Atum, the “omnipotent god.” No one can stop him. Each evening, he is swallowed by the sky goddess Nut, who is reborn each morning, and so the cycle continues. The crown and throne associate Ra with kingship.
Creative power is the central feature of the sun god. Although the pyramid texts do not tell large-scale myths, they do contain mythological elements that refer to the creation of the world. In the beginning there was Ra, under the name Atum, who came into existence. He originated as a ben-ben stone, or obelisk-like pillar, in a temple in Heliopolis, the city of the pillar. He then gave birth to Shu and Tefnut, the first divine couple, personifying air and moisture. They gave birth to Geb and Nut (Earth and Sky), who in turn gave birth to two divine couples - Osiris and Isis and Set and Nephthys. With this, the nine gods were complete, and the world was able to function.
Ra's Relationship with Osiris and Human Creation
Ra, as the creator, is in dialog with his opposite, death, from the very beginning. We read in the pyramid texts that death is not the end of life, but its original source. Death is personified in Osiris, who was killed by his brother Set and then brought back to life by Ra to rule the dead. The link between Ra and Osiris is the deceased king who in the afterlife identifies with both gods. Unlike most other gods, Ra does not have a family; he has his eye, the sun disk, to produce other creatures. These offspring include (among others) his son the king and the goddess Hathor, who embodies the female creative principle, giving birth to her creatures and nourishing them with milk; as a sign of her association with Ra, she carries the sun disk on her head. Ra's closest ally is the goddess Maat, who embodies order and truth; she represents the principle of his impeccable rule.
Transformation of Ra's Image in the Middle Kingdom
In the Middle Kingdom we find a new image of Ra. Many hymns to the sun god tell how he created the world just for humanity. He created humans in his own image and provides them with everything they need to survive. But evil does not come from God but from the rebellious hearts of humans, which is why they are judged in the underworld. Using his rays that penetrate everybody, Ra oversees and controls humans, rewarding the obedient and destroying the disobedient. On earth, the king does this on his behalf.
The relationship between Ra and Osiris is newly identified at this time. All humans are transformed into Osiris by death, a concept already known at the end of the Old Kingdom. Ra gives Osiris his power by giving him his crown and guards him as he travels through the underworld at night. The daily rebirth of the sun in the form of a beetle is represented by an amulet in this form, and this amulet quickly became the most popular and widespread symbol of good luck. In expanded political theology, the names of many other gods who play the role of creator or ruler are combined with the name of Ra, especially Amun-Ra; in this composite form, Ra expands his own potential by incorporating other gods into his being.
Ra's Peak in the New Kingdom
The cult of Ra reached its peak in the New Kingdom. The walls of royal tombs were decorated with images of underworld books describing the sun's nocturnal journey. Nocturnal Ra was depicted in his boat as a human with a ram's head. At five o'clock, the god is reunited with his corpse, this time Osiris. This is the moment when the sun suffers death, and at the same time gives birth to new life. In the sixth hour, Apophis, the serpent who personifies evil, is killed. Then at the twelfth hour, Ra is reborn in the form of a beetle. Among the new texts is the Hymn to Ra, which describes how the king identifies with Ra in seventy-five nocturnal figures, and how Ra and Osiris become one in the depths of the night.
In the tombs of officials, Ra appears in a very different form. At the entrance are inscriptions of solar hymns describing Ra's acts of creation. The deceased wants to be free to leave the tomb during the day to see the sun, because looking at Ra will rejuvenate him every day forever. However, there is also the perception that the sun god may destroy his creation at the end of eternity; this aspect adds a philosophical aspect to the theology.
Papyri that tell the legends of Ra's are found primarily from the New Kingdom. They focus on two themes. In the first, Ra becomes old and tired and thus organizes the world in a way that no longer calls for his personal intervention, transferring his authority to Horus or to the king. In the other, Ra is depicted with the heir to the throne as his physical son.
Some New Kingdom temples feature an open courtyard with an altar to Ra. There the specific worship of the sun is celebrated: Every hour, the priest recites one of the twelve poetic hymns predicting the sun's triumphant path. On the walls of the temple, the newly born sun is sometimes depicted as a crouching child and the adult sun god as a human being. By the time of Amenhotep III, the reigning king was not only the son of Ra but was so closely associated with Ra that he called himself the “Dazzling Sun.” Amenhotep IV, also known as Akhenaten, even established a monotheistic religion centered around the sun. He declared the physical embodiment of the sun, the sun disk or Aten, to be the only god that existed. After Akhenaten's death, religious scholars abandoned his idea and restored traditional beliefs. But then, Amun-Ra became a “cosmic god”, all-encompassing, sustaining the life of heaven, earth, gods and humans.
Since the end of the New Kingdom, the books of the royal underworld have been de-democratized, with excerpts from them appearing as late as the Early Ptolemaic period in tombs and on papyri and sarcophagi. Now anyone can take a trip in Ra's night boat. Moreover, a new image of the king emerges: in painted sarcophagi from the Third Intermediate Period, Ra Horakhte-Atum appears as Osiris, and the owner of the tomb worships him as the ruler of the underworld. This is the fusion of Ra and Osiris recognized by ordinary mortals, but in royal funerary belief it actually occurred in the New Kingdom in the form of a mummy of the god with the head of a ram. Mythical magical papyri, intended to protect the living and the dead, rely heavily on solar symbolism: They often depict the path of the sun in a single image that combines Ra's travel by night and day, and his birth in the morning. Believers are thus reassured of their renewal. Ra hymns are also developed by adding new, often exotic, characters to existing Ra figures. There are also new lists describing the twelve images of Ra for the hours of the day.
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| Thutmose III before the God Re-Harakhte. New Kingdom, 18th dynasty, circa 1455 B.C. Catalog number: 1634. Image taken at the Altes Museum, Berlin. Date: 8 November 2006. Source: Own work (photo). Author: Keith Schengili-Roberts. Permission: I, the author of this photo, hereby release it under copyleft/GFDL/CC. |
Solar Symbols and Amulets in Funerary Practices
Among the amulets placed on the mummy to protect the dead, we find several solar symbols: The sun on the horizon, the sun disk, the celestial boat, the double lion and the obelisk. The Egyptians also used a disk depicting the nocturnal statue of Ra with the heads of four rams. Taking many forms and having many heads increased the power of the god. However, Ra eventually became less important over the course of the first millennium, as the monarchy weakened under a succession of foreign rulers.
Ra in Greco-Roman Mythology
Even in the Greco-Roman period, new mythological magical papyri appeared in the Greco-Roman period, offering a new interpretation of the sun's path. The Book of the Faiyum tells how Ra entered the body of Sobek, the crocodile god, and swam across Lake Faiyum during twelve hours of night. In magical texts, Ra is still the supreme power that a magician can summon if he proves the depth of his knowledge. The enumeration of the twelve manifestations of the diurnal sun plays an important role, as does the list of figures that emerged from Ra during the act of creation, such as Khepri, the morning sun.
Ra played a dominant role in the Great Temple of Horus in Edfu because he was associated with the Horus of Edfu and his main symbol, the winged sun. On the roof of the church, Ra's twelve figures are depicted as the diurnal sun, and as a new aspect of its fourteen facets representing Ra's powers. The sun god is also the protagonist of a dramatic story of the Winged Sun's victory over the enemies of creation. However, since the Greco-Roman kings were foreigners, Ra's theology became restricted to the priests and was no longer part of the living faith of the people.