Meet the god Ra from Egyptian mythology. Discover his origins, powers, legends, cult and most surprising stories.
Ra, Sun god
Ra was the god of the sun in Egyptian mythology. His believers considered him the god who created everything. He was also known as an incredibly powerful and important central god of the Egyptian pantheon. This God was worshipped more than any other god by the ancient Egyptians. He represented sunlight, warmth and growth. Like Apollo in Greek mythology.
Origins of Ra, god of the sun
Egyptian myths have been created from pyramid texts and tomb writings and decorations. The religion of ancient Egypt centered on many gods, Ra being the most revered. Ra had no parents and was created by herself.
Mythology of Ra
Ra was the center of Egyptian mythology and several myths and legends focus on the god entirely or include an appearance. He was often combined with the god Amun, while other myths describe Ra as the leader of all the gods. Still other myths claim that he was the only god and that all other gods were an extension of him.
Creation of Ra
Ra had no parents. Heis considered self-created and there are many myths suggesting how he came to be. It is said that before there was land or recognizable landscapes, there was a body of water called Nun. The water was powerful and a glowing egg emerged from the darkness. Inside this egg was Ra. The rays of the sun fell on his body and gave him the power of sunlight. Then he created all the other elements of life by uttering their secret names.
He spent his days traveling across the sky in a boat, where he carried prayers and blessings for the living. At night, he would travel to the Underworld where Set and Mehen would help him defeat demons and monsters. He would leave the moon in the sky as he traveled to the Underworld so that the living would still have light. It is said that he was reborn each day when the sun rose above the horizon.
The birth of humans
A myth tells us that Ra first came to power during the golden age. Everything was perfect and just as it should be. The earth had not been blemished in any way. The sight of such perfection moved Ra to tears and they fell to the earth. The tears became human. At first, Ra was obsessed with watching humans interact and grow. But then he became enraged with them as the golden age he had loved so much came to an end.
They were cruel to each other and were ruining the land. He summoned the goddess Hather and transformed her into a wild lioness. Then he sent her to earth to kill all humans. Hather attacked all the humans she could find, killing most of them. But before she could wipe out all the humans, Ra had a change of heart. He decided he needed to stop Hather and did so by giving her enough beer to intoxicate her. He forgot his mission, but the damage he had caused was permanent. Humans had been introduced to death and now they all faced their immortality.
The power of a name
A goddess named Isis knew that Ra had a secret name. This secret name possessed immense power and allowed her to cast magical spells whenever she wished. She knew that Ra would not tell her the name without a plan, so she quickly set to work. Ra had begun to age and Isis visited him one day. She collected the saliva dripping down his chin and mixed it with earth and clay. She formed her mixture into a poisonous snake.
When Ra went for a walk, the snake bit him and he immediately felt the venom coursing through his body. He was in tremendous pain and asked the other gods to help him. Isis promised to help Ra, but only if he told her his secret name. At first he resisted, but as the pain worsened, he told Isis what she wanted to know. She then performed her first spell and removed the poison from Ra’s body and healed him.
Family
Ra had several brothers, including Apep, Thoth, Sobek and Serket. He also had many children, including Shu, Tefnut, Bastet, Ma’at and Hathor. He is said to have had relations with Hathor, Sekhmet, Bastet and Nut.
Appearance
Ra usually appears in his human form with a falcon’s head crowned with a solar disk. The famous solar disk was surrounded by a sacred cobra called Uraeus. In some artistic depictions of the god, he is shown as “a man with the head of a scarab” or sometimes as “a man with the head of a ram”. Some ancient drawings of the god show him in a full animal form, such as a snake, heron, lion, ram, cat, beetle, hawk or phoenix.
Symbology
There are three main symbols of Ra. The first is the most obvious and well known. The solar disk that surrounded his head symbolizes what the god represents, including sunlight, heat and growth. As he was the god of creation, the solar disk represents the light and energy necessary for life. The Tree of Life is also a symbol of Ra, although it is an important religious symbol in general for the ancient Egyptian religion.
The Tree of Life was considered sacred and was located in the sun temple of Ra. It is said that the fruit grew from this tree but was not available to humans. Instead, it was reserved for pharaohs and was said to prevent aging. It was believed that eternal life could be achieved by eating the fruit of the Tree of Life. The last symbol related to Ra is the Bennu, the name of a bird representing the soul of the god. The bird was a phoenix and sits on the Tree of Life. Sometimes Ra is depicted as a phoenix, showing the connection between the two.
