Volume III Gods/Goddesses of Ancient Egypt

From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume III
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © July 20, 2002, all rights reserved "Volume III - Gods/Goddesses of Ancient Egypt"

RA
(Ra', Re)

To return to the
Lupus Decan (Sekhmet was worshipped with Bast and Ra),
Denderah Decan 21 - Grand Temple Decan 36 (Ra with the circular Cobra on his head, god of the sun, seen as a hawk-headed man, a falcon god),
Denderah Decan 24 - Grand Temple Decan 33 (Sekhmet was worshipped with Bast and Ra),
Denderah Decan 13 - Grand Temple Decan 8 (male figure with a normal head wearing a sun disk crown flanked by uraeus),
Denderah Decan 33 - Grand Temple Decan 24 (hieroglyph for r3, ra, Ra),
Anubis (son of Re),
Apep (travels with Re),
Ba (traveled with Ra),
Benu (as the ba of Ra),
Heka (one of Ra's three creative powers),
Nefertum (the lotus flower which is held before the nose of Re, and dwelled with him through his connection to the sun and Horus so they became as one),
Nit (mother of Sobek and of Ra),
Nut (seen as the mother of Re, who swallowed up every evening and gave birth to him again every morning between her thighs),
Rekhur (Re may be also Re'Khur the netjer of the sixth month Capricornus),
Sekhmet (Ra worshipped with Sekhmet and Bast),
Sobek (depicted as a crocodile, wearing the sun disc on his head, a connection to Re),
Tefnut (Atum was assimilated by Re, and Shu and Tefnut were considered his children),
or List of Netjeru.

    Ra means the heavenly body itself.    An early cult center existed at Heliopolis.    From Herakhty, which he joined, Ra adopted the falcon head coalesed with Atum, Re-Atem, and became a manifestation of the setting sun.    In the Middle Kingdom, when the cult of Amon rose to power, Re still kept his position and he and Amon became Amon-Re.    He was worshipped at Iuna/Heliopolis/Cairo.
    Every day Re traveled (from boy to man) from Manu, the hill of sunrise, across the sky in his sunboat called Manjet, from sunrise to evening.    He was accompanied by his Vizier Thoth and his daughter Ma'at.    When the sun set below the horizon, Ra was said to assume a ram's head and transferred to the boat called Meseltet for his night journey through the waterways of the underworld, meeting all kinds of danger until he finally was reborn again in the Eastern sky.    Mehen (possibly Neheb-Khau or Set) a divine snake whose coils protected Ra on his boat during the night.
    When the sun-god Re travels in the night-boat through the Underworld, Set stands guard in the fore, spear aloft, and destroys Apep.    In one papyrus dated to 300 B.C., Apep is hacked to pieces and burnt, also using a spell to ensure destruction.

    As can be seen on Grand Temple Decan 36 images above is a male figure with a hawk head wearing a circular Cobra on his head which forms a sun disk crown flanked by uraeus, and above it are two stars.
    Ra has the circular Cobra on his head, which a crown with a solar disk and uraeus.    As god of the sun, he usually is seen as a hawk-headed man, a falcon god.    His cult center was Annu (Heb. "On," Greek Heliopolis, which is modern "Cairo.").
    Ra netjer-aa-neb-pet, means "Ra, the great God, Lord of Heaven."
    Ra-Hoor-Khuit (Ra-Hor-akhuti) means "Ra, who is Horus of the Horizons."
    The Eye of Ra, representing the Sun, and became identified with the uraeus, viper symbol of the divine serpent, a talisman on the forehead of kings.

Also seen on Grand Temple Decan 8 is a male figure with a normal head wearing a circular Cobra on his head which forms a sun disk crown flanked by uraeus, thus a form of Ra, and above it one star.
Ra was one of the gods discredited by the ninth plague of Egypt regarding darkness upon the land for days.

This file was created on June 18, 2005, updated on May 30, 2006.

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