Egyptian Series : Ra

First of all, I would like to apologize for posting this so late in the day. I had some unexpected things to do today but I am determined to get this series done and posted. Even if that means staying up til midnight to get it posted. Okay, without further adieu, I present... Ra!

The Ancient Egyptians revered Ra as the god who created everything. He was the central god of the Egyptian pantheon. The Egyptians worshipped him more than an other god and pharaoh's tried to connect themselves to Ra in an effort to be seen as the earthly embodiment of the Sun god. Basically, people looked at him like we look at our modern day deities. For example, the God of the christian bible is revered for being the creator of the universe and all that resides in it. Humans have a affinity for worshipping a higher power. You can see that all throughout history. Okay,I'm rabbit trailing here. Back to the topic, Egyptians thought that Ra was equal in power to the God of the Christian bible. The only difference is that they didn't know the universe existed, we do.

 

Ra (pronounced Ray) represents sunlight and growth. Ra was usually depicted in human form but if you google his name, you will see a lot of bird. He had a falcon head which is crowned with a sun disc. The disc was encircled by a sacred cobra named Uraeus. This is depicted in the picture above. Many believed that Ra's role was to sail across the heavens during the day in a boat called the "Barque of Millions of Years." When Ra emerged from the east his boat was named "Madjet" which means "becoming strong" By the end of the day the boat was called "Semektet" which means "Becoming weak" At the end of the day, it was believed that Ra died (swallowed by Nut which we will go over) and sailed onto the underworld, leaving the moon in his place to help light up the sky. Ra was reborn at dawn the very next day. During his journey across the heavens, he fought with his main enemy, an evil serpent named Apep, or also the Lord of Chaos. (We will cover him too in this series.) In some stories, Ra, in the form of a cat named Mau, defeats the evil serpent, Apep. This is part of the reason that cats are so revered in Egyptian culture.

It was believed that Ra created himself from chaos. He is also known as Re and Atum. His children are Shu, the god of Dry Air and father of the sky, and his twin sister Tefnut, the goddess of moisture and wetness. (we will go over more about her and her role in creation later in this series)

 Although Ra was highly revered by the ancient Egyptians, there is a story to suggest he eventually grew weak. In the Legend of Ra, Isis and the Snake, as Ra grew old, he dribbled saliva. Isis knew that Ra’s power was hidden in his secret name. Isis used Ra’s saliva to create a snake. She set the snake in Ra’s path and it bit him. Isis wanted Ra's power, but she knew she had to get him to tell her his secret name. Eventually, because of the pain he was in, Ra allowed Isis to “search through him”. She healed him and Ra’s power was transferred over to her .

And that's pretty much all i could get on Ra in one day. If you have any questions, comment below and I will do my best to answer them with as much accuracy as I can. Thanks for tuning in! Tomorrow we will be going over yet another part of Egyptian religion. If you wanna know which part, tune in tomorrow!! thanks!!!