Sun God Ra Was Venerated In Every Age Of Ancient Egypt’s Long Dynastic History

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - In ancient Egyptian religion, Ra (Re) was the god of the sun and creation, who was born each morning in the East and died each night in the West.

In the night, he traveled through the underworld, full of more terrible monsters. One of them was a deadly and evil serpent, Apophis, whom Ra had to defeat to reappear the next morning on the eastern horizon.

By the 4th Dynasty (c. 2575 BC- 2465 BC ), Ra had taken his leading position. His identity was later merged with that of many other gods. It resulted in the appearance of other names like a falcon-headed Ra-Horakhty, originated through association with Horus, Atum-Ra, Sebek-Re, Khnum-Re, and Amon-Ra, who by the late 11th Dynasty (c. 1980), was the principal god of the pantheon and the patron of kings for more than a thousand years.

During the Amarna period (1353–1336), the very controversial Amenhotep IV (c. 1379-1362), known as Akhenaten ("servant of the Aton"), significantly minimized the role of Ra due to the worship of the sun disk Aton, which he introduced in his new capital, Amarna.

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See also:

Khepri – Egyptian Progenitor God, Spirit Of Life, Resurrection And The Rising Sun

Meskhenet: Egyptian Goddess Of Household And Childbirth Who Governed Over Fate And Destiny

Sokar – Patron Deity Of Ancient Necropolis Of Memphis In Lower Egypt

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