Ra

Ra sent his divine Eye into the watery darkness of Nun to search for Shu and Tefnut. The creator had produced the two deities, but they had become lost in the primeval waters. The Eye gave light as it searched.

The Eye was a goddess, regarded as Ra’s daughter and protector. She could separate from him and act with a mind of her own. Her power was linked with fire and water. Her fiery glance could destroy the enemies of divine order. Her tears could create life.

The Eye found Shu and Tefnut and returned with them. Ra placed the goddess on his brow, where she became the uraeus. She protected him and signified his authority. The Eye could also be identified with the sun disk and other celestial bodies. Goddesses including Hathor, Bastet, Mut, Sekhmet, Tefnut, and Wadjyt could take this role.

The Eye was linked with the sun’s power and the defence of divine order. Its gaze could destroy, while its tears were connected with the creation of living beings. The uraeus later became a sign worn by pharaohs. It represented their majesty and descent from the sun god.

Isis shaped a serpent from earth mixed with Ra’s saliva. She used magic to bring it to life, then hid it beside the path Ra followed on his daily journey. Ra had grown old. His limbs trembled, and he sometimes dribbled as he travelled through the land. Isis wanted authority over gods, spirits, and human beings. She believed she could gain this power by learning Ra’s secret name. The name was bound to his existence and gave power over him to anyone who knew it.

The hidden serpent bit Ra as he passed. The creature had not been made by Ra, so he could not cure the wound himself. Venom spread through his body. Ra cried out, and the gods travelling with him gathered around. He suffered heat and cold, trembling limbs, sweating, failing sight, and increasing pain. His children could do nothing for him and lamented his condition.

Isis approached Ra as if she did not know what had happened. She asked whether a snake had poisoned him and offered to overcome it with spells. Ra described the bite and his suffering. Isis said he would live if he spoke his own name.

Ra replied by recounting his deeds and creative acts. He named himself Khepera in the morning, Ra at noon, and Temu in the evening. Isis knew these were great names, but they were not the hidden name she sought. She told Ra this and asked him again to reveal it.

The venom continued to torment Ra. He finally disclosed his secret name. Isis used her knowledge of it in her magic and healed him. By learning the name, she gained power over Ra and the authority she had sought among the gods.

Atum stood alone in the primeval waters of Nun and created offspring without a mate. In one account, he united with his shadow. He swallowed his own semen, then produced Shu by sneezing and Tefnut by spitting. Shu became the god of dry, life-giving air and sunlight. Tefnut was associated with moisture, including morning dew. Another account says that Atum-Ra produced them from his spittle.

Atum embraced the two young deities and transferred his ka, his creative essence, to them. At first, Shu and Tefnut were not fully separate from their creator. The Coffin Texts describe the three as closely joined, as one being that had developed into three. They lived with Atum in the primeval waters, then drifted into the darkness and became lost.

Atum grew lonely and anxious. He removed his sole eye from his forehead and sent it to search for Shu and Tefnut. The Eye lit the darkness of Nun and found them. Shu and Tefnut returned with the Eye Goddess. During their absence, Atum had grown another eye, and the returning goddess became violently jealous. Ra pacified her by placing her on his brow as a protective cobra that spat fire at his enemies.

Shu and Tefnut became the first divine couple of the Heliopolitan Ennead. Their union produced Geb, the earth god, and Nut, the sky goddess. Geb and Nut embraced so tightly that their father, Shu, separated them. He held Nut above Geb and created the space between sky and earth. The descendants of Shu and Tefnut formed the later generations of the Heliopolitan family of gods.

Humanity began plotting against Ra. The people had come from his Eye, yet they rebelled against him. Ra summoned Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, the Ogdoad, and the other gods who had been with him in the primeval waters. He told them of the rebellion and asked for their advice. Nun, the oldest of beings, advised Ra to send his Eye against the rebels. The gods agreed that no other Eye could destroy them, especially in the form of Hathor.

The guilty people fled into the desert or, in another account, towards the mountains. Hathor pursued them and killed them. She waded in their blood and drank it. The slaughter began at Suten-henen, identified with Herakleopolis in one account. Hathor returned to Ra at nightfall and said that she had overcome humanity. Ra praised her work and declared that he would rule by cutting down the rebels. Through the slaughter, the Powerful One came into being. The Eye Goddess had become the terrible lioness Sekhmet.

Sekhmet intended to continue killing people the next day. Ra changed his mind and decided to stop her. He sent messengers as swiftly as shadows to Elephantine. They brought back red stone, or a large quantity of red mineral. Ra ordered the High Priest of Heliopolis, also called the Side-Lock Wearer, to grind it and use it to dye seven thousand jars of beer.

At daybreak, the beer was poured over the ground. It spread like a lake of blood. Sekhmet saw the red liquid and drank it, believing it was the blood of the people she had killed. The drink overcame her, and she could no longer continue the slaughter. Ra had tricked the lioness into stopping before she destroyed the rest of humanity.

Ra emerged in the east from behind Manu, the mountain of sunrise. He passed between two sycamores and began his journey in the papyrus boat. His divine crew travelled with him across the Winding Waterway of the sky. Each day, Apep, also called Apophis, tried to obstruct the solar barque. The serpent lived in the waters of Nun or in the depths of the celestial Nile. The crew used spells and force against him. Set claimed that he stood in the prow, defeated Ra’s enemies, and cast them into the abyss. Stormy weather marked a momentary victory for Apep, but Ra ultimately prevailed and continued across the sky.

At evening, Ra left the upper sky and entered the Night Boat. The boat passed through caverns under the earth or within the body of the sky goddess. During the twelve hours of night, hostile forces attacked it. Apep attacked Ra again, along with other perils of the underworld. Ra overcame them, and the passage of his light reanimated the mummies of the virtuous dead and his own mysterious nocturnal forms. He reached the twelfth province after Apep had been pierced with knives and bound in chains.

At dawn, the sun was reborn and began the journey again.

Ra looked upon humanity after crushing a rebellion and wished that more rebels had been slain. The gods around him begged him to endure and reminded him that his power matched his will. Ra remained bitter. He said that his limbs had grown weak for the first time. Nu ordered Shu to help him and told Nut to carry Ra on her back.

Nut took the form of a cow. With Shu’s help, Ra climbed onto her back. When men and women saw Ra upon the Cow of Heaven, they became afraid and repented. They called to him and asked him to remain among them. They promised to overthrow those who had spoken against him and destroy his enemies. Ra did not return. The cow continued to Het-Ahet, a town in the nome of Mareotis, and carried him there. Darkness covered the earth as Ra departed.

When morning came, the people emerged with bows and weapons. They moved to attack Ra’s enemies. Ra then gave further commands. The Field of Reeds came into being, and the stars were created. The stars were compared with flowers. Nut trembled through her whole body, and Ra feared that she might fall. He caused the Four Pillars to come into being so that the heavens could be supported.

Ra told Shu to guard the pillars, place himself beneath Nut, and hold her up. Shu became the new sun god in Ra’s place. The heavens where Ra lived were supported beyond the danger of falling, and humanity continued to live in the light of the new sun. In the wider cow imagery, the celestial cow may be Nut or Hathor. Earlier cow goddesses, including Bat, were also associated with the sky. Hathor later absorbed Bat’s cult.

Ra entered the Duat in the Night Boat and met Osiris, the ruler of the underworld. Ra had passed into the darkness beneath the earth, or within the body of the sky goddess. There, the power of the sun joined the power of the realm of the dead. Osiris’s body and kingdom belonged to the underworld, while Ra carried the force that moved through the night towards renewal.

The journey brought great danger. Hostile forces attacked the Night Boat, and Apophis, the chaos serpent, opposed Ra. Egyptian kings used magical power to help the sun god overcome darkness and chaos. Ra endured these attacks as the boat travelled through the regions of the Duat.

As Ra passed through the underworld, he reanimated the mummies of the virtuous dead. His arrival awakened the sleepers, as morning light awakened those who slept in the world above. He also revived his own mysterious nocturnal forms. In the underworld, Ra merged with the corpse of Osiris, and the two gods became the United One. Through this union, the dead reawakened and the world was remade. Ra brought movement and renewal, while Osiris held the powers of death and regeneration.

The meeting was linked with Abydos, where the Egyptians placed memorial stelae for the departed and associated Osiris with the dead. Ra then continued through the dangers of the night. He survived the attacks of the forces of chaos, and the light returned at dawn. The daily voyage joined the fate of the dead with the sun’s passage through the Duat.