09/04/2026
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Ra (sometimes spelled Rê based on the attested Coptic name and reconstructed as *Rīʕu (ree-uh-uh) ) is the sun-god of Heliopolis in ancient Egypt. In later Egyptian dynastic times, Ra was subsumed into the god Horus, as Re-Horakhty (and many variant spellings).
The sun is either the symbolic interpretation of Ra, his entire body, or just his eye. The symbols of Ra are the solar symbols of a golden disk or the symbol ⊙ (circle with a point at its centre). He was also associated with the Phoenix, as he rose again each morning in flames. According to E. A. Wallis Budge he was the One god of Egyptian Monotheism, of which all other gods and goddesses were aspects, manifestations, phases, or forms of the god.
From the eighth dynasty (ca. 2400 B.C.) onward he was elevated to the status of a national deity, and much later was combined with the Theban god Amun to become Amun-Ra, the foremost deity of the Egyptian pantheon. Amun-Ra was the most powerful god and as he grew and grew he made Egypt something of a theocracy. In later times, when the earth god Atum evolved into a god of the setting sun, Atum became considered an aspect of Ra. Khepri, the less important god who pushed the sun across the sky each day, eventually was also absorbed into Ra, as the centuries wore on, becoming the aspect of Ra that is the rising sun. Also in later times, Ra was associated with Heryshaf.
Amon-Ra's identity with Jupiter was acknowledged by the Greeks and Romans. The Greeks even gave the name Diospolis, City of Zeus, to Thebes. He remained paramount for centuries except for a brief suspension during the time of Akhenaten (1350-1334 BCE) when a monotheistic worship of Aten, the sun disk itself, was imposed on the kingdom of Egypt.
Ra itself, however, was also a monotheistic God. A Hymn to Ra (approx. 1370 BCE) was written to stress the pantheistic nature of Ra to combat encroaching polytheism. In it, several gods and goddesses are described, not as beings in their own right, but certain forms of Ra. For example:
"Praise be unto thee, O Ra, thou exalted Power, who dost enter into the habitations of Ament, behold [thy] body is Temu.
"Praise be unto thee, O Ra, thou exalted Power, who dost enter into the hidden palace of Anubis, behold [thy] body is Khepera."
