RA (RE)

Sun–god of ancient Egypt and chief god of the pantheon of Heliopolis. The term r ' (pronounced rā ' or rē ') was the Egyptian word for the sun. A large part of the Egyptian religion was connected with the worship of the sun, which was the primary source of existence. Ra, the sun, in the widest and most general sense, was considered the creator of everything. Since the Egyptian state was god–given and established when the world was created, the monarchy was as old as the world, for the creator himself had assumed kingly office on the day of creation. Ra was called the first king of Egypt, and the pharaoh was his descendant and successor. As Ra put order (ma’at ) in the place of chaos, so the pharaoh's achievements were described in exactly the same way. From the beginning the king had been the god Horus or Har–akhti (symbolized by a hawk), the son of isis and Osiris. During the Fifth Dynasty the king became the son of Ra at Heliopolis (On). A millennium later, the previously obscure creator god amon of Thebes (No–Amon) was identified with Ra. Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (c. 1364–1347 b.c.) broke with Amonism, changed his own name to akhnaton (akh–en–aton), moved the capital from Thebes to Tell el–Amarna, and instituted the pure worship of Aton, the sun disc, in an attempt to suppress all other worship. However, throughout Egyptian history there was a tendency toward syncretism, so that the supreme god Ra could be identified with Atum (the god of "all" of the Heliopolis pantheon) and worshiped under the name of Ra–Atum or identified with other gods, so that he had such names as Amon–Ra, Ra–Har–akhti, and Khnum–Ra. This might have led (but did not) to true monotheism.

See Also: egypt, ancient, 1.

Bibliography: k. h. sethe, Amun und die acht Urgötter von Hermopolis (Berlin 1929). j. a. wilson, The Burden of Egypt: An Interpretation of Ancient Egyptian Culture (Chicago 1951; pa. The Culture of Ancient Egypt 1956). h. frankfort, Ancient Egyptian Religion (New York 1961). For additional bibliography see egypt, ancient, 1.

[h. mueller]