The Sun God of Ancient Egypt
The sun god in ancient Egypt was Ra, who was also known as Re. Ra was the king of the gods and the father of all creation. He was the patron of the sun, heaven, kingship, power, and light. Ra was believed to have ruled as the first pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
The pharaoh Akhenaten (reigned 1353–36 BCE) returned the sun god to supremacy. Akhenaten instituted Atenism, the worship of a single sun god, Aten. Akhenaten built the city Akhetaton (now Tell el-Amarna) as the center for the Aton's worship. Akhenaten's institution of monotheism bears similarities to the three Abrahamic religions of today.
Ra was the sun god in ancient Egypt. He was one of the most important gods in ancient Egypt and was worshipped from around 2600 BCE. Ra was the creator of all other gods and humans.
He was the king of the deities and the father of all creation. Ra was also known as Amun-Ra and Ra-Horakhty.
Ra was usually depicted as a man with a hawk's head. His right eye represented the sun and his left eye represented the moon.
Ra had many children, including:
- Shu, the god of air
- Tefnut, the goddess of morning dew
- Nut, the goddess of the sky
- Geb, the god of earth
- Isis, the goddess of home
- Nephthys, the goddess of mourning
- Set, the god of the desert
- Osiris, god of the afterlife
Ra's mythological wife was Hathor.
