Ra - The Supreme God of Egyptian mythology

The Sun God

As one of the most ancient civilisation Egyptian mythology and it's beliefs are also sacred. The Egyptians believed that there is a god for every Element that makes the world as we know it. Every god has a specific purpose and power for which he is worshiped. The greatest amongst all is Ra. Ra is the sun god in the Egyptian mythology, one of the oldest god who is believed to be the creator of the earth, the sky and also of the mankind.  By the Fifth Dynasty in the 25th and 24th centuries BCE, he had become one of the most important gods in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the noon sun. Ra was believed to rule in all parts of the created world the sky, the Earth, and the underworld. He was the god of the sun, order, kings, and the sky. The God is usually depicted as a being with a man's body and the head of the falcon and The Sun disc is over his head. The Pharaoh was already seen as the embodiment of Horus and so the two gods became linked, sometimes as the composite deity Ra-Horakhty (“Ra (is) Horus of the Horizon”).

Ra the Sun God 

He had been one day the greatest of all gods but time wore him down and finding himself too old he decided to relinquish his power and go to the skies. This god is one of the most revered figures in the Egyptian mythology. As the sun god one of his duties was to drive away the darkness and to accomplish his work the god God crossed the skies on his sun boat lighting the whole world but when the twilight came he and his vessel plunged into the sea waters into the underworld there he would have to sail through the dark world and cross the twelve gates which would be the twelve regions to the netherworld. Ra tought an hour through each gate Osiris was in one of them the lord of the underworld whom Ra always visited to pay his respects but before leaving the underworld's darkness the God was attacked by the terrible snake Apophis. This force of chaos tried to destroy the gods vessel and each day the serpent seemed closer to accomplish his desire. Apophis once managed to swallow the Sun boat putting en end to the sunlight in the morning but the serpent failed to hold the God in her stomach and regurgitated him, this event was marked as the solar eclipse however destroying Ra's boat become more difficult since Seth the God of destruction after losing the dispute of the supreme throne for Horus had been condemned to navigate with Ra across the skies he helped the sun God defending his vessel against the terrible serpent defeating it several times making Ra's journey to the underworld safer. 

Ra on the Sun boat with Seth on his journey to the underworld 

The God Ra was a figure worshiped throughout Egypt but this God was specially adored in the city of Heliopolis, the God's prestige was so vast that other traditions of Egyptian religion of antiquity merged the gods depiction along withthe greatest figures of their own pantheons, for instance the figures of the supreme Gods Amun and Atum were also known as Amun-Ra and Atum-Ra. The God's name was used be many Pharaohs, Ramses is a well known example his name means Son of Ra or the Son of Sun and so the pharaoh would strengthen his divinity before his subjects.

The Eye of Ra

Eye of Ra

The Eye of Ra is a being in ancient Egyptian mythology functions as a feminine counterpart to the sun god Ra and a violent force that subdues his enemies. The Eye is an extension of Ra's power, equated with the disk of the sun, but it also behaves as an independent entity, which can be personified by a wide variety of Egyptian godesses including Hathor, Sektmet, Bastet, Wadjet, and Mut. The Eye goddess acts as mother, sibling, consort, and daughter of the sun god. She is his partner in the creative cycle in which he begets the renewed form of himself that is born at dawn. The Eye's violent aspect defends Ra against the agents of disorder that threaten his rule. This dangerous aspect of the Eye goddess is often represented by a lioness or by the uraeus, or cobra, a symbol of protection and royal authority. The Eye of Ra is similar to the Eye of Horus, which belongs to a different god, Horus, but represents many of the same concepts. The disastrous effects when the Eye goddess rampages out of control and the efforts of the gods to return her to a benign state are a prominent motif in Egyptian mythology.

The Eye of Ra was involved in many areas of ancient Egyptian religion, including in the cults of the many goddesses who are equated with it. Its life-giving power was celebrated in temple rituals, and its dangerous aspect was invoked in the protection of the pharaoh, of sacred places, and of ordinary people and their homes.