Ra

Ra (/rɑː/; Egyptian: Rꜥ, Rˤ) or Re (/reɪ/; Rē) is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty in the 25th and 24th centuries BC, he had become a major god in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the noon sun.

In later Egyptian dynastic times, Ra was merged with the god Horus, as Ra-Horakhty (“Ra, who is Horus of the Two Horizons”). He was believed to rule in all parts of the created world: the sky, the earth, and the underworld. He was associated with the falcon or hawk. When in the New Kingdom the god Amun rose to prominence he was fused with Ra as Amun-Ra. During the Amarna Period, Akhenaten suppressed the cult of Ra in favor of another solar deity, the Aten, the deified solar disc, but after the death of Akhenaten the cult of Ra was restored.

The cult of the Mnevis bull, an embodiment of Ra, had its center in Heliopolis and there was a formal burial ground for the sacrificed bulls north of the city.

To continue reading this Bible article, click here.

Author: Wikipedia

Keywords: Ra, Osiris, Isis, Sun God, Ra sun god, idolatry, idols, myth, Egyptian myth, Gods of the Nile, Gods of Egypt, Egyptian gods, Egyptian deity, Egyptian deities, Egyptian idolatry, idols of Egypt, false gods

Bible reference(s): Exo 12:12, Exo 32:1, Exo 32:4, Exo 32:8, Exo 32:23, Exo 32:31, Num 33:4, Jer 43:12-13

Source: This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “Ra,” which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.