What was ra worshipped for

What Ancient Egyptians Believed About Ra Ra was different from other gods worshiped in ancient Egypt in that he was regarded as a strictly celestial god. The Bottom Line About Ra Ra was worshipped widely throughout ancient Egypt and he was referred as the principal sun god for centuries. Gods of Egypt. Hathor - The Cow Goddess Hathor the cow goddess is among the most famous goddesses worshiped He was often Tourists who visit this page also visit the following pages:.

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Related Resources. Ancient Egypt. View Collection. Tut's Tomb. View Photograph. Diagram of the Trieste. Ra Re was the primary name of the sun god of Ancient Egypt.

He was often considered to be the King of the Gods and thus the patron of the pharaoh and one of the central gods of the Egyptian pantheon. He was also described as the creator of everything. Ra was so powerful and popular and his worship was so enduring that some modern commentators have argued that the Egyptian religion was in fact a form of veiled monotheism with Ra as the one god.

This seems to be somewhat of an overstatement, but underlines his primary position within religious texts throughout Egyptian history. It is sometimes proposed that the pyramids represent the rays of light extending from the sun and thus these great monuments connected the king with Ra. The Egyptians also built solar temples in honour of Ra.

Unlike the standard type of Egyptian temple, these temples were open to the sunlight and did not feature a statue of the god because he was represented by the sunlight itself.

Instead the temple centred on an obelisk and altar. Ra was an ancient god, but not the oldest of the gods; the first references to Ra date from the Second Dynasty.

However, by the Fifth Dynasty he was a powerful god who was closely associated with the pharaoh. The god decided on extermination, asking his tear-giving eye again for help. To fulfill her task, the eye transformed herself into a fierce lioness and began slaughtering humanity, delighted in her feeding.

This led to his journey to the Otherworld, where Ra created the 12 hours of day by sailing the sky from the Eastern horizon to the West, illuminating the world and allowing all creations to flourish under his rays. Reaching the Western horizon, Ra then left the earth in darkness for 12 hours of night while he sailed the Underworld, illuminating the dead, destroying the enemies of creation, and regenerating himself in a union with Osiris, the god of resurrection.

But Ra had other forms. By midday the sun-god was again Ra and represented by the sun-disk. At sunset he became Atum, an old man who had completed his life cycle and was ready to disappear to be regenerated for a new day. Given this story, the Sun God Ra has always been the greatest god in Egypt. In the Old Kingdom BCE , when Egypt established its institutions and expressed its royal ideology, the divinized king of Egypt was considered the son of the Sun God.

Kings erected temples for him, endowing these temples with lands and clergy to serve his cult, and they added sun god chapels to their own memorial temples throughout the country.