Ancient Egyptian God Ra

The ancient Egyptians are believed to have had as many as two thousand Gods and Goddesses. Some images of Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses show them with a human body and the head of a bird or an animal. Ra was the primary God in ancient Egypt. He was usually shown in human form with a falcon head, crowned with the sun disc encircled by the sacred cobra. 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.

 The identity of the Sun God Ra was often confused with other gods as the different regional religions of Egypt were merged in an attempt to unite the country. The first references to Ra date from the second Dynasty. Ra became very powerful by fifth dynasty, the dynasty which is very much related to the pharaohs. The pharaoh was then named as the son of Ra.

The ancient Egyptian God Ra has been associated with the sun, heaven, light, power, kingship and the creation of universe. He is considered the father of Gods, and was the most important and worshipped king of Gods. He sailed across the heavens in a boat called the 'Barque of Millions of Years'. The sailing was not smooth. He had to fight a snake called Apep (his chief enemy) during the day. He was thought by the people to die at the end of the day. And at night time he travelled through underworld.

And he sent the moon to keep the world away from darkness at night. In the underworld, Ra appeared as a man with the head of a ram and reborn every morning. Ra is a young boy called Khepri at sunrise, he becomes the falcon-headed man during mid-day and at sunset he becomes an elder called Atum. Ra embodies the Egyptian beliefs of order and truth. In Egyptian mythology, he signifies the cycle of birth, life and death. That's why he is known as the father of creation.

 The early Egyptian priests evolved a creation myth, or Cosmogony, to explain how some of the Gods and Goddesses came into being.  The early Egyptian priests then evolved a Family tree, the relatives of the main Egyptian Gods, like Sun God Ra, to explain how some of the Gods and Goddesses were related. The eye of Ra is an ancient Egyptian of protection. It is also known as the eye of Horus. It is a powerful force that is linked with the fierce heat of the sun and was passed on to each Pharaoh.