Facts about Ra
Given the ultimate importance of creation accounts in the cosmological schemes of the Ancient Egyptian (as discussed above), Ra's most important role was as the ultimate creator of the universe.
So, it was almost inevitable that the two cults were merged under the name of Atum-Ra.
On his infernal journey, Ra was now said to carry the prayers and blessings of the living to their deceased loved ones.
Given this daily trial, the Egyptians saw the sunrise as the rebirth of the sun, which affiliated the concepts of rebirth and renewal with Ra.
Over time, Ra (and sometimes Horus) were broken down into several smaller aspect gods, who presided over the sun at sunrise, noon and sunset.
The idea of different gods (or different aspects of Ra) ruling over different times of the day was fairly common, but possessed both geographical and historical variants.
The walls of tombs became dedicated to extremely detailed texts that told of Ra's journey through the underworld (such as the Book of Am-Tuat and the Book of Gates (mentioned above)).
The worldview engendered by ancient Egyptian religion was uniquely appropriate to (and defined by) the geographical and calendrical realities of its believer’s lives.
Now after these things I gathered together my members, and I wept over them, and men and women sprang into being from the tears which came forth from my Eye.
Given the immanental vision of deities in the Egyptian religious mode, the sun itself was either seen as the actual body or eye of Ra.
Similarly, the ram-headed god Khnum was seen as the evening manifestation of Ra.
Her goal in setting this devious trap is to force the sun god to reveal his secret name to her, which once known will provide her a measure of his world-altering power.
The leadership role fulfilled by Ra in the mythic pantheon was seen to be analogous to the relationship between the pharaoh and the people of Egypt.
Second, their powers are not inherently tied to their characters (as Isis is able to assume the powers of Ra through her trickery).
Atum-Ra (or Ra-Atum) was another composite deity formed from two completely separate deities.
Ra ?(sometimes Rк based on the attested Coptic name and reconstructed as *R??u (ree-uh-uh), meaning "sun") was a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion.
The daily transformation of Ra, from vulnerable infant to virile adult to doddering senior (as described above), was the foundation for one of the most enduring mythic tales concerning the sun god.
The only other aporia in such an understanding is death, which seems to present a radical break with continuity.
Horus, Ra, Aten and Amun-Re jockeyed for position as immanent representations of the sun, even though all three retained their solar links.
The most direct of these artistic images was simply to imagine the god as analogous with the solar disk itself (sometimes ensconced in the coils of a cobra).
I myself raised them up from out of Nu, from a state of helpless inertness.
Ra was rarely combined with Ptah, but, as per the Memphite creation myth (which gave Ptah the place of primacy), the sun god was often said to be Ptah's first creation.
Nearing the end of the day, as Ra made his regular circuit of the earth and his divine power ebbed, the snake struck, wounding the god on the heel.
Khepri, the scarab beetle that rolled up the sun in the morning, was sometimes seen as the morning manifestation of Ra.
Both Ra and Atum were regarded as the father of the gods and Pharaohs, and were widely worshiped.
The centrality of Ra in the Egyptian cults, combined with the variety of roles that he fulfilled, led to a ubiquity of depictions and plethora of artistic representations.
First, the gods are not immortal, despite their mystical potency and metaphoric correspondences with natural phenomena.
The cults within this framework, whose beliefs comprise the myths we have before us, were generally fairly localized phenomena, with different deities having the place of honor in different communities.
The most direct of these artistic images was simply to imagine the god as analogous with the solar disk itself (sometimes ensconced in the coils of a cobra).