Ra (God of sun)

Ra is the sun god in Egyptian mythology , this god is usually depicted as a being with a man’s body and a head of a falcon , the sun disk is over his head 

he had been one day the greatest of all gods but time wore him down , finding himself too old , he decided to relinquish the power and go to the skies 

this god is one of the most revered figure in Egyptian mythology 

as the sun god , one of his duties was to drive away the darkness , and to accomplish his work , the 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 towards the underworld 

 there he would have to sail through the dark world and cross the twelve gates, witch would he be the 12 regions of the nether world

Ra take an hour to go through each gate 

Osiris was in one of them , the lord of 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 god’s vessel , and each day the serpent seemed closer to accomplish her desire 

Apophis once managed to swallow the sun boat , putting an 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 a solar eclipse 

however , destroying Ra’s boat became 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 underworld journey safer

the god Ra was a figure worshiped throughout Egypt , but this god was especially adored in the city of Heliopolis

the god’s prestige was so vast that other traditions of Egyptian religion of antiquity merged the god’s depiction along with the greatest figure of their own pantheons for instance the figure of the supreme gods Amun and Atum were also known as Amun-Ra and Atum-Ra 

the god’s name was used by 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 subjects