ANCIENT EGYPT AND AFRICA 273
See also: The creation and the first gods 266–71 ■ Ra's secret name 272–73 ■
Osiris and the Underworld 276–83were other gods, including the
steersman Thoth; Isis, whose spells
made the boat move; and Seth, who
guarded and protected Ra’s lifeless
body as he journeyed through the
12 gates that marked the passage
of the hours of darkness and the 12
countries of Duat.Into the underworld
Beyond the first gate, a great
company of gods greeted Ra. They
prepared the barque for its journey
through the night and took hold of
the tow ropes running through the
12 countries of the Underworld to
pull the boat along the river.
In the seventh and most
perilous country of Duat, Isis
summoned up the serpent god,
Mehen, to form a sacred protective
canopy over Ra. However, another
serpent lay in wait for the sun
god—the chaos serpent, Apophis
(or Apep), Ra’s eternal enemy.
Stretched along a sandbank in the
middle of the river to conceal his
monstrous form, Apophis fixed the
gods with his hypnotizing gaze
and opened his mouth wide to
swallow the river and the nightbarque. The goddess Isis disabled
Apophis with her words of power,
Seth speared the serpent, and Ra,
in the form of the Cat of Heliopolis
(“Sun City”), cut off its head. Chaos
was held at bay for another day,
although a revived Apophis lay in
wait again the next night, hoping
to swallow Ra and so extinguish
the sun forever.The sun rises again
As Ra passed through the eighth
land of Duat, called Sarcophagus
of the Gods, embalmed and
mummified deities cried out in
praise of Ra. In the tenth country,
the god of rebirth—Khepri, in the
form of a scarab beetle—united
his soul with the soul of Ra to
accompany him through the
remaining stages of the journey.
The twelth and final country
took the form of another monstrous
serpent, named Life of the Gods.
But the barque was towed safely
through the serpent’s mouth, Ra
was fully transformed into Khepri,
and his old body was thrown
overboard. The Manzet, the sunrise
barque, then emerged into the
glorious dawn. ■The sun god
Ra was not the oldest of the
ancient Egyptian gods, but
he became revered above
all others as the creator of
everything. From the Second
Dynasty (ca. 3000 bce), his
chief center of worship was
the city of Heliopolis (now part
of Cairo). By the Fifth Dynasty
(ca. 2500 bce), the pharaohs
of Egypt were identifying
themselves with Ra and
building temples to the god.
Later pharaohs referred to
themselves as "sons of Ra"
and added his name to theirs.
Ra himself took three main
forms. As the rising sun, he
was Khepri, the scarab beetle.
As the midday sun, he was
Ra, usually shown with the
body of a man and the head of
a falcon, surmounted by a
golden disc encircled by the
sacred cobra, Uraeus. As the
sun setting in the west, he
was Atum, the god of creation,
sometimes protrayed as an old
man leaning on a stick. This
daily cycle of death and
rebirth came to symbolize the
life cycle of humankind, with
the hope of finding, as Ra
himself had, a new birth at the
end of life.A chest ornament, or pectoral,
found on a mummy of the 1st
millennium bce, shows a scarab
beetle, whose form Ra took at the
end of his journey through Duat.Over the body of Ra, the
serpent Mehen casts his
protecting coils, for now is
the time of danger.
Ancient Egyptian
LegendsHail to thee, Ra, at thy
rising; the night and the
darkness are past.
Ancient Egyptian
LegendsUS_272-273_Ra.indd 273 01/12/17 4:23 pm