RA
In Maatianor ancient Eg yptia n theology , Ra(Re)
is theCreatorandha s manyna mes,manifesta-
tions, andforms according to the sacred texts,
beginningwiththeearliestdiscourseonRain th e
Pyr amid Texts (PT). Inthe Pyramid an d Co ffin
Texts(B ookof Vindication[BOV]),Ra alsohas
th e namesRa-Atu m,Atum, Ra Kheper, or
Kh eperraandKh eper.In th e BOV, Rasays, “I am
Ra —IamAtum”and“IamAtumin hisname
Ra .” In thePyramidTexts, it saysof At um,“Y ou
developin thisyouridentity(name)of Kheper.”
Th e names AtumandKheper represen t different
aspectsof Ra.Atummeanstotality andcomplete-
ness,onewhois completean d onewh o completes.
Th us,heis called“LordtotheLimit (nb-r-dr)”
and“Lord of totality”or “Lordof All (nb-tm ).”
Kheper, whichmeans be coming, coming into
being,orbringingintobeing,re presentstheinfi-
nitede velopmentalandcreativeaspectsof Ra.
Also, in the Pyramid Texts, Ra as Atum is
praised in this way: “Homage to you, Atum.
Homageto you,Kheper, theself-creatingone. You
arehighin youridentityas themound.Youcome
intobei ngin thisyour identityas Bringer-into-
Be ing(K heper).”He re th e moundre ferstothe
sacred moundof creationthatis depictedas both
themoundonwhichRastood to createtheworld
andasRarisingfrom theprimordialwatersof
Nunas thesacredbe nbenstone,or obelisk—like
the pil larin the Be nu-Phoenix Temple of On
(Heliopolis), thesacredcityof Ra.
Also,becausethewordforsunisra andthesun
is conceived as boththephysicalexpressionof Ra
in hisglory andtherighteyeof Ra,Rais custom -
arilycalledthe“s ungod”in Eg yptologicallitera-
ture.However,a criticalreadingof thetextsallows
fortheapproach foundhere,whichis to under-
standRain hisspiritualform,ratherthanas his
mostdefinitivesymbol,thesundiskoritn , which
wasthefo cu s of Akhenaton’sworshipduringthe
AmarnaPer io d. AsRastatesin theCoffinTexts,“I
amRain hisfirstappearances,I amtheGreatGod,
the Self-CreatedOne who created his identities
(names),i.e.,as Ra,Atum,andKheper.”Moreover,
theinvisibilityof Rais emphasizedin hisidentity
andnameAmen, theHiddenor InvisibleOne,and
thusthejointnameAmen-Ra.In a praisepoemof
AmenRa, it defineshimas “power withmany
names,whocannot be known.Heis remotefrom
sight andnear in hearing.”Also,thecombiningof
Ra’s name with other divine spirits and names
extended throughout Ke metichistory, andthus
one encounters names such as Ra-Harakhty,
Khnum-Ra,andSobek-Ra.
The evolutionof thetheologyof Rabeginswith
thePyramidTexts,as notedpreviously,andwas
clearly aidedin its establishmentanddevelopment
by its conceptualizationof thepharaohas the“son
of Ra,”a titlethatbecamea centralpartof the
pharaoh’stitulary as earlyas the4thdynasty.This
designationas theoffspringof Godandhisimages
would spreadto humansin theFirstIntermediate
Periodliterature.Ra,as theCreatorin hisname
Atum,comesintobeingandbeginscreation.His
fir st actof creationof theworldis to bringforth557