In the northwestern district of suburban Cairo, beneath 20 meters of earth, lies ancient Iwn, a city intertwined with both development and historical enigma, renowned for its role in the mythology of creation. Known to the Greeks as Heliopolis, the “City of the Sun-God,” and referred to by Arabs as Ain-Shams, or “Eye of the Sun,” it ranks among the oldest spiritual locations on the planet. Although its historical remnants are buried under centuries of agricultural land and urbanization, Iwn remains a testament to Ra, the supreme deity of ancient Egyptian pantheon. The creation myth surrounding Ra is both captivating and enlightening:
According to Egyptian lore, prior to creation, only Darkness enveloped the Primeval Ocean, the cradle of life. It was then that the divine being Atum decided that creation must commence. An island emerged from the waters to accommodate this deity, who designated himself as Ra, the sun god.
From this Primeval hill, Ra manifested the first gods: Shu (representing Dryness and Air) and Tefnut (representing Humidity). These deities subsequently birthed Geb, the Earth god, and Nut, the Sky goddess. Together, they generated the foundational Principles of life, including Osiris, the Perfect Being destined to preside over creation—something Ra was engaged in by naming all entities. Interestingly, humanity was birthed from Ra’s tears.
Osiris emerged as a compassionate and wise ruler who imparted the skills of agriculture and civilization to humanity. Alongside his sister/wife Isis, who aided him with her gifts of creativity and magic, they constituted an ideal duo. In contrast, their brother Seth represented chaos and strength. Consumed by jealousy, Seth murdered Osiris to seize the throne for himself. Despite her love for her siblings, Seth’s partner Nephthys was powerless to prevent the fratricide.
Though tragic, the murder of Osiris yielded unexpected results. He was revived through Isis’s magic just long enough to conceive their son Horus, destined to avenge his father and reclaim the Egyptian throne. Following this, Osiris transitioned to the afterlife, where he would preside over the deceased, thereby ensuring the continuity of life and resurrection.
However, the narrative continues. As Ra aged, humanity turned against him. To address this, he sought vengeance and requested assistance from his tear-producing eye. The eye transformed into a fierce lioness, unleashing chaos on humanity with great delight. Witnessing the devastation brought sorrow to Ra for his children, who originated from his tears. Consequently, he halted the destruction but chose to withdraw from human affairs. This decision led him to the Otherworld, where he charted the 12 hours of daylight by traversing the sky from East to West, allowing existence to thrive under his radiance. Upon reaching the Western horizon, Ra plunged the earth into darkness, sailing through the Underworld to illuminate the dead and vanquish the adversaries of creation, while also rejuvenating himself in unison with Osiris, the god of resurrection.
At dawn, Ra appeared as a falcon known as Hor-akhty, symbolizing his dominance in the sky (Horus translates to “one who is high up”). Nevertheless, Ra assumed various forms. At times, he was visualized as a scarab, Kheper, signifying new beginnings—this representation rooted in the pun derived from the scarab’s name and the term “to happen”, as well as the scarab’s emergence from the sands accompanied by the sun’s first light while rolling a dung ball containing its eggs. By midday, he was represented as Ra again, crowned with the sun disk, and at sunset, he became Atum, an elder who had fulfilled his existence, ready for renewal.
The narrative underscores Ra’s significance as the paramount deity in Egyptian belief. During the Old Kingdom (circa 2800 BCE), the divinized monarch was acknowledged as the son of the Sun God. Monarchs inscribed their titles alongside their lineage to Ra on cartouches during coronations, erecting temples to honor him, creating lands and priestly ranks to support his cult, and constructing chapels dedicated to the sun god within their own memorial temples across ancient Egypt. As the New Kingdom (c. 1500-1000 BCE) unfolded, the following cult of Amun, regarded as the Empire’s political god, sought to eclipse Ra’s reverence. However, the rulers of the 18th dynasty fiercely responded. The depictions in their tombs, situated in the Valley of the Kings in Western Thebes, reinforce the supremacy of Ra, in whom kings merged posthumously to experience eternal existence. During Akhenaton’s brief ‘monotheistic era’, he recognized no deity but the sun itself, composing hymns so extraordinary that they were later reflected in the biblical psalms attributed to King David. Following Akhenaton’s reign, the majority of Egypt’s major gods began to fuse with Ra, leading to combinations such as Amon-Ra, Khnum-Ra, and Sobek-Ra. This amalgamation continued until the cult of Ra ultimately diminished following centuries and the Roman conquest.
Despite this decline, remnants of the Sun God Ra persist even in contemporary Egypt, where the echoes of ancient civilization resonate. Allusions to Ra permeate folklore, and his fiery eye is celebrated in popular songs and everyday expressions. The name Ra continues to appear in a range of media, from Hollywood movies to video games. Undoubtedly, the legacy of this great ancient deity endures, rising as predictably as the sun from the eastern horizon.
