Ra

The tale of Ra

Before anything existed, there was only Nun, the dark endless water. Out of it rose a mound of earth, and on the mound appeared Ra, the sun. He spoke, and the gods came into being: air and moisture, earth and sky, and through them the whole world. In the oldest stories people were born from his tears.

Ra is shown as a man with the head of a falcon, crowned by the blazing sun disk with a cobra coiled around it. He ruled the world as its first king, and every pharaoh after him was called the Son of Ra.

The journey of the sun

Every day Ra sails across the sky in a golden boat, the barque of the morning, bringing light to the world. Every evening he dies in the west and enters the Duat, the underworld, aboard the barque of the night. For twelve hours he travels the river of the dead, bringing light to the souls who live there, while the gods of his crew guide the boat through the dark.

And every night he is attacked. Apep, the giant serpent of chaos, lies in wait in the black water, wanting to swallow the sun and end the world. The gods on the boat fight him off with spears and spells. Even Set, the troublemaker of the gods, stands at the prow and spears the serpent. Apep is never destroyed, only defeated, and by morning Ra rises again in the east. The sunrise itself is a victory.

The Eye of Ra

When Ra grew old, people began to plot against him. In his anger he sent his Eye against them in the form of the lioness goddess Sekhmet, who began to slaughter mankind and would not stop. To save the last humans, Ra had seven thousand jugs of beer dyed red and poured over the fields. Sekhmet, thinking it was blood, drank it all, fell asleep, and woke gentle.

Later the clever goddess Isis made a snake from Ra's own spit and earth, and it bit him. Only one cure could save him: his secret name. In agony Ra whispered it to her, and from that day Isis was the greatest of all magicians.

Ra in Battle of Myths

Ra is the god of the Egyptian pantheon, a cost 5 hero with two aspects. As the Sun God (mage and hunter) he casts Wrath of the Sun, scorching his target and every enemy near it with magic damage and burning. As the Solar Barque (guardian and mystic) he shields every ally and burns the enemies around him. With every Egyptian hero he shares the Sun Cycle: day gives speed and power, and night gives shields.

Did you know?

• His great temple city was Heliopolis, "city of the sun", near modern Cairo.
• In later times he was joined with the god Amun as Amun-Ra, king of the gods.
• The obelisks of Egypt were monuments to the sun, and their gilded tips caught the first rays of the morning.