Ra, also written Re, is an Egyptian sun god whose importance changed across more than three thousand years of religious history. He could be linked with other deities as Re-Horakhty, Amun-Re, or forms of the rising and setting sun. These combinations do not mean every god became one identical figure.
The sun’s daily course
Religious texts and images describe the solar god traveling across the sky in a barque and passing through the night world before dawn. The journey renews cosmic order. In underworld books, the serpent Apophis threatens the process and is repelled by divine and ritual action.
Khepri, midday sun, and Atum
Khepri, represented by a scarab, is closely tied to sunrise and becoming. Atum can be linked with evening and completion, while Ra names the solar power more broadly. The neat modern sequence Khepri, Ra, Atum is useful, but Egyptian texts combine forms in more flexible ways.
Kingship and the Eye of Ra
Pharaohs used the title Son of Ra, and solar temples, pyramids, hymns, and obelisks expressed the god’s authority. Goddesses called the Eye of Ra can defend the sun god with fierce force. Hathor, Sekhmet, Bastet, and others fill that role in different compositions.