Ra

"Sun" Embodied in the golden sun which is His Symbol, Ra is Netjer of light, life, and heat, and the power inherent in the sun which warms our planet. In several forms, Ra has been venerated as the central Name of Netjer of the Kemetic faith through its entire history, considered both Father and the King of All Netjeru, the Great One Who both creates and destroys. Ra rose to prominence as the early dynasties of the Old Kingdom, who venerated Him as their family patron, began to call themselves "sons of Ra" in official titularies and constructed sun-temples and pyramids (a special symbol of Ra via their connection to the Ben-ben, a pyramidal-shaped stone from which Ra as a Bennu (a white heron, called "Phoenix" by the Greeks) rose from Nun and sang the song of creation) in His honor. Ra's popularity, as immanent as sunlight itself, continued throughout Kemetic history; even great Names as Amen and Ptah had to "share the spotlight" with Ra, and in Amen's case, a composite Name, Amen-Ra, King of Netjeru, was created to avoid slighting either cult, which by New Kingdom times had power and wealth to rival even the royal house. Ra "lives" within the actual physical disk of sun, mythologically described as the "Boat of Millions of Years" which rises and sets each day, riding from horizon to horizon on the back (or belly) of Nut, and traversing during the hours of darkness the netherworlds where the enemies of Ma'at reside. Even in modern Egypt, the sun is often referred to as Ra, especially on bright summer days.