The cult of the Mnevis bull, an embodiment of Ra, had its center in Heliopolis and there was a formal burial ground for the sacrificed bulls north of the city.Īll forms of life were believed to have been created by Ra. In the New Kingdom, when the god Amun rose to prominence he was fused with Ra as Amun-Ra. At times the two deities were merged as Ra-Horakhty, ' Ra, who is Horus of the Two Horizons'.
Ra was portrayed as a falcon and shared characteristics with the sky-god Horus. He was the god of the sun, order, kings and the sky.
Ra was believed to rule in all parts of the created world: the sky, the Earth, and the underworld. By the Fifth Dynasty, in the 25th and 24th centuries BC, he had become one of the most important gods in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the noon-day sun. Ra ( / r ɑː/ Ancient Egyptian: rꜥ or rˤ also transliterated rˤw /ˈɾiːʕuw/ cuneiform: 𒊑𒀀 ri-a or 𒊑𒅀 ri-ia) or Re ( / r eɪ/ Coptic: ⲣⲏ, Rē) was the ancient Egyptian deity of the sun.
