Egyptian God Ra Essay Research Paper Was

Egyptian God Ra Essay, Research Paper

Was Amun-Ra the Most Powerful Egyptian God.

Through extensive research of ancient Egyptian history, we see that there was a change in religion, and even lifestyle. The king of Egypt, Akhenaton, made a sudden change during his rule in the religious support of the Egyptian gods. With Akhenaton s preoccupation with new ideas and religious ideals, he cost Egypt its proud empire. We see that Amun-Ra was truly the most important and most powerful god in ancient Egypt. Akhenaton s changing the religious ideals did not last long. Even though Aton was claimed the sole god during Akhenaton s rule, Egypt and its people and the new rulers quickly altered the religious ideals towards Amun-Ra s favor by claiming him the sole god once again, after Akhenaton s death.

The most important Egyptian god during most of Egyptian history was Ra, the god of the sun. He was also known as; Re, Amun-Re, Amen-Ra, Amun-Ra, Amun, or Amon.(www, Mysteries) His name, Amon, meant The Hidden One , also Amun means the hidden and Re means the sun .( www,

Mysteries) To trace the origin of Amun-Re, we must go back to the Old Kingdom and Heliopolis, where the god Re first appeared as the primary manifestation of the sun god. Re is depicted with the head of a falcon surmounted by the sun disk during his passage across the sky, and with the head of a ram during his nocturnal voyage in the underworld. This local god rose in prominence to become a national god, resulting in the erection of sun temples throughout the land. In the fourth dynasty, the pharaohs began to consider themselves manifestations of this god. Later, during the Middle Kingdom, when Amun became the most important god, Re was fused with him to become Amun-Re.(www, Mysteries)

Egyptian religion is a difficult subject to get a handle on. Although Egyptian religion was polytheistic, individual villages in cities with concentrate their spiritual efforts on a singled god. When someone became king, they would often elevate the god of their city or village to a supreme god. This is how Re became the dominant god of Egypt. More than anything else however, the Egyptian king or pharaoh was associated with the sun. Like the sun the king gave life and stability to the Egyptian kingdom.(www, Sun God)

During the rule of Ra, the people were happy. The people called him the god of light among other names such as; The Becoming One… The Great

Disk… He Who Gives Light to the Bodies… The Watery Abyss… The Decomposed One… Lord of Hidden Worlds… Ever-Becoming One… Ejector… He Who Causes Souls to Breathe … Watcher… Walker… Weeper… Traveler… Jubilant One… Protector of Souls… Hidden One… Distant Soul… Fate… Flaming One… Renewer of Earth .(Parabola, 1) Taking a look at these names we can find words such as, protector, renewer, and watcher. Making reference to the fact that the people felt protected by Ra.

From what has been said it is evident that the worship of Amen-Ra spread through all the country. Both to the north and south of Thebes, and the monuments prove that it made its way into all the dominions of Egypt in Syria, and the Nubia, and in the Oases. They erected temples for the worship of Amen-Ra of very considerable size and solidity.(www, Touregypt) The sudden spread of empire had excited the Egyptian culture. Architecture became less firmly planted and soared upward in assertiveness. In the visual arts, the predominant heavy, angular style of rendering became softer and rounder.(www, Britannica, Aton) Egyptian soldiers and officials lived in foreign countries, and foreigners lived in Egypt. The sharp differences between the people of the Nile valley and the people abroad were blurred. Egyptian gods had temples in other countries, and foreign gods were introduced into Egypt. Empire was held firmly by garrisons abroad, which

assured the favorable flow of trade to Egypt. Near the Nile valley there were rich gold mines, so that the country could dominate both trade and politics.(www, Britannica, Aton) However, things started to change with the reign of Akhenaton.

Akhenaton was the king of Egypt of the 18th dynasty. He established a new monotheistic cult of Aton. Akhenaton was a strange figure, spiritually and physically. Pathologists with no unanimous conclusions have studied representations of his peculiar, unmanly body.(www,Britannica, Aton) Some modern scholars have also questioned his ability to father children, but the presence of six daughters would certainly indicate that he was potent. Despite conflicting statements in the literature, it now seems certain that his mummy has never been found. Anciently and modernly he has been a controversial person, but the very fury of the controversy shows that he was a major figure of ancient history. The strong and changing forces of his day shaped his determined nature, and yet he stood estranged from his day in the strength of his ideas and ideals.

Within his first few years as pharaoh there were changes. He abandoned the temple to Re-Harakhte and began to build a place to worship a new form of sun-god–the disk of the sun, called the Aton.(www,Britannica, Aton) It had been a little-known deity for two generations before him. The

Aton was never shown in human or animal form, except insofar as the extended rays of the sun disk might end in hands to confer blessings upon men. This was the li