Amun-Ra
Amun-Ra is actually the combination of two gods, the creator god Amun (also referred to as Atum) and the sun god Ra. Amun's name means "The Hidden One". From the earliest times, he was the patron deity of the city of Thebes. He was viewed (along with his consort Amenet) as a primordial creation-deity by the priests of Hermopolis. His sacred animals were the goose and the ram.
Up to the Middle Kingdom Amun was merely a local god in Thebes. However, when the Thebans had established their sovereignty in Egypt, Amun became a prominent deity, and by Dynasty XVIII was termed the King of the Gods. His famous temple, Karnak, is the largest religious structure ever built by man. By Dynasty XIX-XX, Amun was thought of as an invisible creative power which was the source of all life in heaven, and on the earth, and in the great deep, and in the Underworld, and which made itself manifest under the form of Ra thus the connection of the two.
Ra was usually depicted in human form with a falcon head, crowned with the sun disc encircled by the uraeus (a stylized representation of the sacred cobra). The sun itself was taken to be either his body or his eye. He was said to traverse the sky each day and pass through the underworld each night. His principal worship was at Heliopolis, near modern Cairo. Ra was also considered to be an underworld god, closely associated in this respect with Osiris. In this capacity he was depicted as a ram-headed figure.
By the third millennium BCE, Re's prominence had already become such that the pharaohs took to styling themselves "sons of Ra". After death, the Egyptian monarch was said to ascend into the sky to join the entourage of the sun god. Ra was often combined with other gods, most notably Amun, to lend power to the god.
Amun-Ra is actually the combination of two gods, the creator god Amun (also referred to as Atum) and the sun god Ra. Amun's name means "The Hidden One". From the earliest times, he was the patron deity of the city of Thebes. He was viewed (along with his consort Amenet) as a primordial creation-deity by the priests of Hermopolis. His sacred animals were the goose and the ram.
Up to the Middle Kingdom Amun was merely a local god in Thebes. However, when the Thebans had established their sovereignty in Egypt, Amun became a prominent deity, and by Dynasty XVIII was termed the King of the Gods. His famous temple, Karnak, is the largest religious structure ever built by man. By Dynasty XIX-XX, Amun was thought of as an invisible creative power which was the source of all life in heaven, and on the earth, and in the great deep, and in the Underworld, and which made itself manifest under the form of Ra thus the connection of the two.
Ra was usually depicted in human form with a falcon head, crowned with the sun disc encircled by the uraeus (a stylized representation of the sacred cobra). The sun itself was taken to be either his body or his eye. He was said to traverse the sky each day and pass through the underworld each night. His principal worship was at Heliopolis, near modern Cairo. Ra was also considered to be an underworld god, closely associated in this respect with Osiris. In this capacity he was depicted as a ram-headed figure.
By the third millennium BCE, Re's prominence had already become such that the pharaohs took to styling themselves "sons of Ra". After death, the Egyptian monarch was said to ascend into the sky to join the entourage of the sun god. Ra was often combined with other gods, most notably Amun, to lend power to the god.