The Boat of Ra

Author: Traditional

Time Period: 5000 BCE–2500 BCE

Country or Culture: Egypt

Genre: Myth

PLOT SUMMARY

Every day, the sun god Ra (Re) undertakes a perilous but necessary twenty-four-hour journey. At daybreak, he begins sailing blissfully across the river of the sky, from east to west, in the decorative, luxurious Manzet boat. In the evening, Ra’s boat transforms into the unadorned Mesektet boat and runs the dreaded gantlet from west to east along the meandering river of the Duat, the realm of the dead, where the god Osiris reigns supreme.

The Duat is divided into twelve countries, one for every hour of the night. Entrance and exit gates, which must be successfully traversed, close off the borders of each division. Every section has its own guardians, rules, and ceremonies and incantations that must be completed before the boat can pass. Ra’s journey into the Duat begins in the diminished light of evening and grows progressively darker and gloomier until near the trip’s end, when blackness lightens again toward dawn.

During the voyage, Ra assumes various guises, including that of a scarab, to meet various challenges and successfully pass through the regions of the underworld. To enter the kingdom of the dead at the start of the journey, Ra himself must take on a deathlike state. Ra’s animate companions have specific roles, serving as pilot, oarsman, steersman, or warrior. Twelve goddesses of the hours in turn step forward to guide the sun god’s boat through the hazards of each particular section of the Duat. Around every bend of the river wait awful adversaries, from fire-breathing serpents to voracious birds, that must be appeased or subdued.

At the center of the Duat is the realm of Osiris, god of the dead. It is here the judgment of human souls takes place. Each seeker’s heart is weighed against a feather. The monster Ammut eats hearts that are too heavy, and the former owner of such a heart is doomed to destruction and eternal damnation. The light-hearted humans are permitted to dwell in a land of plenty with Osiris and enjoy all the pleasures of the living world until the end of time. Others must face the tortures of the damned, punishments for their misdeeds in life. As the unworthy are abandoned to their fates, their cries echo off the steep walls of the Duat.

After the kingdom of Osiris lies the greatest challenge of all. In the seventh division lurks Apep (also known as Apophis), the archenemy of Ra. A monstrous snake with an enormous maw, Apep tries to capsize the boat and plunge the world into never-ending darkness. Fortunately, the goddess Isis is aboard, and she uses her magic to incapacitate Apep long enough for the boat to pass beyond the serpent’s grasp.

Finally, Ra’s boat passes through the final gate and reenters the living world. The boat again becomes the plush Manzet barge, and the twenty-four-hour cycle begins anew.

SIGNIFICANCE

The sun has played a significant role in mythology and religion since the beginnings of human civilization. Because of the fiery orb’s godlike ability to provide heat and light and its observable regular pattern of rising and setting, the sun assumed the position of supreme deity in the pantheons of many cultures. Represented in Egypt by the god Ra, the sun ruled over a plethora of gods representing birds, beasts, landmarks, and natural phenomena. Pioneering priests blended native lore and foreign mythology to devise a complex theology, elaborating on the attributes of the sun god and the many associated deities. The sun-based religion, focusing on easily understood symbolic contrasts of light and dark, life and death, and good and evil lent structure to everyday existence, promulgated standards of behavior, and gave believers purpose by presenting the possibility of an afterlife.

The orthodoxy of Ra worship was firmly in place by the Fifth Dynasty (ca. 2494–2345 BCE). Pyramids and burial chambers of pharaohs from that period onward were inscribed with detailed instructions, secret words to be spoken, and rites to be performed to ensure the safe passage of the dead king’s soul through the obstacle course of the underworld. Many of ancient Egypt’s myriad works of art, architecture, and literature were related in some way to the civilization’s longstanding preoccupation with appeasing the gods in life and in the afterlife.

Over time, religious tenets changed to accommodate local deities, eliminate dogmatic difficulties, or paint a rosier picture of the hereafter; the blessed dead were no longer believed to reside with Osiris but instead thought to sail with Ra for eternity. In later dynasties, salvation was not limited only to rulers but extended to the nobility. By the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 1550–1295 BCE), even commoners who could afford it were permitted their chance at immortality. From that point until the advent of monotheism, there was a brisk business in amulets, talismans, and personalized copies of the Book of the Dead, a manual buried with an individual’s corpse that gave exact instructions for achieving life after death.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Egyptian Book of the Dead. New York: Dover, 1967. Print.

Littleton, C. Scott, ed. Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling. San Diego: Thunder Bay, 2002. Print.

Murray, M. A. “The Regions of Night and Thick Darkness.” Legends of Ancient Egypt. New York: Dover, 2000. 86–107. Print.

Pinch, Geraldine. Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

Shaw, Ian, ed. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.