Egyptian Cosmology

Ask Westerners about the religion of the ancient Egyptians, and they will probably say that Ra, the sun god, was their supreme deity. It will be unlikely that they will mention other gods, and may even believe that Ra was the one and only god of the Egyptians. However, a closerlook reveals that multiple gods played a number of roles in Egyptian cosmology. Ra did play a vital role as the sun god in the Egyptians’ model of the universe, but he did not make up any tangible element of the universe’s actual structure as other gods and goddesses did. There are also conflicting creation stories, which challenge whether Ra was the sole creator of the universe, or a god that was created as a part of a longer lineage. Also, although his importance can be seen in the living world, another goddess, Maat, had more power than Ra when it came to the afterlife: a significant aspect of Egyptian cosmology. Finally, the Egyptians developed their time keeping structures, such as their calendar and clock, based on the moon, the stars, and the Nile River instead of the sun. If Ra really was as important as Westerners believe, surely these systems would have been sun-centered, right? These details of Egyptian cosmology clearly question the common Western belief that Ra was the most important of the Egyptian gods.

Link to Podcast Page