Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing Ra, the Hell-Serpent Aphophis, and the underworld.
For ancient Egyptians, the eternal cycle of light blossoming from dawn and night darkening
from dusk was driven by Ra, the sun god, who sailed across the sky on his mandjet during
the day and braved the dangers of the Duat, the underworld, on his mesket through the
night
The ancient Egyptians organized themselves around a 24 hour day, 12 daytime hours and
12 nighttime hours. This division of 12 and 12 was applied all year long, despite days
lengthening in the spring and shortening in the fall. When the days were shorter, it had
12 shorter hours, and when the days were longer, it had 12 longer hours. I’m sure that, from
a practical standpoint, this must have created a few scheduling issues, but it did, at least,
create a structure that could be applied to track Ra’s eternal, cyclical journey.
Ra’s vessel was crewed by lesser deities who assisted with defense and navigation,
and the innumerable deceased, including the pharaohs of old, who had ascended to become
the blessed dead were carried as passengers.
Ensconced on his celestial sky barge, Ra soared across the day-time firmament with ease and
style: I’m sure he had servants aplenty tending to his every whim; I’m sure the
views were spectacular; I’m sure his throne was commodious and luxurious as can be; but
it wasn’t all fun and games. The redeye segment of his journey was an animal of quite
a different sort.
Unlike Ra's journey across the sky during the day, his journey through the Duat, the
underworld, was fraught with danger, and many hazards had to be negotiated. The Duat was
compartmentalized into 12 chambers, corresponding to the 12 hours of night and comprising a
sort of gauntlet. Each chamber boasted its own pitfalls and challenges. Three principal
texts recorded Ra’s journey through the underworld, The Book of Amduat, The Book of
Gates, and The Book of Caverns. These three texts contradicted each other on many points,
but there were two commonalities in which all three were in agreement. These were Ra’s
nightly meeting with Osiris, and the battle and defeat of Apophis, a fiendish hell-serpent
who was usually said to have been created from Ra’s umbilical cord.
Osiris, the lord of the underworld, was described as being the personification of resurrection
and reborn kingship. The nightly meeting in the Duat between Osiris and Ra was a mutually
beneficial conjoinment that refreshed and empowered them, nourishing their life’s
essence. The duel that ensued with Apophis wasn’t so agreeable and was the chief trial
that Ra had to overcome each night. Apophis, who was an incarnation of chaos, was the antithesis
of Ra. Interestingly, while it was essential that Ra defeated apophis each night, it was
also imperative that the victory not be absolute, but rather a temporary vanquishment. The permanent
end of Apophis, counter-intuitively, would have unbalanced the universe, throwing it
off kilter, and have world-ending ramifications. To defeat Apophis, Ra used his magic arts,
channeling his powers and invoking many spells. In some accounts, Set used his guile to tip
the advantage in Ra’s favour, allowing the sun god to defeat his adversary more easily.
The clash between Ra and Apophis embodied the worst fear shared by all ancient civilizations,
that one morning the sun would cease to rise. As the Sun was revered as the creator and
preserver of life, its extinguishment signified the opposite, a sort of apocalyptic end. This
fear was exemplified by the fact that during solar eclipses, for example, it was thought
that Apophis had swallowed Ra.
And that’s it for this video!
Until next time
Listen to your convictions, even if they seem absurd to your reason.