Sun god Re

Re is a sun god worshipped at Heliopolis from the earliest times. He appears as a hawk-headed human wearing a golden disc representing the sun. Re is shown also with a ram’s head when he is riding in the solar barque, a disk shaped boat, through the underworld every night. He first appeared as a lotus, which arose from the waters of the abyss at the beginning of time. All other gods were generated from him. He has several names. He is called Khepri in the morning, the scared scarab symbol of rebirth. He is Re at noon, symbol of the living and visible light of life, and is called "Lord of Light." And he is Atum at night, the eternal light, unalterable even by darkness. He is important to the kings of Egypt, who were called "sons of Re."

One of the forms of Re is that of a cat who kills the serpent Aphophis. Aphophis is an eternal enemy of Re, a snake-god of the Underworld. It is Aphophis who poses the main threat to the boat of the sun, the solar barque, as Re journeys each night in the Underworld. A detail from a Nineteenth Dynasty Book of the Dead shows Re as a spotted cat cutting off the head of Aphophis.