Worship

The cult of Re is first attested in the name of the 2nd-dynasty ruler, Raneb, and during the 4th dynasty worship of the god evidently reached a peak with kings taking the epithet ‘Son of Re’ from •he time of Khafre, and the pyramids and their asso-riated temples being unequivocally linked to Re in arious ways. By the 5th dynasty Re had become, in -ssence, Egypt’s state god, officially recognized as he head of the pantheon. Doubtless a great temple • > Re was constructed at this time in Heliopolis, :hough remains of this structure have never been round. But in the 5th dynasty several kings built 'Un temples with large masonry obelisks in the region of their own pyramids and mortuary temples, and these solar-oriented structures may well have been modelled after the Heliopolitan cult centre and its ben-ben (see p. 212).

While Re’s cult was centred at Heliopolis, he was worshipped universally throughout Egypt; and although there were definite high points in the importance of solar religion, Re was venerated in every age of the country’s long dynastic history. Sanctuaries were constantly constructed or renewed for him, and he was included in many of the temples of other deities throughout the remainder of dynastic history. The god certainly enjoyed a kind of renaissance in the New Kingdom, beginning in the reign of Amenophis III, who constructed a number of great solar temples and courts. This reign directly preceded the ultimately aborted efforts of Akhenaten to establish the sun god, in his form of the Aten, as sole god. Despite the repudiated doctrines of the Amarna Period, solar religion continued to be of great importance during Rames-sid times when Re was frequently honoured by his eponymous kings. Re also has a strong presence in New Kingdom religious literature - especially in funerary texts which successfully balanced the position of the sun god with that of Osiris. In the later periods of Egyptian history the position of the sun god is overshadowed to a large degree by other deities, yet Re remained important, and even after the close of the dynastic age, in Christian timevS, we find occasional texts appealing to Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the sun god Re.

Although the cult of Re was always of primary importance to the Egyptian king and in officially sponsored religion, the god was not without popular appeal and veneration. His importance is seen in non-royal as well as royal names incorporating the name of Re, and the god was represented in amulets. Many of these were made to be worn in life as a mark of veneration, in addition to the images of the god which accompanied the deceased in the funerary assemblage. Re also appears in various magical spells including those which make an ultimate threat - to stop the course of the sun in its journey. Such spells were usually aimed at attempting to cause the sun god to right some wrong and to restore balance in his creation.