Egyptian Pantheonweapon
Eye of Ra
- Solar Fire
- Divine Wrath
- Mass Destruction
- Goddess Manifestation
A powerful solar disk that embodies the destructive aspect of the sun god. It can be sent forth as a weapon of divine wrath, often taking the form of the goddess Sekhmet to punish humanity.
About Eye of Ra
The Eye that leaves and returns
The Book of the Heavenly Cow (New Kingdom temple myth of the Destruction of Mankind) has Ra send his Eye against rebellious humans. It becomes Sekhmet, drinks blood, and is pacified with red-stained beer. Coffin Texts and later hymns also know the Distant Goddess: the Eye as Hathor, Tefnut, or uraeus, who can storm off and must be coaxed home. It is a mythic organ and a goddess, not a jewel in a chest. Cult belongs to those goddesses, not to a detached relic in a museum sense.
Origin
An extension of Ra's own power, the Eye can separate from him and act independently as an avenging force.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Book of the Heavenly Cow (Destruction of Mankind)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
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