Which traditions do they belong to?

Kinich Ahau belongs to the Mesoamerican Pantheon; Ra belongs to the Egyptian Pantheon.

Side by side

Kinich Ahau vs Ra

Both are sun gods who journey through the underworld at night

At a glance

Mesoamerican Pantheon

tradition

Egyptian Pantheon

sun, kingship, time, war

domains

sun, creation, kingship, order, light

sun disk, jaguar, large square eyes, filed teeth

symbols

sun disk, falcon, solar barque, cobra, scarab beetle

Ah Kin, K'inich Ajaw, Sun-Faced Lord

also called

Re, Ra-Horakhty, Atum-Ra, Amun-Ra

Where they meet

Both are gods of sun, kingship.

shared symbolssun disk

Where they part

Kinich Ahau alone

time, war

Ra alone

creation, order, light

How each was worshipped

Kinich Ahau

Cult sites: Sun-facing temples; Classic Maya sun kingship.

Sun-eyed lord. Kings wore him. Cult is dawn architecture and royal title more than a surviving parish name.

Cult sites: Great Temple of Ra at Heliopolis (Iunu), Solar sanctuaries of the Fifth Dynasty (Abu Ghurab and beyond).

Festivals: Daily solar barque rites, Sed festival (king as Ra's son).

The king is his son. Morning and evening barques, the benben stone, the sun's twelve night hours. Heliopolis set the theology; later Amun-Ra at Thebes absorbed it without erasing the Heliopolitan cult.

Kinich Ahau

Mesoamerican Pantheon

The Maya sun god with large square eyes and jaguar features. Kinich Ahau rules the daytime sky and transforms into the Jaguar God when traveling through the underworld at night.

Kinich Ahau was placed in the sky during creation to provide light and mark the passage of time. Each night he dies and is reborn.

Kinich Ahau embodies the blazing sun at its zenith. His large square eyes represent the sun's power, and his filed, T-shaped front teeth mark him as a god of royalty.

Read the full Kinich Ahau entry

Ra

Egyptian Pantheon

The supreme solar deity and creator god. Ra travels across the sky each day in his solar barque and through the underworld each night, battling the serpent Apophis.

Ra emerged from the primordial waters of Nun at the dawn of creation, creating himself. He then created Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), establishing the cosmos.

Ra is the supreme creator and king of the gods. He travels across the sky in his solar barque by day and battles the chaos serpent Apophis in the underworld by night.

Read the full Ra entry

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At a glance

Mesoamerican Pantheon

tradition

Egyptian Pantheon

sun, kingship, time, war

domains

sun, creation, kingship, order, light

sun disk, jaguar, large square eyes, filed teeth

symbols

sun disk, falcon, solar barque, cobra, scarab beetle

Ah Kin, K'inich Ajaw, Sun-Faced Lord

also called

Re, Ra-Horakhty, Atum-Ra, Amun-Ra

How each was worshipped

Kinich Ahau

Cult sites: Sun-facing temples; Classic Maya sun kingship.

Sun-eyed lord. Kings wore him. Cult is dawn architecture and royal title more than a surviving parish name.

Cult sites: Great Temple of Ra at Heliopolis (Iunu), Solar sanctuaries of the Fifth Dynasty (Abu Ghurab and beyond).

Festivals: Daily solar barque rites, Sed festival (king as Ra's son).