Eye of Ra - Worship

Worship

The Eye of Ra was invoked in many areas of Egyptian religion, and its mythology was incorporated into the worship of many of the goddesses identified with it. In the Ptolemaic Period, the new year and the Nile flood that came along with it were celebrated as the return of the Eye after her wanderings in foreign lands. The Egyptians built shrines along the river containing images of animals and dwarfs rejoicing at the goddess' arrival. At the temple of Montu at Medamud, it was Montu's consort Raettawy who was equated with Hathor and the Eye of Ra. Her arrival on the new year, in fertile, moisture-bearing form, set the stage for her subsequent marriage to Montu and the birth of their mythological child, Harpre. The temple's new year festival celebrated her homecoming with drinking and dancing, alluding to the goddess' inebriated state after her pacification. In other cities, two goddesses were worshipped as the belligerent and peaceful forms of the Eye, as with Ayet and Nehemtawy at Herakleopolis or Satet and Anuket at Aswan.

The concept of the solar Eye as mother, consort, and daughter of a god was incorporated into royal ideology. Pharaohs took on the role of Ra, and their consorts were associated with the Eye and the goddesses equated with it. The sun disks and uraei that were incorporated into queens' headdresses during the New Kingdom reflect this mythological tie. The priestesses who acted as ceremonial "wives" of particular gods during the Third Intermediate Period, such as the God's Wife of Amun, had a similar relationship with the gods they served.

The violent form of the Eye was also invoked in religious ritual and symbolism as an agent of protection. The uraeus on royal and divine headdresses alludes to the role of the Eye goddesses as protectors of gods and kings. For similar reasons, uraei appear in rows atop shrines and other structures, surrounding and symbolically guarding them against hostile powers. Many temple rituals called upon Eye goddesses to defend the temple precinct or the resident deity. Often, the texts of such rituals specifically mention a set of four defensive uraei. These uraei are sometimes identified with various combinations of goddesses associated with the Eye, but in all cases they are also manifestations of "Hathor of the Four Faces", whose protection of the solar barque is extended in these rituals to specific places on earth.

The Eye of Ra could also be invoked to defend ordinary people. Some apotropaic amulets in the shape of the Eye of Horus bear the figure of a goddess on one side. These amulets are most likely an allusion to the connection between the Eye of Horus and the Eye of Ra, invoking their power for personal protection. In addition, certain magical spells from the New Kingdom involve the placement of clay model uraei around a house or a room, invoking the protection of the solar uraeus as in the temple rituals. These uraei are intended to ward off evil spirits and the nightmares that they were believed to cause, or other enemies of the house's occupant. The spell says the models have "fire in their mouths". Models like those in the spells have been found in the remains of ancient Egyptian towns, and they include bowls in front of their mouths where fuel could be burnt, although the known examples do not show signs of burning. Whether literal or metaphorical, the fire in the cobras' mouths, like the flames spat by the Eye of Ra, was meant to dispel the nocturnal darkness and burn the dangerous beings that move within it.

The Eye's importance extends to the afterlife as well. Egyptian funerary texts associate deceased souls with Ra in his nightly travels through the Duat, the realm of the dead, and with his rebirth at dawn. In these texts the Eye and its various manifestations often appear, protecting and giving birth to the deceased as they do for Ra. A spell in the Coffin Texts states that Bastet, as the Eye, illuminates the Duat like a torch, allowing the deceased to pass safely through its depths.