Re-Haracht

Re-Harachten in hieroglyphics

ideogram

written out

Ra (u) -heru-Achti
Rˁ (w) -ḥr (.w) -3ḫ.tj
Re - Horus , inhabitant of the horizon

Priest Renpetmaa with anointing cone in front of Re-Harachte (stele in the Louvre , approx. 900 BC, 22nd Dynasty)

Re- Harachti (also Re-Horachti , Re-Hor-Achti ) is a sun god in Egyptian mythology . It emerged from a fusion ( syncretism ) of the deities Re and Harachte .

presentation

Re-Harachte is usually represented as a standing or seated man with red skin and a falcon's head. On his head he wears the solar disk , which is enclosed by the uraeus serpent . Other images show him as a person with a ram's head and a sun disk, for example in the temple of Seti I in Abydos or with a lion, cat or falcon head with ram horns or a sun disk in ( Hibis ).

meaning

With Re-Harachte, Re is described as the sun god appearing in the east. It is the actual name of the god Re of Heliopolis. As the Heliopolitan sun god, his quality as "world ruler" is emphasized. Re-Harachte from Heliopolis was considered in Edfu to be of the same nature as the god Horus .

King Akhenaten called himself "High Priest of Re-Harachte" and at the beginning of his reign he had the god represented in his conventional form. In the first so-called “ instructive name ” (year four to eight) of the god Aton , he describes it himself as Re-Harachte: “Long live the horizontal Horus (Re-Harachte) who rejoices in the land of light (on the horizon)”.

Cult and cult places

As early as 2445 BC BC (5th Dynasty) appears the amalgamation of the two gods in the solar sanctuary of Niuserre in Abusir ( Abu Ghurab ). He was also venerated in the temples of Wadi es-Sebua, Amada , Derr and the great temple of Abu Simbel built by Ramses II .

Thutmose III. in the temple of Amada before Re-Harachte
Cartouches of the god Aton (first instructive name of Aton) with the name of Re-Harachte in the first cartridge (read from right to left)
Great Temple of Abu Simbel
Great Temple of Abu Simbel, sanctuary with Re-Harachte, Ramses II, Amun-Re and Ptah (from right to left)
Amentet in the form of Hathor and Re-Harachte (burial chamber of Nefertari , QV66 )

Reception in the new religious movement Thelema

Re-Harachte is seen in the new religious movement Thelema founded by Aleister Crowley under the name Ra-Hoor-Khuit as a deity who represents one of the three principles of the Thelema doctrine. Ra-Hoor-Khuit appears as the spokesman for the third chapter of Liber AL vel Legis , the central sacred book of the movement.

literature

Manfred Lurker : Lexicon of the gods and symbols of the ancient Egyptians. Special edition, Scherz, Bern et al. 1998, ISBN 3-502-16430-4 , p. 91.
Rolf Felde: Egyptian deities. 2nd expanded and improved edition, R. Felde Eigenverlag, Wiesbaden 1995, pp. 50–51.
Hans Bonnet : Lexicon of the Egyptian religious history. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , pp. 269, 629-630.

Web links

Commons : Re-Harachte - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Rolf Felde: Egyptian gods. Wiesbaden 1995, p. 51.
↑ M. Lurker: Lexicon of the gods and symbols of the ancient Egyptians. Bern et al. 1998, p. 91.
↑ Rodney Orpheus: Abrahadabra: Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thelemic Magick. Weiser, Boston MA 2005, ISBN 1-57863-326-5 , pp. 33-44.

[ReferenceA-1] Rolf Felde: Egyptian gods. Wiesbaden 1995, p. 51.

[2] M. Lurker: Lexicon of the gods and symbols of the ancient Egyptians. Bern et al. 1998, p. 91.

[3] Rodney Orpheus: Abrahadabra: Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thelemic Magick. Weiser, Boston MA 2005, ISBN 1-57863-326-5 , pp. 33-44.