REALMS archive of entities

Eye of Ra

deity sky Egyptian single tradition · 10

The Eye of Ra is a solar deity who can take the form of several goddesses. The myth says that the Eye of Ra runs away from her father Ra, who sends one of the gods to retrieve her. Her return to her proper place could thus represent the restoration of the Eye of Horus, a symbol of the moon and of the divine order of the cosmos.

↻ synthesized from 10 sources

When

First attested
3000 BCE
Attested period
-3000 – 300
Historical notes
New Kingdom of Egypt

Relationships

manifests as
Menhit, Hathor, Mut, lioness, hippopotamus, Raet-tawy, Sekhmet, Hathor of the Four Faces, Wedjat, Tefnut, Bastet
co occurs with
Shu, Hathor-Tefnut, Ipet, Dea Gravida, Nebethetepet, Montu, Ra-Horakhty, Ra-Horus, Eye of Atum, Anhur, Nehemtawy, Ogdoad, Apophis, Onuris, Isis, Taweret, Seth, Apep, Thoth, Amun, Ptah, Set, Horus, Osiris
allied with
Wadjet, Ra
syncretized with
Eye of Horus
serves
Atum, Ra
consort of
Ra
aspect of
Ra
has aspect
Hathor of the Four Faces, Sekhmet, Wepset, Hathor, Ra
child of
Ra
manifested by
Hathor, Mehit, Tefnut

Expand to full subgraph →

Mentioned by

and 4 more

Sources

wikipedia (10)
  1. Mehit
  2. Menhit
  3. Taweret
  4. Wadjet
  5. Hathor
  6. Eye of Ra
  7. Atum
  8. Ancient Egyptian deities
  9. Apophis
  10. Eye of Horus

Source passages

“Late sources identify this story with the "Distant Goddess" myth, in which the Eye of Ra—a solar deity who can take the form of several goddesses—runs away from her father Ra, who sends one of the gods to retrieve her.”

#11083 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“In one legend, the Eye of Ra flees from Egypt. Her counterpart, Ra, sends another god to track her down in Nubia, where she transforms into a lioness. When she is returned to Ra, she either becomes or gives birth to Menhit.”

#11165 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

“Taweret is featured in some versions of a popular and widespread myth in which the Eye of Ra becomes angry with her father and retreats to Nubia in the form of a lioness. Upon the Eye of Ra's eventual return to Egypt, she assumes the form of a hippopotamus”

#11427 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“Wadjet was closely associated in ancient Egyptian religion with the Eye of Ra and the Eye of Horus symbols, each powerful protective deities.”

#11502 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“These aspects of Hathor were linked with the myth of the Eye of Ra. The Eye was pacified by beer in the story of the Destruction of Mankind. In some versions of the Distant Goddess myth, the wandering Eye's wildness abated when she was appeased with products of civilization like music, dance, and wine.”

#14362 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001