Friday, November 5, 2010

Alien Gods: Ra, the Eye of the Sun

Proponents of ancient astronaut theories often maintain that humans are either descendants or creations of beings who landed on Earth thousands of years ago. The most popular theory is that human knowledge, religion, and culture came from extraterrestrial visitors in ancient times. Ancient astronauts have been widely used as a plot device in science fiction, but the idea that ancient astronauts actually existed is not taken seriously by most academics.

Arguments can be made that the evidence for ancient astronauts comes from supposed gaps in historical and archaeological records, and they also maintain that absent or incomplete explanations of historical or archaeological data point to the existence of ancient astronauts. The evidence is said to include archaeological artifacts that are beyond the presumed technical capabilities of the historical cultures with which they are associated. This also includes artwork and legends that are interpreted as depicting extraterrestrial contact or technologies.

Notwithstanding these contentions, let us say that there is an axiom to the ancient astronaut theory. Then we need to ask, who were these beings? What did they represent to the inhabitants of earth? Where these beings the ancient Gods of antiquity?

I would like to periodically chronicle my speculation of how the native people interpreted these unknown entities, starting with RA, the Eye of the Sun.

P'TAH (Gods of Heaven came to Earth from the Celestial Disk) installed as Egypt's first Divine Ruler his own son RA. Once known as ATUM, he is probably the most important of Egyptian Gods and sails across the sky in his solar boat. The legend goes that mankind was formed from RA's tears. Need confirmation? Look above from the hot desert sands at the Sun...that's his all-powerful eye bearing down on you.

Ancient Egyptian legends tell of Tep Zepi, or the First Time. This is described as an age when "sky gods" came down to Earth and raised the land from mud and water. They supposedly flew through the air in flying "boats" and brought laws and wisdom to man through a royal line of pharaohs.

RA is said to have an unusual relationship with his wife, the Sky Goddess NUT. In the evening he sails through her mouth and then has to battle through her nightmare insides (The Milky Way). RA wends his way through twelve gates at the rate of one per hour avoiding malevolent monsters including the Snake God APEP who lies in wait hoping to go snatch him up. Once these perils are transversed, he then surfaces via NUT's birth canal to greet the new day. He's not alone in his journey. Other Gods - THOTH, MAAT, HATHOR, HORUS are the top cohorts, with ABTU, ANET and KHEPRI closely watching for trouble. The night boat is called Mantchet, and a day boat called Semketet, which they board in order to make their rounds. NUT gave birth to OSIRIS. At the time of OSIRIS' birth, a loud voice was heard all over the world, saying, "The lord of all the earth is born."

Many Gods try to emulate RA by adding his name to theirs for added glory. The most notable of these was AMUN-RA.

RA is the only god, apart from OSIRIS, who is definitely said to be not on the earth. RA, it is said, is an aging god, still powerful, but too old to deal with his children any longer, so he has gone exclusively to the sky to watch over the world. HORUS rules over the earth and the gods in his stead, demonstrating the divine right of kingship.

In the New Kingdom the god AMUN rose to prominence and was fused with RA as AMUN-TA. During the Amarna Period, Akhenaten suppressed the cult of RA in favour of another solar deity, the ATEN, the deified solar disc, but after the death of Akhenaten the cult of RA was restored.

What can be extracted for this information. Despite the building of elaborate structures like the Great Pyramid or the knowledge of technology even before their use of the wheel, the Egyptians were a remarkable civilization with a rich and vibrant history. If they were helped by so-called ancient astronauts, it would not take away any of their greatness and inspiration they have left for subsequent generations.

Images on the ceiling beams of a 3000-year old New Kingdom Temple,
located several hundred miles south of Cairo and the Giza Plateau, at Abydos
 
From this images we see many craft that resemble modern day flying machines

Alien Gods: Ra, the Eye of the Sun