Solar barques were the vessels used by the Solar deity Ra in ancient Egyptian mythology. During the day, Ra was said to use a vessel called the Mandjet () or the Boat of Millions of Years (), and the vessel he used during the night was known as the Mesektet ().
Myth
According to Egyptian myth, when Ra became too old and weary to reign on earth he relinquished and went to the skies.
Ra was said to travel through the sky on the barge, providing light to the world.
[.] Each twelfth of his journey formed one of the twelve
Egyptian hours of the day, each overseen by a protective deity. When the sun set and twilight came, he and his vessel passed through the
akhet, the horizon, in the west, and traveled to the underworld.
(left and front of barque) and Heka (right and behind of barque), surrounded by the protective coiled serpent deity
Mehen.]]At times the horizon is described as a gate or door that leads to the Duat. There he would have to sail on the subterrestrial
Nile and cross through the twelve gates and regions,
[Hart 1986, pp. 68–72.] with each hour of the night considered a gate overseen by twelve more protective deities. Every night enormous serpent
Apep, the god of chaos (
isfet) attempted to attack Ra and stop the sun-boat's journey. After defeating the snake, Ra would leave the underworld, returning emerging at dawn, lighting the day again.
He was said to travel across the sky in his falcon-headed form on the Mandjet Barque through the hours of the day, and then switch to the Mesektet Barque in his ram-headed form to descend into the underworld for the hours of the night.
Funerary practices and religion
In folklore, a boat of this kind is used by the sun god. Thus, as the
pharaoh was a representation of the sun god on earth, the king would use a similar boat upon his death to travel through the underworld on their journey to the afterlife.
One of the most well known examples of this is the Khufu ship, which was built and then buried at Giza along with Khufu and the rest of the items he would take with him to the afterlife.
See also
