Funerary stela featuring Re on the left with a sun disk on his head and a scepter in his hands. From Thebes, Dynasty 22 or 23 (945-712 B.C.).
To the ancient Egyptians, the sun was considered to be the god, Re. Re was worshipped at his primary cult center at the city of On (Heliopolis) as well as throughout the country. During the Fifth Dynasty (2500-2350 B.C.), Egyptian kings first called themselves the "Son of Re," a designation that remained part of the royal titulary thereafter. Re could be combined with a variety of different gods; for example, he joined with Horus to form Re-Horakhty, or "Horus in the Horizon," a form of the morning sun. Re was often shown as a man with a falcon head similar in appearance to the god Horus. He was believed to travel across the sky as the sun in a solar boat together with his daughter Maát, and steered by the god Thoth.
