Comparative Civilizations
The Story of Re
Bouchard
January 22 2018
Option #4.
I decided to research the ancient Egyptians and found a popular power story most referred to
as “The Myth of Creation” or “The Story of Re(more commonly known as Ra the Sun God)”.
This is the creation story of Egypt and explains many of their belief systems. The story begins
with a great darkness, the only thing in existence being a vast plain of water called Nun. The
water had so much power that out of the water came an egg, which was Re. Re was
omnipotent and his power came from his secret name. However, if he spoke other names, they
came into being. He then speaks many names and creates the earth and everything on it. Each
name he speaks becomes a God. The God of the earth was called Geb, and the Goddess of
the sky was called Nut. After he finished he created man. He then became the shape of man
and ruled over man as the first Pharaoh for thousands of years before becoming old. In his old
age man made fun of his age and stopped obeying him. Re then summoned all the Gods he
created together and consulted Nun, the great power which created him, about what he should
do. Nun tells him to send destruction upon man in the form of his daughter Sekhmet. He does,
and Sekhmet kills many who disobeyed. After a while Re feels pity for man and gets Sekhmet
to stop killing by coloring beer red and spreading it around the fields where Sekhmet was going
