The Cycle of the Sun's Rebirth
In ancient Egyptian mythology two parallel yet interconnected forms of afterlife exist cyclical and eternally linear. Both forms share corresponding temporal aspects this process is the rebirth of the sun and the souls of the dead from the underworld to the world of the living every morning. The dead are reborn in a cycle a resurrection pattern mirroring the sun.
The cosmological relationship of the gods involves Osiris the god of death who is reborn in a cycle like the sun god appearing on the ceiling of Ramses' tomb resurrected in the east at dawn and reappearing on the eastern horizon. This cyclical parallel gender element signifies the rebirth of the sun a crucial moment in the process that akin to the creation of the rebirth mechanism. The sun receives new life energy and thus Osiris is able to come back to life in the ritual texts of ancient Egyptian mythology. This fusion of human characteristics and the geographical features of the western horizon is depicted in the Book of the Dead.
The frescoes inside the tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses VI in the Valley of the Kings depict scenes from the "Book of the Earth" an ancient Egyptian religious record concerning the cosmology and the afterlife.
The tomb walls are adorned with carvings and ancient texts including the Book of Gates and the Book of Caverns which depict the tomb's interior as an underground river through which the sun and the pharaoh sailed at night overcoming obstacles and being resurrected at dawn. The architecture is a display of light with the pharaoh's symbol being the sun disc often depicted as a human with a falcon's head with the solar disc surrounded by cobras on its head. The tomb of Ramses and its connection to the sun The tombs of the Ramsesian pharaohs are designed to reflect the sun's journey and its path to the afterlife.
The life-giving power of the sun and the god Ra Ancient Egyptians believed that Ra created the universe sailing his solar barque across the sky during the day to provide light and growth to all life. In the Abu Simbel temple of Pharaoh Ramses II the magic of sunlight shining directly into the sacred chambers illuminates the statues of the pharaoh and other gods merging with other deities such as Amun to form Amun-Ra the king of the Egyptian gods in the New Kingdom. The sun god the heart of the universe and the source of all energy represents life growth and resurrection.
Just as the sun rises and sets daily receiving new life energy Osiris is thus able to come back to life in the ritual texts of ancient Egyptian mythology a fusion of human characteristics and the geographical features of the western horizon. In creation myths… Ancient Egyptians believed that the god Ra was born from the ocean of chaos creating himself and light. He is often symbolized by a sun halo or a man with the head of a falcon like Horus covered with a cobra Uraeus representing supreme power. As he grew older he eventually merged with other gods such as Amun-Ra in Thebes becoming the supreme deity of Egypt worshipped for thousands of years.
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