his daily course at a very early date.  R[=a] was supposed to sail over heaven in two boats, the [=A]TET or M[=A] TET boat in which he journeyed from sunrise until noon, and the SEKTET boat in which he journeyed from noon until sunset.  At his rising he was attacked by [=A]pep, a mighty “dragon” or serpent, the type of evil and darkness, and with this monster he did battle until the fiery darts which he discharged into the body of =Apep scorched and burnt him up; the fiends that were in attendance upon this terrible foe were also destroyed by fire, and their bodies were hacked in pieces.  A repetition of this story is given in the legend of the fight between Horus and Set, and in both forms it represented originally the fight which was supposed to go on daily between light and darkness.  Later, however, when Osiris had usurped the position of R[=a], and Horus represented a divine power who was about to avenge the cruel murder of his father, and the wrong which had been done to him, the moral conceptions of right and wrong, good and evil, truth and falsehood were applied to light and darkness, that is to say, to Horus and Set.

As R[=a] was the “father of the gods,” it was natural that every god should represent some phase of him, and that he should represent every god.  A good illustration of this fact is afforded by a Hymn to R[=a], a fine copy of which is found inscribed on the walls of the sloping corridor in the tomb of Seti I., about B.C. 1370, from which we quote the following:—­

  11.  “Praise be unto thee, O R[=a], thou exalted Power, who dost enter
  into the habitations of Ament, behold [thy] body is Temu.

  12.  “Praise be unto thee, O R[=a], thou exalted Power, who dost enter
  into the hidden place of Anubis, behold, [thy] body is Khepera.

  13.  “Praise be unto thee, O R[=a], thou exalted Power, whose duration
  of life is greater than that of the hidden forms, behold [thy] body is
  Shu.

  14.  “Praise be unto thee, O R[=a], thou exalted Power, .... behold
  [thy] body is Tefnut.

  15.  “Praise be unto thee, O R[=a], thou exalted Power, who bringest
  forth, green things in their season, behold [thy] body is Seb.

  16.  “Praise be unto thee, O R[=a], thou exalted Power, thou mighty
  being who dost judge,... behold [thy] body is Nut.

  17.  “Praise be unto thee, O R[=a], thou exalted Power, the lord....
  behold [thy] body is Isis.

  18.  “Praise be unto thee, O R[=a], thou exalted Power, whose head
  giveth light to that which is in front of thee, behold [thy] body is
  Nephthys.

  19.  “Praise be unto thee, O R[=a], thou exalted Power, thou source of
  the divine members, thou One, who bringest into being that which hath
  been begotten, behold [thy] body is Horus.