
. . . . .One legend states that each day,
Ra was born and began a journey across the sky. Ra was believed to
travel in the Manjet-boat. or the 'Barque of Millions of Years'.
He was joined on this daily journey by a crew of many gods . The
Manjet-boat would sail through the twelve provinces, representing
the twelve hours of daylight. At the end of each day Ra was
thought to die and embarked on his night voyage. For this journey
he was called Auf, which means 'corpse'. Ra sailed in a boat
called the Mesektet-boat or night-barque on his journey through
the twelve hours of darkness.
. . . . .It was not always smooth sailing on these ships. During the day Ra had to defeat his chief enemy, a serpent or snake named Apep. A great battle was faught between Ra and Apep, and Ra was usually victorious, however on stormy days or during an eclipse the Egyptians believed that Apep had been victorious and swallowed the sun.
. . . . .Because no wind blows in the
Underworld, Auf (Ra) had to rely on various unfriendly spirits and
demons to help tow his barque along the river in the underworld.
Auf's main job in the Underworld was to bring light to the souls of
the dead as he passed through their realm. After his departure these
souls fell back into a lonely darkness. The Underworld of these early
solar myths was a very different place then the fields of peace that we find in the Osiris
cults of the later periods.