Mythology & Religion Power Ranking TOP100
This article introduces Rank 17: Ra from the “Mythology & Religion Power Ranking TOP100”, which ranks the gods, monsters, and heroes of world mythology, religion, and legend in order of strength.
If you want to see the full TOP100 list and the criteria behind the rankings, check out the overview article below.
Rank 17: Ra (Egyptian Mythology)
Overview
Ra is the sun god of Egyptian mythology and holds one of the highest divine statuses in the pantheon. He crosses the heavens each day aboard a solar barque, illuminating the earth during the day, and sails through the underworld at night to bring about a new morning.
Ra’s creative power is immense — he is also said to have brought forth all life, including the Egyptian land and humanity itself.
Ra is also a symbol of immortality and rebirth. As suggested by the rising of the sun, he was believed to revive no matter how many times he died (in practice, it is Apep that is defeated every day). Ra’s greatest enemy is the chaos serpent Apep (also known as Apophis).
Every night, Ra faces Apep’s assault and fights his way through to reclaim the light of the sun, eternally illuminating the world. In these battles, many gods including Set serve as guardians of his barque, and while Ra cannot permanently destroy Apep in the myths, he consistently succeeds in repelling it.
Ranking Reason
Ra holds the highest divine status among the gods of Egyptian mythology, wielding the absolute authority of the sun.
It is somewhat unclear whether he can directly use the sun’s power in combat, since technically it is the solar barque that illuminates the world. However, given that he continues to repel Apep night after night, one can conclude that the authority of the sun is fully available to him in battle.
There is also the theory that Apep is weakened by Ra’s solar power, which is why Set and the other gods are able to fight it at all.
Furthermore, since Ra is a symbol of resurrection and rebirth, he is likely similar to Apep in that “complete death does not exist” for him — meaning he essentially never loses a battle in a permanent sense.
On top of that, the fact that he possesses world-creating power clearly makes him superior to destroyer-level deities. Taking all of this into account, I judged this ranking position to be appropriate.
Incidentally, Ra is the de facto supreme god of Egyptian mythology, but there is actually a higher form called “Amun-Ra” — a syncretic deity combining the primordial god Amun with Ra — which is frequently considered the king of the gods (supreme deity) in Egyptian mythology.
I considered whether to include Amun-Ra in this ranking, but since Amun himself has very few associated myths, I determined it was too difficult to assign him an individual rank, and so only Ra has been included here.
About the Book
I wrote a book that compiles this entire ranking! The reasoning behind each placement is grounded in the actual lore and episodes from each mythology, so I think it makes for a fairly convincing read.
The book also contains many columns and extras not published on this blog, so if you are interested, please check it out below.
📚 Series: Mythology Power Ranking (Individual Characters) (84/100)
