Ra Tattoo Meaning
The sun, power, rebirth, and the daily death and return of light.
Ra is the supreme sun god of ancient Egypt — the creator and king of the gods, who sails his solar barque across the sky each day and battles through the underworld each night to be reborn at dawn. Every sunrise is his victory, every day his journey, the daily proof that light returns and darkness does not last. To carry Ra is to carry the sun, creation, and the cycle of death and rebirth — the supreme solar god whose daily journey across the sky and through the night is the eternal triumph of light over darkness, life renewed with every dawn.
Ra (Re) was the supreme sun god of ancient Egypt and, for much of Egyptian history, the king of the gods and the creator deity. He was the sun itself in its full power, and the source of all life, light, warmth, and growth; from him, in the great creation myths, the other gods and all of creation emerged. So central was Ra that the pharaohs styled themselves 'Son of Ra,' and the greatest gods were merged with him to share his supremacy — most importantly as Amun-Ra, uniting the hidden god Amun with the visible sun.
Ra was typically depicted as a falcon-headed man crowned with the solar disk encircled by a serpent. Each day he sailed across the sky in his solar barque, the Mandjet, carrying the sun from horizon to horizon and pouring life upon the world. As the daily sun and the creator king, Ra was the radiant center of Egyptian religion — the god whose light was life itself, presiding over the cosmos from the heavens. The Egyptian Ra is the supreme sun god — the creator and king of the gods, the sun itself and source of all life, who sails his barque across the sky crowned with the solar disk, the radiant center of Egyptian religion.
Ra was the most important deity in the Egyptian pantheon — pharaohs claimed descent from him and bore the title 'Son of Ra.' Each night, Ra's solar barque descended into the Duat (underworld) where the serpent Apophis tried to swallow him. Each night he defeated the serpent; each dawn he was reborn. This daily cycle made Ra the ultimate symbol of resilience. In tattoo symbolism, Ra represents the certainty that no matter how dark the passage, the sun will return.
Ra across cultures
The Tattoo Concept Builder walks you from feeling to symbol to a concept you can take to your artist — built from your story, not a Pinterest board.
Build your concept →