Image Details

E. Stronhal/Werner Forman/Art Resource, NY

Ancient Egyptians believed that the sun god, Re, achieved nightly regeneration by temporarily coupling with Osiris, god of the netherworld. This single being was often depicted as a ram-headed, mummiform Re-Osiris, as seen in this wall painting from the tomb of Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens. Although Re was usually represented as a hawk-headed human figure wearing a sun-disk headdress, in depictions of the sun god sailing through the underworld on a solar barque he is portrayed as a ram-headed being.