Apep: Battles With Ra

Apep’s battles with Ra are used to explain night, day, and natural phenomena. The legend is thus: every day, Apep stretches himself out on the horizon, and waits for Ra to travel across the sky. When the sun disappeared, he was to be battling Apep all night. When he had finally beaten back Apep, Ra would ascend once more, and the whole process would begin again. However, sometimes, Apep got the upper hand, and sometimes even, the battle was especially violent. Naturally, these were often during a solar eclipse, when the Egyptians said, Ra had been swallowed by Apep; but his comrades set him free so that he was only out of view for a few minutes. Ra’s battles with Apep were also a means of explaining earthquakes, and thunderstorms.

Other explanations for the occasional earthquake, was that this was because of Apep’s powerful roar, from inside his prison in the Underworld. Some Egyptian mythology implies that Apep was actually at one point a powerful chief god, and that it was Ra who had overthrown him, and then imprisoned him, –hence their violent acquaintance. Other legends stated that it was simply because Apep was evil, that he had been trapped in the underworld.

Some areas of mythology insinuate also that Apep was not merely a prisoner of the Underworld, but that he was an actually, sentient part of the subterranean land of the dead. When Ra dipped below the horizon, Apep immediately began fighting with Ra; and trying to keep him trapped in the Underworld. But, every morning, Ra would escape Apep’s coils, and rise into the sky. In the case that Apep had actually been part of a preceding mythological system, it’s a shame that there’s nothing left but him.