Abstrakt
Several gods with connection to the sun are known from the Old Kingdom period. Unfortunately, solar characteristics of most of these deities have mainly been overlooked.
The main solar god Re has been of the biggest interest among many scholars and furthermore, according to some opinions the cult of this divinity is equalled to the sun cult. This statement does not seem likely, though, because gods such as Atum, Shu, Horus, Sokar, Nefertem or Weneg also have solar aspects and therefore, they should be taken into consideration as well.
Even some goddesses (Hathor, Sakhmet) were related to the sun, or more precisely to its manifestations. But this paper deals only with male deities whereas female divinities are put aside.
This poster is based on analysis of selected written sources of the Old Kingdom coming from the Memphite area, such as the Palermo Stone, the papyri from Abusir, seal impressions, faience inlays from the mortuary temple of Raneferef etc. Most of these sources have not been studied in this way so far.
The material is rather selective and is somehow connected to the royal sphere. The majority of evidence is dated to the 5th Dynasty, what seems to be the period when the cult of Re is on its zenith.
Therefore, it is worth comparing frequency of attestations of Re and other deities with solar aspects in these sources. The Pyramid Texts, however, are put aside for this time.
Hand in hand with analysis of written material goes study of theophoric personal names and titles mentioning the above mentioned deities. But in this case, the study built not only upon the cited written sources, but also upon indexes of personal names and titles which have been already published.
Some interesting pieces of epigraphic evidence are also taken into consideration. Number of the Old-Kingdom sources is quite huge to study them all.
However, this sondage could bring interesting and significant information concerning various gods of very important sun cult.