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How did ancient Egyptians connect three forms of the sun god with times of day?
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number symbolism
The head of a sunflower arranged in a Fibonacci sequence.
In ancient Egyptian religion, the sun god was associated with the number three to represent his daily cycle through the cosmos, reflecting his different states as he traversed the sky and the underworld. These three forms were connected to specific times of the day:12
- Khepri: Represented the morning sun, symbolizing the god at his rising.12
- Re: Represented the sun at its peak, symbolizing the god at midday.2
- Atum: Represented the evening sun, symbolizing the god as an old man at his setting.12
This cycle was central to Egyptian belief, as the sun god was thought to travel across the sky in a solar bark during the day and pass through the underworld at night, where he had to defeat the serpent Apopis to be reborn each morning.31