Life could not exist without the sun, and as a result of this some ancient civilizations worshipped the sun as a god. In ancient Egypt, the people believed that there were several different sun gods. One such god was Ra, the sun god of ancient Egyptian mythology. He was usually shown with a hawk's head on a human body. He was said to have controlled the universe by rowing the sun across the sky in his boat, taking the world from day to night and then back to day again.
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This article appeared in the February 1996 newsletter.