The title of Pharaoh applied to their kings is derived from Phaa or Ra, the midday sun, and the notion was taught that kingly power was derived from the supreme solar deity. The divine right of kings was thus an article of faith among the ancient Egyptians. He was the head of their religious system, defender of the faith; and in all matters, ecclesiastical as well as civil, the king was supreme. He was consequently instructed in the mysteries of the gods, the services of the temples, and the duties of the priesthood. The Theban kings claimed relationship with Amen, the supreme god of Thebes; and most kings also claimed Ra, the supreme solar deity, worshipped at Heliopolis, as their grand ancestor.
Sun’s Disk (aten) was the emblem of Ra, who was said to have in perfection all the attributes possessed by inferior deities. He was all in all; from him came, and to him return, the souls of men.
Ra or Phra was, properly speaking, the mid-day sun; and as the sun shines with greatest power and brightness at mid-day, the attributes of majesty and authority were intimately associated with this deity. Amen-Ra, the god of Thebes, was supposed to possess the attributes of Amen and Ra.
The ATEN was originally circular, and thus in shape resembled the sun’s disk, but in many inscriptions the shape is oval, or that of an oblate-spheroid, considerably flattened at top and bottom.
Chessboard (men) is by many thought to be a battlemented wall, but it is probably a chessboard; for at Thebes a picture represents Rameses III. playing a game at chess, or some kindred game. What appears to be a battlement is really the chessmen on the board.
Men, as part of the divine name of Thothmes, may be the shortened form of Amen, the supreme god of Thebes, just as Tum is the shortened form of Atum. Ptah was the supreme god of Memphis, and Ra the supreme god of Heliopolis. Amen literally means “the concealed one,” and was the name applied to the sun after it had sunk below the horizon. He was reputed to be the oldest and most venerable of deities, called the “dweller in eternity,” and the source of light and life. Before the creation he dwelt alone in the lower world, but on his saying “come,” the sun appeared, and drove away the darkness of night. Sometimes he is called Amen-Ra, and his principal temple was at Thebes. He is generally represented by the figure of a man with his face concealed under the head of a horned ram. The figure is coloured blue, the sacred colour of the source of life.
Sacred Beetle (kheper) usually called scarabeus or scarabee. It was thought that the beetle hid its eggs in the sand, where they remained until the young beetles broke forth to life. Thus the scarabeus became the symbol of the resurrection and a future life.
According to Cooper, the sacred beetle was in the habit of laying its eggs in a ball of clay, which it kept rolling until the eggs were vivified by the heat of the sun. The beetle thus became the emblem of the sun, the vivifier, and was therefore consecrated to Ra, who is on that account called Ra-Kheper.
When dedicated to Ra, the beetle holds the cosmic ball between its front legs. Sometimes it is an emblem of the world, and is then consecrated to Ptah, the creator of heaven and earth.