Book of the Heavenly Cow
The sun god's withdrawal from a rebellious humanity, after nearly annihilating it, explains why the divine and human realms are now permanently separated, and why kingship exists to manage what the gods no longer directly rule.
- the near-total destruction of humanity halted by trickery with beer
- the sun god's withdrawal from direct rule over mortals
- kingship instituted as delegated divine rule after Ra's withdrawal
- an etiological myth explaining death and divine distance
An origin myth inscribed on royal shrines and tomb walls, with earliest fragments in the shrine of Tutankhamun and the first complete version in the tomb of Seti I, telling how the aging sun god Ra, learning that humanity plots against him, sends the goddess Hathor as the fierce Eye of Re to slaughter them, then relents and tricks her into drunkenness with beer dyed red before mankind is fully destroyed. Disgusted and weary of ruling directly among mortals, Ra withdraws to the sky on the back of the celestial cow goddess Nut, appointing Thoth and other gods as delegated rulers, an etiology for both human mortality and the origin of earthly kingship.
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