The Solar Barque of Ra
The two celestial boats in which the sun god Ra sails: the day barque Mandjet crossing the sky and the night barque Mesektet crossing the Duat, the underworld, where the crew repel the serpent Apep with spears and enchantments so that dawn can return. The nightly battle myth inspired real solar barques buried beside temples and pyramids, most famously the dismantled cedar boat entombed beside the Great Pyramid at Giza, so that the king might make the same journey after death. The journey itself was written into the Pyramid Texts and the later Books of the Day and Night, which describe the gate