• Personification of the Sun
• Created the world
• Created humankind from his own tears

Egyptian sun god and creator god. He is usually depicted in human form with a falcon head, crowned with the sun disc encircled by the uraeus (a stylized representation of the sacred asp). The sun itself was taken to be either his body or his eye. His principal cult centre was at Heliopolis. Re was also considered to be an underworld god, closely associated in this respect with Osiris. By the third millennium B.C. Re's prominence had already become such that the pharaohs took to styling themselves "sons of Re". According to one tradition, Re is said to have created himself out of the mound that grew from the primeval lotus blossom. He then created Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), who in turn engendered the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut.