Sun-god of Heliopolis (known to the Egyptians as Annu), head of the Heliopolitan ennead. He was considered self created and the creator of all. He is the father of Tefnut and Shu. Ra has been known by many names and takes many different forms. This makes him one of the most confusing gods to understand. At sunrise he is Khepera, represented by the sacred scarab. Around noon, when the sun is at its full power, he is Ra. At sunset, when the sun is said to be weak and growing old, he is Tem or Temu. He travels across the sky with the sun upon his head in two boats. The boat used in the morning is called Matet, which means becoming stronger. From midday on he travels in the Semktet (growing weak) boat. When he has set, he begins his journey into the underworld or the Duat/Tuat. Here he encounters many dangers and foes. Chief amoung them is a creature called Apep. He usually wins his battles with Apep and is then born anew as Khepera. On a number of occasions Ra has been merged with other solar deity. For example, one of the oldest sun gods was Horus (Heru), not be confused with Horus, son of Osiris. When these two gods merged they/he was called Ra-Harakhty, meaning Horus of the Horizon. In later times Ra was merged with the Theban god Amen, to become Amen-Ra.