Topic Archive

Myths about Ra

Explore myths connected by the recurring theme of Ra across cultures, characters, and sacred places.

413 myths currently featured for Ra.

The Dismemberment of Pentheus

🏛️ Greek MythologyMount Cithaeron, Boeotia, GreecePentheus • Dionysus • Agave

King Pentheus of Thebes attempts to suppress the newly arrived cult of Dionysus, only to be lured onto Mount Cithaeron in disguise. There, under the influence of divine madness, the Maenads—led by his own mother Agave—mistake him for a wild beast and tear him apart. The tragedy serves as a grim warning against the rejection of the divine and the dangers of extreme hubris.

Tydeus’ Cannibalism at the Gates of Thebes

🏛️ Greek MythologyThebes, GreeceTydeus • Athena • Melanippus

During the siege of the Seven against Thebes, the hero Tydeus was mortally wounded by the defender Melanippus. Although the goddess Athena intended to grant Tydeus immortality, his savage act of consuming Melanippus's brain in a fit of rage horrified her. Consequently, Athena withdrew her divine gift, and Tydeus died as a mortal on the battlefield.

The Seven Against Thebes

🏛️ Greek MythologyThe Seven Gates of ThebesEteocles • Polynices • Adrastus

Following the exile of King Oedipus, his sons Eteocles and Polynices agreed to share the throne of Thebes by alternating power each year. However, Eteocles refused to step down after his term, prompting Polynices to raise an army of seven champions from Argos to reclaim his birthright. The resulting siege ended in a tragic duel at the seventh gate where the brothers killed one another,...

Antigone’s Defiance of King Creon to Bury Her Brother

🏛️ Greek MythologyThe Seven Gates of Thebes, GreeceAntigone • Creon • Ismene

Following a bloody civil war between the sons of Oedipus, King Creon decrees that Polyneices must remain unburied as a traitor. His sister Antigone defies the royal edict to uphold divine law, leading to a tragic confrontation between the power of the state and the duties of the family.

Oedipus’ Discovery of His Tragic Fate and Self-Blinding

🏛️ Greek MythologyPalace of Thebes, GreeceOedipus • Jocasta • Creon

King Oedipus of Thebes discovers that he has unwittingly fulfilled a horrific prophecy by killing his father, Laius, and marrying his mother, Jocasta. Upon the devastating revelation of his true identity and the source of a plague ravaging his city, Oedipus blinds himself in a fit of grief and shame. The story concludes with his fall from power and his request to be exiled from the land he...

Oedipus’ Solving of the Sphinx’s Riddle

🏛️ Greek MythologyMount Phikion (Sphingion), Boeotia, GreeceOedipus • The Sphinx • Laius

Seeking to save the city of Thebes from a murderous monster, the traveler Oedipus confronts the Sphinx on Mount Phikion. The Sphinx, a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a woman, poses a deadly riddle to all who pass: 'What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?' Oedipus correctly identifies the answer as 'Man,' causing the Sphinx to...

Cadmus’ Slaying of the Ismenian Dragon and the Founding of Thebes

🏛️ Greek MythologyCadmea (Acropolis of Thebes)Cadmus • Europa • Agenor

Following the disappearance of his sister Europa, the Phoenician prince Cadmus was led by a prophetic cow to the site of Boeotian Thebes. There, he slew a monstrous dragon guarding a sacred spring and sowed its teeth into the earth, giving rise to the Spartoi, the legendary ancestors of the Theban nobility. This founding myth explains the establishment of the Cadmea and the introduction of...

Orestes’ Revenge Against Clytemnestra and Aegisthus

🏛️ Greek MythologyPalace of Mycenae, Peloponnese, GreeceOrestes • Clytemnestra • Aegisthus

After the murder of King Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, the young prince Orestes is forced into exile. Years later, commanded by the god Apollo, Orestes returns to his ancestral home in Mycenae to seek vengeance. Alongside his sister Electra and his loyal friend Pylades, he orchestrates a deadly plan to reclaim the throne and punish those who betrayed his father.

The Murder of Agamemnon

🏛️ Greek MythologyPalace of Mycenae, Peloponnese, GreeceAgamemnon • Clytemnestra • Aegisthus

Upon his victorious return from the Trojan War, King Agamemnon is murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. The assassination is a carefully orchestrated act of revenge for Agamemnon's earlier sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia. This betrayal marks a dark climax in the curse of the House of Atreus, leading to further cycles of vengeance.

Philoctetes’ Abandonment on Lemnos and the Bow of Heracles

🏛️ Greek MythologyMount Mosychlos, Lemnos, GreecePhiloctetes • Heracles • Odysseus

Philoctetes, a legendary archer and bearer of the Bow of Heracles, was abandoned on the desolate island of Lemnos by his fellow Greeks after suffering a debilitating and foul-smelling snake bite. For ten years, he survived in isolation until a prophecy revealed that Troy could only be defeated with his help. The story follows the moral conflict of the young Neoptolemus and the eventual...