Ra was the first Goa'uld encountered by Stargate Command. A dying Goa'uld trying to cheat death, he found immortality in the body of a young boy from Ancient Egypt approximately 8,000 years ago. After a revolt on Earth, he escaped through the Stargate to Abydos, bringing thousands of people from Earth to serve him - the Abydonians. The Abydonians later rebelled and Ra was killed aboard his mothership that was orbiting Abydos.
Myths of Ra:
From very early times Ra was a sun god. He took on many of the attributes
and names of other gods as Egyptian myths evolved. An example of this
is the god Ra and Amun merging to become Amun-Ra or Ra and Horus combining
to become Ra-Harakhte. One legend states that each day, Ra was born and
began a journey across the sky. Ra was believed to travel in the Manjet-boat,
or the 'Barque of Millions of Years'. A crew of many gods joined him on
this daily journey. The Manjet-boat would sail through the twelve provinces,
representing the twelve hours of daylight. At the end of each day Ra was
to die and embarked on his night voyage. For this journey he was called
Auf, which means 'corpse'. Ra sailed in a boat called the Mesektet-boat
or night-barque on his journey through the twelve hours of darkness. During
the day Ra had to defeat his chief enemy, Apep. A great battle was fought
between Ra and Apep, and Ra was usually victorious, however on stormy
days or during an eclipse the Egyptians believed that Apep had been victorious
and swallowed the sun. Because no wind blows in the Underworld, Ra had
to rely on unfriendly spirits and demons to help tow his barque along
the river in the underworld. Ra's main job in the Underworld was to bring
light to the souls of the dead as he passed through their realm. After
his departure these souls fell back into darkness. The Underworld of these
early solar myths was a very different place then the fields of peace
that we find in the Osiris cults of the later periods. He is often pictured
as a hawk or as a hawk headed man with a solar disk encircled by a uraeus
on his head. He is often pictured wearing the double crown of upper and
Lower Egypt. He is father of the first divine couple, Shu and Tefnut,
Grandfather to Geb and Nut, whose children were Osiris and Isis, Seth
and Nephthys and his other names are Re and Phra.
He was born in California but raised in the white middle-class surroundings of Hertfordshire, England. After being discovered at a London wrap party for Derek Jarman's "Edward II", he made a big splash with a screen debut in Neil Jordan's "The Crying Game". His remarkable achievement was acknowledged with an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He next landed a starring role in the science fiction epic, "Stargate" playing the sun god Ra, a villainous force who rules a parallel universe that echoes the Egypt of Hollywood biblical movies. Though Janet Maslin of THE NEW YORK TIMES noted that the part didn't involve much acting, she added that Davidson "makes the perfect Ra mannequin".
The Crying Game (1992) He played Dil
Jiggery Pokery (1994)
Stargate (1994) He played Ra
Catwalk (1995) He played Himself
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