星空故事：太陽傳說

放大圖片

　在埃及傳說中，太陽的火球代表偉大的神祇拉(見圖)，每天，拉必須於西方下降至陰間與冥神歐西里斯會合，並於次日重生。對古埃及人來說，這象徵死亡與重生的循環更替，拉亦順理成章為埃及的重要神祇之一。在法老王阿肯那頓統治埃及的時期(公元前1353至1336年)，他積極推行重大的宗教改革，只崇拜唯一的天神阿頓。不過這場改革並無得到認受。阿肯那頓統治17年，他去世後不久，就由其子圖坦卡頓(意即阿頓的化身)更替成為新的法老，新宗教隨之被廢。圖坦卡頓在位第三年，更改名為圖坦卡門，振興舊宗教體制的地位。若非考古學家在1922年意外發現他的陵寢，這位現時最為世人熟悉的年輕法老，可能會一直被埋在時間的巨輪中。

Legend of the Sun

　The Sun's disk represented Re, a major god of the Egyptian mythology. Every evening Re sank into the underworld to join Osiris(who symbolized the cycle of life)and was reborn at sunrise. Egyptians viewed this as a natural phenomenal affirmation of life over death. During Akhenaten's rule(1353-1336 B.C.)he replaced Re with Aten who bestowed life through his light. So Aten was identified with the rays of the Sun. But this reformation of the Egyptian religion was not long-lasting. Akhenaten ruled for 17 years. Two years after his death, his son, Tutankhaten(meaning "living image of Aten"), became pharaoh and the cult of Aten was eradicated. In Tut's third regnal year, the young king changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun. The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 has made the king the most well-known one of all Egyptian pharaohs.

　圖片鳴謝：Jeff Dahl(This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Re-Horakhty.svg)　■甄枝強　資深天文愛好者