What is the boat of the sun in Egyptian myth?

The sun crosses the sky in one boat by day and the netherworld in another by night, and the dead hope to ride with him.

What the sign shows: A boat on the water.
How Gerald Massey read it in 1907: Massey follows the boat from the papyrus float of the child Horus to the bark of Ra, and from there to the arks of the flood stories.
Where you see it today: A full-size cedar boat of King Khufu, buried beside the Great Pyramid, has survived and is on display in Egypt.
Where it stands in Massey’s book: Massey names it 108 times across the book. Book XII, p. 830: “The boat of souls”; Book VI, p. 395: “Towing the boat of the sun”; Book XII, p. 827: “The teller in the boat of Ra”.
Signs that look like it: Horizon, Crocodile and Sun disk. The app’s Symbol Trainer sets them side by side, so the eye learns to tell them apart.
In Massey’s words: “He is reborn as Horus on his papyrus, an earlier figure on the water than the bark of Ra.” (Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World (1907), Book IV, p. 206)
In the app: Trainer › Symbol Trainer › Boat of the sun. The app’s Symbol Trainer reads 42 signs this way, each with Massey’s own words and the page they stand on.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

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