5th Dynasty - The sun cult is promoted. A sun temple is built at Abu Ghorub as well as a small pyramid at Saqqara.

The worship of Ra, the great sun god, chief of the cosmic deities, was perhaps more closely related to the fate of the royal house than to that of the people, but his cult was nevertheless one of the most important in ancient Egypt. His symbol the pyramid became the design of the monumental tombs of the Egyptian Pharaohs. Ra was said, in fact, to be the direct ancestor of the Pharaohs of Egypt, and in certain hymns was even addressed as a dead Pharaoh. But he was more specifically thought of as a living power, whose daily cycle of birth, journey, and death was a fundamental theme in Egyptian life.