Aker guards the Akhet in his double-lion form, his two heads watching east and west simultaneously to protect the sun's passage through the horizon at dawn and dusk.
The Akhet, the eastern horizon, marks the location of Aaru in Egyptian cosmology — the paradise lies in the realm of perpetual sunrise beyond where the sun emerges each dawn.
Apophis is defeated at the Akhet each dawn, his temporary triumph over the sun ending as Ra's barque passes through the horizon to bring light back to the world.
The Akhet marks the boundary between the visible world and the Duat, the horizon serving as the gateway through which Ra descends each evening into the underworld and emerges renewed each dawn.
Geb's body forms the horizons at Akhet where his surface meets the arching body of Nut, the eastern and western boundaries where earth and sky touch marking the sun's entrance and exit points.
Khepri appears at the Akhet each dawn, the eastern horizon serving as the gateway through which the scarab god pushes the reborn sun into the sky.
Ra passes through the Akhet twice each day, descending through the western horizon into the Duat at dusk and rising triumphant through the eastern horizon at dawn, his daily cycle of death and rebirth anchored to this threshold between worlds.
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