Apophis

Apep, better Apep, better known as Apophis, which is the Greek translation of his name, was the Egyptian god of chaos and darkness, which puts him at odds with Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun. In Egyptian mythology Ra’s umbilical cord turned into a snake named Apep. Apep was the god of the sun before Ra and some other gods overthrew him and Ra became the sun god. After this defeat Apep was banished the underworld, the land of the dead. Ra, after his trek through the sky goes under the horizon and into the underworld. He’ll go through the underworld and arise in the dawn, but first he must get past Apep, his nemesis. Apep uses any means possible to him to stop Ra and make it so that the sun never rises and the world is plunged into darkness. In some stories he awaits Ra right where he comes into the underworld and in others he hides just before the dawn. In some stories he hypnotizes the Ra and any other gods he may have asked for help, with Set being the only one immune. Sometimes he eats Ra and his sun boat whole, and Ra has to cut himself out. Despite all these failures Apep knows that he has to only succeed once for the world to turn to chaos. Apep is most often depicted as a dark snake that is 16 meters long and can unhinge its jaw. In Greek and Roman retellings say he is a golden snake several miles long with a head of flint. But there are some depictions of him as a Nile crocodile or dragon. Since he is in the underworld the Egyptians believe he eats the souls of the dead, creating the tradition of burying the dead with a list of methods to beat Apep.