Personification of the midday sun, he was also venerated as Atum (setting sun) and Khepri (rising sun), which were later combined with him. He traveled across the sky each day and then each night, the monster Apep would attempt to prevent his return. Other myths held that Ra spent the night in the underworld consoling the dead. The god of the pharaohs, from the fourth dynasty onward all pharaohs termed themselves 'sons of Ra,' and after death they joined his entourage. He was portrayed with the head of a falcon, and crowned with the sun disk.