Gods
No, the children that surrounded Ra were not gods. From what I know the children were just to keep him company, and protect him in cases like that. Most people would have a hard time firing on children. They were also the most beautiful children and healthiest, guessing they might have been used as of course personal servants, but as wives as they got older to produce sons for him to carry on his legacy. The cat is a symbol of Bast and was revered as the god in that form so they were definitely kept and taken care of to keep the goddess in their good graces. If you recall, in the version that has the extra scenes, a young boy holds a cat and directs Jackson to where Ra was bathing, this was after he was revived in the Sarcoughagus. As Jackson walks by the throne of Ra the cat is sitting in it looking like the goddess herself, it was very cool. He pets her as he walks by and then goes to see Ra. The children helped him bathe, they dressed him and took care of him. Any symbols on them were probably the one of Ra, basically saying they're his. I know Anubis, his First Prime, had the eye of Ra on his right shoulder. Also, while the battle was raging outside at the end, Ra was in his chambers playing games with the children. He became mad when the children wanted to watch what was happening and ignored him.
Ra basically was the most important god for a while, but throughout history it changed and different cities changed the myths to make their god the most important. It's very confusing and there's no one rule as to how it all works. But for the most part Ra was the sun god and was held as a very important god not to be messed with because without the sun there would be no life. He could use his destrying rays and wipe out mankind anytime he wanted to. Without his daily journey across the sky there would be no days and nights and life would end. As long as the people kept him happy he'd keep rise and set every day and keep the earth warm and make things grow. Each god had his/her own duties and some overlapped but you'd be amazed how many god there were and what for.
Anyway, hope this helps. I've seen the movie so many times it's scary. Later, SS
