Examples of solar deities from different cultures (from top): Helios, Ra, Amaterasu, and Tōnatiuh.

A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun or an aspect thereof. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The English word sun derives from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ.[1] The Sun is sometimes referred to by its Latin name Sol or by its Greek name Helios.

Overview

A solar representation on an anthropomorphic stele from Rocher des Doms, France, Chasséen culture, 5th-4th millennia BC

Predynasty Egyptian beliefs attribute Atum as the Sun god and Horus as a god of the sky and Sun. As the Old Kingdom theocracy gained influence, early beliefs were incorporated into the expanding popularity of Ra and the Osiris-Horus mythology. Atum became Ra-Atum, the rays of the setting Sun. Osiris became the divine heir to Atum's power on Earth and passed his divine authority to his son, Horus.[2][better source needed] Other early Egyptian myths imply that the Sun is incorporated with the lioness Sekhmet at night and is reflected in her eyes; or that the Sun is found within the cow Hathor during the night and reborn each morning as her son (bull).[3][better source needed]

Mesopotamian Shamash played an important role during the Bronze Age, and "my Sun" was eventually used to address royalty. Similarly, South American cultures have a tradition of Sun worship as with the Incan Inti.[4]

In Germanic mythology, the solar deity is Sol; in Vedic, Surya; and in Greek, Helios (occasionally referred to as Titan) and (sometimes) as Apollo. In Proto-Indo-European mythology the sun appears to be a multilayered figure manifested as a deity but also perceived as the eye of the sky father Dyeus.[5]

Solar myth

Three theories exercised great influence on nineteenth and early twentieth century mythography. The theories were the "solar mythology" of Alvin Boyd Kuhn and Max Müller, the tree worship of Mannhardt, and the totemism of J. F. McLennan.[6]

Müller's "solar mythology" was born from the study of Indo-European languages. Of them, Müller believed Archaic Sanskrit was the closest to the language spoken by the Aryans. Using the Sanskrit names for deities as a base, he applied Grimm's law to names for similar deities from different Indo-European groups to compare their etymological relationships to one another. In the comparison, Müller saw the similarities between the names and used these etymological similarities to explain the similarities between their roles as deities. Through the study, Müller concluded that the Sun having many different names led to the creation of multiple solar deities and their mythologies that were passed down from one group to another.[7]

R. F. Littledale criticized the Sun myth theory, pointing out that by his own principles, Max Müller was himself only a solar myth. Alfred Lyall delivered another attack on the same theory's assumption that tribal gods and heroes, such as those of Homer, were only reflections of the Sun myth by proving that the gods of certain Rajput clans were actual warriors who founded the clans a few centuries ago, and were the ancestors of the present chieftains.[6]

Solar vessels and chariots

Solar boats

Ra in his barque
The Nebra Sky Disc, Germany, c. 1800–1600 BC

The Sun was sometimes envisioned as traveling through the sky in a boat. A prominent example is the solar barque used by Ra in ancient Egyptian mythology.[8] The Neolithic concept of a "solar barge" (also "solar bark", "solar barque", "solar boat" and "sun boat", a mythological representation of the Sun riding in a boat) is found in the later myths of ancient Egypt, with Ra and Horus. Several Egyptian kings were buried with ships that may have been intended to symbolize the solar barque,[9] including the Khufu ship that was buried at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza.[10]

Solar boats and similar vessels also appear in Indo-European mythologies, such as a 'hundred-oared ship' of Surya in the Rig Veda, the golden boat of Saulė in Baltic mythology, and the golden bowl of Helios in Greek mythology.[11][12] Numerous depictions of solar boats are known from the Bronze Age in Europe.[13][14][15] Possible solar boat depictions have also been identified in Neolithic petroglyphs from the Megalithic culture in western Europe,[16] and in Mesolithic petroglyphs from northern Europe.[17]

Examples of solar vessels include:

Solar chariots

The Trundholm sun chariot, Denmark, c. 1500-1300 BC

The concept of the "solar chariot" is younger than that of the solar barge and is typically Indo-European, corresponding with the Indo-European expansion after the invention of the chariot in the 2nd millennium BC.[26] The reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European religion features a "solar chariot" or "sun chariot" with which the Sun traverses the sky.[27]

Chariots were introduced to Egypt in the Hyksos period, and were seen as solar vehicles associated with the sun god in the subsequent New Kingdom period.[28] A gold solar boat model from the tomb of Queen Ahhotep, dating from the beginning of the New Kingdom (c. 1550 BC), was mounted on four-spoked chariot wheels.[29] Similarities have been noted with the Trundholm Sun Chariot from Denmark, dating from c. 1500–1400 BC, which was also mounted on four-spoked wheels.[18]

Examples of solar chariots include:

In Chinese culture, the sun chariot is associated with the passage of time. For instance, in the poem Suffering from the Shortness of Days, Li He of the Tang dynasty is hostile towards the legendary dragons that drew the sun chariot as a vehicle for the continuous progress of time.[33] The following is an excerpt from the poem: