List of solar deities

Solar Apollo with the radiant halo of Helios in a floor mosaic, El Djem, Tunisia, late 2nd century.

A solar deity is a god or goddess who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The following is a list of solar deities:

African mythology

Australian Aboriginal mythology

  • Bila, cannibal sun goddess of the Adnyamathanha
  • Gnowee, solar goddess who searches daily for her lost son; the light of her torch is the sun
  • Wala, solar goddess
  • Wuriupranili, solar goddess whose torch is the sun
  • Yhi, Karraur goddess of the sun, light and creation

Ainu mythology

  • Chup Kamui, a lunar goddess who switched places with her brother to become goddess of the sun

Arabian mythology

Aztec mythology

Baltic mythology

  • Saulė, goddess of the sun and fertility

Basque mythology

  • Ekhi, goddess of the sun and protector of humanity

Brazilian mythology

Buddhist mythology

  • Marici, goddess of the heavens, sun and light
  • Surya, the deity of the sun (Suriya Pariththa, Suthra Pitaka, Pali canon, Theravada Buddhism)

Canaanite mythology

Celtic mythology

  • Áine, Irish goddess of love, summer, wealth and sovereignty, associated with the sun and midsummer
  • Alaunus, Gaulish god of the sun, healing and prophecy
  • Belenos, Gaulish god of the sun
  • Gronw Pebr, Welsh figure occasionally constructed as a god of light.
  • Étaín, Irish sun goddess
  • Epona, horse deity occasionally linked with Étaín.
  • Grannus, god associated with spas, healing thermal and mineral springs, and the sun
  • Macha, "sun of the womanfolk" and occasionally considered synonymous with Grian
  • Olwen, female figure often constructed as originally the Welsh sun goddess.
  • Sulis, British deity whose name is related to the common Proto-Indo-European word for "sun" (and thus cognate with Helios, Sól, Sol, Usil and Surya) and who retains solar imagery, as well as a domain over healing and thermal springs. Probably the de facto solar deity of the celts.

Chinese mythology

Statue of the goddess Xihe charioteering the sun, being pulled by a dragon, in Hangzhou
  • Doumu, sun goddess sometimes conflated with Marici.
  • Yuyi, the sun god
  • Xu Kai, the god of the sun-star
  • Xihe, sun goddess and mother of the ten suns
  • Zhulong, dragon deity of daylight.

Egyptian mythology

  • Bast, cat goddess associated with the sun
  • Horus, god of the sky whose right eye was considered to be the sun and his left the moon
  • Amun, creator deity sometimes identified as a sun god
  • Atum, the "finisher of the world" who represents the sun as it sets
  • Aten, god of the sun, the visible disc of the sun
  • Khepri, god of rebirth and the sunrise
  • Nefertem, god of healing and beauty, who represents the first sunlight
  • Ra, god of the sun
  • Sekhmet, goddess of war and of the sun, and sometimes plagues and creator of the desert
  • Sopdu, god of war and the scorching heat of the summer sun
  • Ptah, god of craftsmanship, the arts and fertility, sometimes said to represent the sun at night

Etruscan mythology

  • Albina, goddess of the dawn and protector of ill-fated lovers
  • Thesan, goddess of the dawn, associated with new life
  • Usil, etruscan equivalent of Helios

Germanic mythology

Greek mythology

  • Alectrona, goddess of the morning and man's waking sense
  • Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts, with solar deity characteristics
  • Apollo, Olympian god of light, the sun, prophecy, healing, plague, archery, music and poetry
  • Eos, Titan goddess of the dawn
  • Helios, Titan god of the sun
  • Hyperion, Titan god of light
  • Neaera, goddess of the rising sun
  • Phanes, protogenoi of light and life, described with "golden wings", surrounded by the signs of the Zodiac and equated with Mithras
  • Theia, a titan goddess associated with the sun
  • Zeus, the king of the gods, which is equated with Helios and has solar characteristics in some regional cults

Hindu mythology

Surya
  • Agni, god of fire, associated with the sun
  • Aryaman, god of the sun
  • Mitra, god of honesty, friendship, contracts, meetings and the morning sun
  • Ravi, god of the sun
  • Saranyu, goddess of the dawn
  • Savitr, god of the sun at sunrise and sunset
  • Surya, god of the sun
  • Ushas, the goddess of light and dawn

Hittite mythology

  • Arinna, goddess of the sun
  • Istanu, goddess/god of the sun and judgment

Incan mythology

  • Inti, god of the sun and patron deity of the Inca Empire
  • Ch'aska ("Venus") or Ch'aska Quyllur ("Venus star") was the goddess of dawn and twilight, the planet

Inuit mythology

Japanese mythology

Amaterasu emerging out of a cave, bringing sunlight back to the universe

Lusitanian mythology

  • Endovelicus, god of health and safety. Worshipped both as a solar deity and a chthonic one.
  • Neto, claimed to be both a solar and war deity.

Māori mythology

Maya mythology

  • Ah Kin, god of the sun, bringer of doubt and protector against the evils associated with darkness
  • Kinich Ahau, god of the sun
  • Hunahpu, one of the Maya Hero Twins; he transformed into the sun while his brother transformed into the moon
  • Tohil, god associated with thunder, lightning and sunrise

Mesopotamian mythology

  • Shamash, Akkadian god of the sun and justice
  • Utu, Sumerian god of the sun and justice

Minoan mythology

Muisca mythology

  • Sué, Muisca god of the Sun and husband of Chía; the Moon

Native American mythology

Norse mythology

  • Baldr, god associated with light, beauty, love and happiness
  • Dagr, personification of the daytime
  • Freyr, god of fertility, sexuality, peace and sunlight
  • Sól, solar goddess.

Persian mythology

Polynesian mythology

Roman mythology

  • Apollo, the Greco-Roman god of light, music, knowledge, and the sun
  • Aurora, goddess of dawn
  • Sol

Sami mythology

  • Beiwe, goddess of the sun, spring, fertility and sanity

Slavic mythology

  • Belobog, reconstructed deity of light and the sun who may or may not have been worshipped by pagan Slavs
  • Dažbog, god of the sun
  • Hors, god of the sun
  • Radegast, god of hospitality, fertility and crops, associated with war and the sun, who may or may not have been worshipped by pagan Slavs
  • Zorya, two daughters of Dažbog
    • Zorya Utrennyaya, the morning star, who opens the palace gates each dawn for the sun-chariot's departure
    • Zorya Vechernyaya, the evening star, who closes the palace gates each night after the sun-chariot's return

Turkic mythology

Zoroastrianism

Zunism

  • The Zunbil dynasty and the subjects of Zabulistan worshipped the sun, which they called Zun. They believed that the sun was the god of justice, the force of good in the world and, consequently, the being that drove out the darkness and allowed man to live another day.

References

  1. ↑ J. F. Breton (Trans. Albert LaFarge), Arabia Felix From The Time Of The Queen Of Sheba, Eighth Century B.C. To First Century A.D., 1998, University of Notre Dame Press: Notre Dame (IN), pp. 119-120.
  2. ↑ Julian Baldick (1998). Black God. Syracuse University Press. p. 20. ISBN 0815605226.
  3. ↑ Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions, 1999 - 1181 páginas
  4. ↑ J. Ryckmans, "South Arabia, Religion Of", in D. N. Freedman (Editor-in-Chief), The Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1992, Volume 6, op. cit., p. 172
  5. ↑ Evidence of Minoan Astronomy and Calendrical Practises
  6. ↑ Marinatos, Nanno. Minoan Kingship and the Solar Goddess: A Near Eastern Koine (2013).
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