Solar Deity by The Smart Witch

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

A solar deity (also sun god or goddess) is a sky deity 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 Neolithic concept of a solar barge - the sun as traversing the sky in a boat - is found in the later myths of ancient Egypt, with Ra and Horus. Earlier Egyptian myths imply that the sun is within the lioness, Sekhmet - at night it can be seen reflected in her eyes. Or that it is within the cow, Hathor during the night, being reborn each morning as her son (bull).

Mesopotamian Shamash plays an important role during the Bronze Age. This leads to "My Sun" eventually being used as an address to royalty. Similarly, South American cultures have a tradition of sun worship, as with the Incan Inti. Svarog is the Slavic god sun and spirit of fire.

Proto-Indo-European religion has a solar chariot, the sun as traversing the sky in a chariot. In Germanic mythology this is Sol; in Vedic Surya; and in Greek Helios and sometimes as Apollo.

During the Roman Empire, a festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti) was celebrated on the winter solstice. This marked the "rebirth" of the sun, which occurred on December 25 of the Julian calendar.

In late antiquity, the theological centrality of the sun in some Imperial religious systems suggest a form of a “solar monotheism.” The religious commemorations on December 25 were replaced under Christian domination of the Empire with the birthday of Christ.


Source: en.wikipedia.org

Resources:
(1) Guide to the Pyramids of Egypt by Alberto Silotti and Zahi Hawass (1997).
(2) Solar Myths, Tree Spirit, and Totems, the Dramas and Dramatic Dances of Non-European Races by William Ridgeway (1915).
(3) The Solar System by A.E. Powell (1930).

http://www.thesmartwitch.com/

[Image: Ancient Egyptian goddess Sekhmet. A bas-relief in the Temple de Sobek et Haroëris - Kôm Ombo in Egypt. Photograph by Gérard Ducher. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.]

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Christine Narducci 8:07in the evenin' Jan 19
Ra Sun'
Appearance: Man with hawk head and headdress with a sun disk

Ra was the sun god. He was the most important god of the ancient Egyptians.
The ancient Egyptians believed that Ra was swallowed every night by the sky goddess Nut, and was reborn every morning.

Ra
The ancient Egyptians also believed that he travelled through the underworld at night. In the underworld, Ra appeared as a man with the head of a ram.