Over the millennia, human civilization has always recognized and respected the power and necessity of the sun. The reverence held for our sun has resulted in several different deities from the Incans to the Ancient Norse with many in between. Each deity has its own characteristics, but there are some pretty cool trends that transcend distance and time. For instance, several of them ride chariots across the sky. The following is by no means a complete list of sun deities, but rather a sampler.
- Amaterasu-Japan’s sun goddess
- Arinna-Hittite sun goddess
- Apollo-Greek and Roman sun god
- Freyr-Norse fertility god associated with the sun
- Helios-Greek sun god (preceded Apollo)
- Inti-Incan sun god
- Liza-West African sun god
- Lugh-Celtic solar deity and king of the Tuatha De Danaan
- Mithras-Persian sun god
- Ra-Egyptian sun god, principle deity
- Sol (Sunna)-Norse goddess of the sun
- Sol Invictus-Later Roman sun god
- Surya-Chief Hindu deity
- Tonatiuh-Aztec sun god
- Utu (Shamash)-Mesopotamian god of sun and justice who decrees the fate of the dead
This list gives you a taste of the wide range of gods and goddesses out there. It is no coincidence that so many separate civilizations held our sun in such high regard, for without the sun there could be no life on earth. Time to start harnessing the power of the sun!
-Nat Smith
