Reflexes The existence of a Proto-Indo-European sun deity can be postulated on the basis of its possible reflexes throughout Indo-European cultures. In Greek mythology, the name of the god
Helios is etymologically connectable with other Indo-European words for the Sun. However, another notable solar deity in ancient Greek religion was
Apollo, a god whose name is possibly of
Pre-Greek origin. Nevertheless, the term —an epithet of Apollo—has been connected with Sanskrit , though it is considered by the linguist
Robert Beekes to be unexplained. Similarly, the Romans borrowed Apollo as a sun deity, in spite of their preexisting sun god
Sol, whose name also is connectable with the Indo-European word for "Sun." In
Albanian paganism, the Sun—worshiped as the god of
light,
sky and
weather, giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye—is referred to as , a name that is considered to have been a
word taboo originally meaning "yellow, golden, bright or shiny one" used to refer to the Sun due to its perceived sacred nature. Another parallel in another Indo-European culture may be drawn from
Zoroastrian Hvare-khshaeta. There are two separate solar deities in Vedic mythology:
Surya and
Savitr—the latter of which described with the pseudonym ("with the wide hand"), a title that may relate to the epithet ("of the long arm"), which is ascribed to the
Irish god
Lugh. Via the
migration of
Indic peoples, the sun Indo-European god may have spread to other cultures.
Kassite inscriptions include mention of a name , which may have been borrowed from an
Indo-Aryan language. The name of the Near Eastern prince
Šuwardata, who is mentioned in
Amarna Letters, may parallel the Sanskrit name and is perhaps of Indo-Aryan origin. In Vedic Sanskrit, the term ("''''"), which also refers to the Sun god, is cognate with
Old Armenian ("")—both of which are, according to the linguist
Hrach Martirosyan, derived from Indo-European or
Armeno-Aryan "poetic language." Moreover, Martirosyan considers the original Proto-Indo-European word for the Sun—which he reconstructs as —was "profane," and therefore was replaced by a poetic term that eventually produced in Armenian.
Genealogy The Vedic Sun deity Surya is stated to be the son of the sky deity
Dyaus and the mother goddess
Aditi. Likewise, in
Slavic paganism, the sun god
Dazibogu was described at the offspring of the sky deity
Svarog. It is possible that, in the original
Proto-Indo-European mythology, the sun god was also conceptualized as the child of the sky god . In the Homeric Hymn to Helios, his mother—
Euryphaessa—is described with the epithet "''''," ("") meaning "ox-eyed." According to the Italian linguist
Enrico Campanile, the name of Greek Euryphaessa may relate to the Proto-Indo-European root ("to shine"), which also surfaces in certain epithets of the Vedic and Greek dawn goddesses, such as the term "" ("," "shiny"), an epithet of
Ushas. If this comparison is accepted, then it may indicate that the sun god was originally the offspring of the dawn goddess.
Horses of the Sun In the mythologies of the daughter languages (namely, Baltic, Greek and Old Indic), the sun deity crosses the sky in a horse-driven chariot or wagon. For instance, in
Norse mythology, the chariot of the Sun god is driven by the two horses
Árvakr and Alsviðr.
Ovid, a 1st-century BCE
Roman poet, lists several "swift" ("") horses "of the Sun" ("") that pull the chariot of Helios, namely
Pyrois,
Eous,
Aethon, and
Phlegon. In the Rigveda, it is stated that the Surya is pulled across the sky "in a moment speed" by "auspicious" and "bay-colored" horses. Similarly, the
Latvian god
Ūsiņš and the Lithuanian Sun goddess Saule both had chariots that were pulled across the sky by two white horses. However, Mallory and Adams caution that the motif is not exclusively Indo-European, and mention evidence of its presence in Mesopotamia. In Vedic mythology, the storm deity
Indra is stated to have attacked the dawn and crashed the sun chariot. According to the Indo-Europeanist
Nicholas Kazanas, this Indian story may connect to the Greco-Roman myth of
Phaethon, in which the Greek mythological figure accidentally drove the sun chariot too close to the Earth, resulting in the lightning god
Zeus striking him down. In further support of the connection, Kazanas notes that the name "Phaethon" ("''''," "") was also applied to a horse of the dawn goddess Eos and—in the works of
Homer—to the Sun itself. Both Sanskrit and Greek writings describe the Sun as traveling with great speed.
Mimnermus, a 7th-century BCE Greek poet, writes about the "swift Sun" ("'
'," ""), and the
Atharvaveda likewise mentions a "swift Sun" ("'
'," ""). Both of the terms utilized in the Greek and Vedic texts derive from Proto-Indo-European ("quick") and ("Sun") respectively. Poets in Hellenic and Indo-Iranian cultures tended to describe the Sun as traversing the sky untired or unwearied. In the Rig Veda, it is stated the that the Sun and the moon "unweariedly ("") maintain their brightness." Similarly, in the
Iliad, the Sun is associated with the adjective "''''" (""), meaning "untiring." Rigvedic scriptures mention the sun deity Savitr following a "great path" ("'
," " '"), while the Homeric Hymn to Selene depicts the moon goddess also traversing a "great path" ("'
'," ""). The term utilized to describe these occurrences in their respective languages both descend from the Proto-Indo-European words "" and "." According to Matasović, the Proto-Indo-European people may have conceptualized a heaven-like afterlife existing at the end of the Sun's path. Matasović notes that the Ancient Greek term '
("," "bliss") may derive from Proto-Indo-European ("that which goes towards the Sun") and is perhaps related to Sanskrit ("'," "paradise"). Beekes, however, suggests a possible Pre-Greek origin for the word ''''.
Light of the Sun god Although the sun was personified as an independent deity, the Proto-Indo-Europeans also visualized the sun as the "lamp of ," as seen in various reflexes. For instance, the 5th-century BCE
Athenian playwright Euripides references "the god's lamp ("'
," "'") in his play
Medea and mentions "rays of the Sun" ("''
," "") in the play Ion. Numerous kennings describing the Sun appear throughout Old English literature. In Beowulf'', reference is made to "heaven's candle" ("") and a "world's candle" ("" and "" In a Hittite prayer, the Sun-goddess of Arinna is also called "the land of Hatti's torch." Both the Vedic sun god Savitr and the Greek god Helios are described as lighting up the world for its inhabitants. In the Rigveda, it is stated that Savitr raises "his banner" and produces "light for all the world of creatures." Similarly, in the
Odyssey, it is stated that Helios leaves "the beauteous water surface" and "sprang up into the brazen heaven to give light to the immortals and to mortal men on the earth."
All-seeing Sun god Eye of the Sun In Greek mythology,
Helios is referred to as the eye of
Zeus, while in Zoroastrian religion
Hvare-khshaeta is described as the eye of
Ahura Mazda. According to the 5th-century BCE Roman author
Macrobius, the "ancients" ("") referred to the Sun as the "eye of
Jupiter" (""). Another Roman author,
Ovid, portrays the Sun god referring to himself as "the world's eye" (""), he "who beholds all things" (""), and the one through whom "the earth beholds all things" (""). Likewise, the Rigveda describes the god Surya as the "eye of
Mitra and Varuna" (""). In the play
Electra by the 5th-century BCE
Athenian playwright Euripides, the Sun is connected with the title ("'
," ""), Such a description parallels the epithet "golden-eyed" ("'," ""), which is utilized in the Rigveda to describe the god Savitr.
Ferdowsi, a 10th-century CE
Persian poet, also details a myth involving the character of
Goshtasp, in which it is stated that that a tree provided "such thick shade" that it could conceal "the eye of the Sun." Furthermore,
Yazidis refer to the sun as "the eye of
Şêşims" ().
Albanian solemn oaths are taken "by the eye of the Sun" (), which is related to the Sky-God worship (
Zojz). Further connections possibly derive from a segment in the play by
Aristophanes, in which the character of Euripides describes a
creation myth in which
Aether is stated to have created the eye according to the "image of the solar disc" ("''''"). In
Old Norse poetry, the phrase "," meaning "Suns of the forehead," is utilized as a kenning to describe eyes. The names of Celtic sun goddesses such as Sulis and
Grian may also allude to this association: the words for "eye" and "sun" are switched in these languages, hence the name of the deities. In one
Scots Gaelic folksong recorded by the
folklorist Alexander Carmichael in the 19th-century, the Sun is described as the "eye of great God" (""). The term utilized to designate "God" within this verse is descended from Proto-Indo-European , which is itself related to the name of the sky god . The
Old Armenian word for the Sun, ("'
"), may be a compound of the word ("'," "Sun") and "" ("''''," "eye"). Additionally, the 5th-century CE Classical Armenian historian
Movses Khorenatsi recounts a supposedly ancient hymn to the mythical hero
Vahagn, at the end of which it is stated that "his eyes were Suns."
The Sun as cosmic overseer of Wodan and
Frigg observing the Earth from the Heavens In a Rigvedic poem—the Sun is described as he who "beholds ("''
," "") the universe." Within Germanic literature—more specifically, within the Old English poem Phoenix—
it is stated that the Sun "surveys the world" (""). Similarly, the Latvian sun goddess Saule is described—in the —as witnessing all the occurs in the world. According to the religious scholar Jiří Dynda, the notion of the Sun protecting and observing the world may be reflected in the terms Lithuanian and Latvian terms and , both of mean "world" and morphologically are composed of elements meaning "under" and "the Sun." Similarly, various words in Slavic languages meaning "Sun" derive from Proto-Slavic '' ("light, world"), which itself derives from Proto-Indo-European ("to shine"). The historian Peter Jackson notes that—in a
Homeric hymn to a
Demeter—the Sun is described as "the watcher ("''''," "") of gods and men." It is not clear, however, whether these attributes were originally associated with the sun deity or other gods. Amongst the Greeks, the sky god
Zeus was also identified an all-seeing deity.
Hesiod, and 8th-7th century BCE poet, writes that the eye of Zeus "sees all things and knows all things" and that "thrice ten thousand are Zeus's immortal guardians of mortal human beings" who watch over "judgments and cruel deeds." It is perhaps possible that the Zeus assumed the role as divine watcher as his prominence grew within
Hellenic religion. The Vedic sky god
Dyaus is not ascribed the same quantity of spies associated with his Greek counterpart Zeus. Dyaus is perhaps ascribed the epithet "all-knowing" ("'
," ""), though the translator William Dwight Whitney notes that the passage has also been interpreted as referencing the root ' ("to find, acquire") instead of the homophonic root '
("to know"), both of which were likely once the exact same word. In Rigvedic tradition, the god Varuna is, however, stated to possess a "thousand eyes." Moreover, Varuna is connected with the epithet "" ("'," "all-knowing") and "" ("wide of eye"), the latter of which may parallel the
Avestan epithet "" ("wide of eye"), which is ascribed to the god Ahura Mazda. The motif of spies resurfaces in the Avesta, where the god
Mithra is described as possessing "one thousand ears" and is said to spy "with ten thousand (eyes)." The 8th-century
Benedictine monk Paulus Diaconus recounts a
Lombardic myth in which the god
Wodan favors a legendary tribe called the in battle because they were the first side that he saw at sunrise. It is perhaps possible that this myth could reflect an Indo-European tradition of a sky god as a divine observer, as Odin may have assumed several of the characteristics of during the development of
Germanic mythology.
The Sun god and oaths The idea of the Sun as a universal overseer may have motivated a belief that operated as a protective deity. Within the Rigveda, Surya is described as watching the "deeds of men both good and evil" and "guardian of all things fixt, of all that moveth."
Heraclitus, a late 6th or early 5th-century BCE Greek philosopher, writes that "the sun will not overstep his measures ("'
," "")." This statement parallels a Vedic verse in which it is claimed that "Surya transgresses not the ordered limits ("'," "")." The terms utilized in each passage to describe the boundaries are cognate, both deriving from . In various Indo-European cultures, the Sun god is repeatedly summoned to watch over an oath or vow, a divine role that may have emerged from their connection to justice and their omniscient nature. In
Luwian culture, the Sun-god
Tiwaz is entitled "Tiwaz of the oath" (""), though his name is etymologically linked to the Proto-Indo-European sky deity . The same "Tiwaz of the oath" surfaces in another Luwian inscription of the
Kuwattalla tradition, in which the divinity is connected with the verb ("to perjure"), perhaps—according to the philologist
Alice Mouton—indicating a belief that the Sun-god functioned as a witness to perjury. Within this same inscription, the god Tiwaz is described supervising a ritual alongside the Heaven and the Earth. Amongst the Romans, oaths were governed by the god
Dius Fidius, whose name is also etymologically related to the Proto-Indo-European sky god. In the , a poem from the
Poetic Edda, the character of
Gudrun notes that another individual, Atli, had "often sworn oaths" by "the south-slanting Sun." There is evidence that, in another Germanic society, the
Franks, oaths were still sworn by the Sun, even following
Christianization. The , a hagiography detailing the life of
Saint Eligius, recounts an anecdote in which Eligius himself had advised the Franks that, for their own
salvation, that "none should call the sun or moon lord or swear by them." holding a child in her arms from between 1400 and 1200 BC.|295x295px
Gender The original Proto-Indo-European term for the Sun may be reflected in the Luwian neuter noun —perhaps alternatively read as —which likely meant something akin to "lamp" or "brazier." According to West, it is unlikely that a word for "Sun" would have been reutilized to describe lamps, thereby implying the converse—that the term originally meant "lamp" and was repurposed to describe the Sun. When the term came to refer to the personified Sun deity, it naturally acquired gender connotations. The philologist
Ranko Matasović proposes that Proto-Indo-European likely identified both the sun and the sun god with a masculine noun , whereas the concept of sunshine was communicated utilized a separate neuter noun . Likewise, in Sanskrit, the generic noun meaning "Sun, light" is the neuter form '
("'"), whereas the derivative referring to the Sun god is a masculine proper noun ("''''"). The majority of Indo-European sun deities were male, although the sun goddesses
Saulė,
Sól, and were propitiated in
Baltic,
North Germanic, and
Continental Germanic mythology respectively. Otherwise, in
Celtic mythology, the name of the goddess
Sulis may also be etymologically related to
Old Irish feminine noun ("eye"), which itself may derive from the Proto-Indo-European word for "Sun." According to the philologist Martin Litchfield West, the majority of female Sun deities in Indo-European mythologies are concentrated throughout Northern Europe, perhaps implying a common
substrate affecting this area of the Indo-European world. The original Proto-Indo-European sun god may have persisted into
Hittite mythology as a male Sun god named , who was possibly worshipped in later periods under the name , whose name was perhaps borrowed from the
Hattian deity . However, the
Assyriologist Charles Steitler argues that such an interpretation is contradicted by the general adoption of the same Hattic divinity and the Hittite
Sun goddess of Arinna, who is possibly of non-Indo-European origin. In Luwian culture, the
Sun goddess of the Earth is attested with the name , a name which is likely etymologically connected to the name of Tiwaz, who was himself likely inherited from Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Connection with cattle Associations between cattle and the sun surface throughout Greek and
Indo-Iranian mythology: The
Bundahishn describes the death of the
primordial bovine and its own wailing at its fate, while in the
Odyssey the
sacred cows of Helios are butchered and cry out upon their deaths. These stories may reflect a shared tradition, although it is alternatively possible the sacrifice of the cattle of Helios continues a separate Indo-European "cattle-raiding" myth, which is perhaps paralleled by the Irish story of and the Indic legend of
Indra recovering cattle stolen by the Panis. Due to the significant differences between each individual tale, it is likely that rather than preserving the same ancestral myth, they instead reflect a similar "cattle-raiding" theme that permeates Indo-European cultures. Other connections between cattle and the Sun god appear throughout the Rigveda. For instance, the god Surya is described milking the cattle of heaven and earth. Furthermore, in a Rigvedic wedding hymn, two steers ("''''," "") are tied to the chariot of Surya. During this same wedding procession, two bulls are sacrificed under the constellation Agha, perhaps—according to the philologists
Tamaz Gamkrelidze and
Vyacheslav Ivanov—reflecting a ritual connected with the Sun.
Sun-maiden A character related to the Sun deity is the 'Sun-maiden'. Examples are , the daughter of Saulé in Baltic tradition, and , who is varyingly depicted as either the daughter of Surya or Savitr. Scholars also posit
Helen of Troy, from Greek mythology, was another example of the 'Sun-maiden'. Just as Helen, in Greek mythology, was associated with the twin horsemen
Castor and Pollux, the Vedic deity is connected with the
Ashvins, a pair of twin charioteers. However, the linguist
Vittore Pisani argues that Helen is more likely to etymologically connect to the Vedic goddess . In one Baltic myth, the goddess is wed to the , who are the twin sons of the sky god
Dievs, It is possible that this Baltic pair of twin gods derives from the Indo-European "
divine twins" archetype, which is itself possibly further continued by the Ashvins. In another Baltic myth, the goddess is instead married to the moon god
Meness, with the only appearing as members of the bridal procession. In Albanian tradition there is
E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit, "the daughter of the Moon and the Sun", who is a light divine heroine, referred to as ("drop of the sky" or "lightning"), which falls everywhere from heaven on the mountains and the valleys and strikes pride and evil. She defeats the
kulshedra, the archetype of darkness and evil in Albanian mythology. In some Albanian traditions the Sun (
Dielli) and the Moon (
Hëna) are regarded as husband and wife, and in others as brother and sister. In the case of the Sun is her father and the Moon is her mother. == The Moon deity ==