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A winged sun hovers over a sepulchre filled with water; an alchemical symbol from the Rosary of the Philosophers. The winged sun is a solar symbol associated with divinity, royalty, and power in the Ancient Near East (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Persia). The Illyrian Sun-deity is also represented as a winged sun.
The ancient Egyptian Sun hieroglyph is Gardiner sign listed no. N5 for the sun-disc; [1] it is also one of the hieroglyphs that refers to the god Ra. The sun hieroglyph is used in the ancient Egyptian language hieroglyphs as a determinative to refer to events of time, for example when referring to '"day xx" (of month yy') .
Ra was called the first king of Egypt, thus it was believed pharaohs were his descendants and successors. His worship increased massively in the Fifth Dynasty , when Ra became a state-deity and pharaohs had specially aligned pyramids , obelisks , and sun temples built in his honor.
The "Sun" logogram in early Chinese writing, beginning with the oracle bone script (c. 12th century BC) also shows the solar disk with a central dot (analogous to the Egyptian hieroglyph); under the influence of the writing brush, this character evolved into a square shape (modern 日).
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 Sun is sometimes referred to by its Latin name Sol or by its Greek name Helios.
The disk is often called Ra's "daughter" in Egyptian texts. [1] As the sun, the Eye of Ra is a source of heat and light, and it is associated with fire and flames. It is also equated with the red light that appears before sunrise, and with the morning star that precedes and signals the sun's arrival. [11]
Khepri (Egyptian: ḫprj, also transliterated Khepera, Kheper, Khepra, Chepri) is a scarab-faced god in ancient Egyptian religion who represents the rising or morning sun. By extension, he can also represent creation and the renewal of life. [2]
The earliest traces of a sun-cult in Ancient Egypt, then concentrating on the sun as a celestial object, appear during the 2nd Dynasty (c. 2890–c. 2686 BC), possibly under its second ruler, king Raneb. In particular Raneb was the first pharaoh to use the symbol of the sun as a part of his Horus name.