Solar Development
In this follow-up to the Solar Religion, I address basic conceptions of sun reverence in the Greek, Hebrew, Christian, and Masonic traditions.
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In this follow-up to the Solar Religion, I address basic conceptions of sun reverence in the Greek, Hebrew, Christian, and Masonic traditions.
Solar Greece
The Mycenaean Greeks (1600 - 1100 BCE) enjoyed that flourishing period of art and culture towards the end of the Bronze Age, which maintained the religious practices and mythological traditions that formed the Olympian bedrock for writers such as Homer, Hesiod, and Aeschylus.
But where and among whom did their beliefs originate? It is not clear that the Greek deities were born from the wombs of Greece alone, as figures like Herodotus go to some lengths to point out.
Although the evidence related to Mycenaean religious movements during the Bronze Age is scanty, we know they gave sacrifices, held feasts, and made the standard offerings exemplary of a common religious tradition. There were sanctuaries near palaces, complex initiation rituals, and most certainly burial customs that they revered with great import.
When the Bronze Age and then the Greek Dark Ages (1100 - 750 BCE) ended, the Greeks seemingly reemerge with a complete Olympian Pantheon, ripe with Solar imagery and of course, the sun gods Helios, Appollo, and various other deities like Hercules and Dionysus which in some way participate in the powers of the sun.
"And Theia was subject in love to Hyperion and bare great Helios and clear Selene and Eos who shine upon all that are on earth and upon the deathless Gods who live in the wide heaven." - Hesiod, Theogony (Greek epic 8th or 7th century BCE)
"Glowing Helios whom mild-eyed Euryphaessa, the far-shining one, bare to the son of Gaia and starry Ouranos. For Hyperion wedded glorious Euryphaessa, his own sister, who bare him lovely children, rosy-armed Eos and rich-tressed Selene and tireless Helios who is like the deathless gods." - Homeric Hymn 31 to Helius (7th - 4th century BCE)
The Mycenaeans also traded with the Minoans of Crete during the Middle (2100-1600 BCE) and Late Bronze Ages (1600-1100 BCE), but the history of the Minoans being so obscure we’re forced to look back to the civilizations they traded with, like the Egyptians and Phoenicians, for any influence on the solar imagery of the Greeks. Because, like Herodotus and other historians after him, it was traditionally known that the Egyptians had original counterparts to nearly all the Greek deities.
“They said moreover that the Egyptians were the first who brought into use appellations for the twelve gods and the the Hellenes took up the use for them.” - Herodotus, Histories (5th century BCE)
“Now then, the Egyptians are supposedly the first men who formed a conception of the gods, established sanctuaries and sacred precincts, and instituted festivals. They were also the first to conceive of holy names and to tell sacred tales. Not long afterwards, the Assyrians heard an account about gods from the Egyptians, and they established sanctuaries and temples in which they placed images and set up statues.” - Herodotus, the Histories (5th century BCE)
Regardless of how or to what degree these various civilizations were physically connected, we don’t assume a migrational cause would answer all of our questions about the origins and transmission of sun worship, nor do we claim that an isolated culture is unable to develop a near-identical religious devotion to another’s.
This is part of the mystery. We would like to address all of the possible explanations for the transference or isolated development of solar deities, and, if possible, narrow them down to the most probable causes. The twelve labors of Hercules, for instance, is likely an allegory of the sun’s journey through the twelve signs of the zodiac, but it is not yet clear if Hercules is originally the Phoenician god Melquart, as Herodotus would have us think, or if both deities arose from the same source.
“Sol [Helios] is the first to see all things.” - Ovid, Metamorphoses (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.)
Without a doubt the sun gods1 of Greece grew to substantial popularity, becoming intertwined with the Etruscan pantheon, and of course, borrowed by the Romans thereafter. But they never rose to the level of the Egyptian deities in terms of complexity and duration of worship.
“In the begining Elohim created the heavens and the earth.” - Gen. 1:1
The first sentence in the Book of Genesis2 more accuratley reads, Elohim, in the Hebrew, rather than God, or the Greek Theos.
Solar Judaism
Given the civilizations that the Hebrew people were exposed to and developed alongside, such as the Caananites, Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians, is it any surprise that we find numerous astrotheological references in the Old Testament? Or that Babylonian gods like Enki, and the Caananite El, have so much in common with the stories of Yahweh?
The Israelite and Judaeo religions were not monotheistic from the beginning. Between the 10th and 7th centuries BCE, for instance, some still revered the deity Asherah and not just the Yahweh that eventually became the God of the Old Testament. They did this despite Moses (ca. 13th century BCE) being the alleged founder of monotheism and the oral traditions which eventually grew into the Pentateuch.
It shouldn’t surprise us either that there are seven archangels in the Hebrew tradition which correspond to the seven days of the week, and to the five planets and two luminaries in the heavens. Other civilizations had already pinned their gods to the planets, or vice versa, and such would have been completely normal in an age where there were complex hierarchies.
Thus while many traditional readers of the Old Testament fail to cope with the idea that ancient Hebrew people were complex and a part of their own religious timeline amidst various polytheistic societies, there are no doubt passages in the text itself which relate a divine essence to the Sun.
I have found that Psalms 19, in particular, conveys this :
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.” - Psalm 19 (KJV)
Solar Christianity
“The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called Christ in the place of the sun, and pay him the adoration originally payed to the sun.” - Thomas Paine
In the Christian texts and traditions, we are struck with a number of numerological and astrological references, leaving us to wonder about the level of allegory embedded into the first disparate Christian doctrines. As the historical Jesus became next to impossible to find, and the Roman Empire moved toward full adoption of Christianity, the Christians who were no doubt versed in astrology and pagan symbolism may just have well begun to superimpose the story of Jesus onto the cosmos.
The Solar Wheel or Sun Cross is an ancient solar symbol, denoting the four cardinal directions, and is found all around the world. I have also seen this exact symbol on Native American garments in a museum in Charleston, South Carolina. It may also be related to the Egyptian Sun Disk, and early depictions of the Swastika (see Count Eugene Goblet dAlviella’s, Symbols: Their Migration and Universality).
Some simple examples of clear solar influence on Christianity are: the 12 disciples, corresponding with the 12 signs of the zodiac; the resurrection of Easter, corresponding to the resurrection of the Sun after the Spring Equinox; and the birth of Christ, corresponding with the Winter Solstice and the earlier pagan cultures (Roman, Celtic, Norse, Druidic, Egyptian, Phoenician) who religiously venerated this time of year.
Therefore the ancient world that spanned around the Meditteranean had common practices regarding the movements of the cosmos during specific times of the year. And as was natural for many of the civilizations who traded with each other, we can understand how certain beliefs associated with something as universal as the sun would have been shared and incorporated into their particular milieu.
One of the more curious New Testament references is in the Book of Matthew when the three Magi from the east come to visit the newborn Jesus, eventually failing to return to King Herod for fear of the king killing the newborn. Immediately thereafter is when the baby Jesus is brought to Egypt, of all places.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” - Matthew 2:1-2
Although this has been the cause for exaggerated interpretation and is only mentioned in one New Testament book, there was actually a certain alignment of planets around 6 BCE which could have provided a legitimate celestial event that these Magi may have associated with a corresponding event on earth. However, the reference in Matthew is for a single star and not a conjunction, and we should be skeptical of the relationship between the historical Jesus and the alleged Jewish prophecy of him as their Messiah.
Alas, due to such a scanty explanation in the Book of Matthew related to this event and other problems with extending our interpretation too far, drawing deeper meanings from the three Magi’s visit to baby Jesus opens the door for even more questionable speculation that we do not require for the greater picture.
The first mention of an actual birth date for the Christian Messiah does not come from the New Testament. Nor do the early Christian writers like Iraneus (2nd century CE) or Tertullian (2nd & early 3rd century CE) give an exact date. Origen of Alexandria (c. 165-264 CE), for instance, dismisses this entirely as a pagan practice. We do not see the date of Jesus’s birth fixed until possibly around the time of Dionysius Exiguss’s inventions in the 6th century CE.
To further compound the idea that none of the early Christians had a fixed date for Jesus’s birth, we can look no further than a passage in the Stromata, by Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 CE).
“And there are those who have determined our Savior’s genesis
not only the year, but even the day, which they say took place in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus on the 25th of Pachon… And treating of his passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the sixteenth year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth, but others the 25th of Pharmuthi and others say on the 19th of Pharmuthi the Savior suffered. Indeed, others say that he came to be on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi.” - Clement of Alexandria
This apparent absence of a reason the later Christians dated Jesus’s birth on December 25th doesn’t mean there wasn’t a perfectly good cause for it. The date would have corresponded with the birth of the Persian Mithra, and the Egyptian Horus, not to mention the Roman mid-winter festival, the Saturnalia. Indeed, when else would you place the birthing of the Christian’s bringer of light than at the time of the year when the sun is reborn, especially if this date made it easier for Christians to convert their pagan neighbors.
Solar Freemasonry
“That All-Seeing Eye, whose all-pervading intelligence the Sun, and Moon, and Stars obey; and under whose watchful care even the Comets perform thier stupendous revolutions, pervades the inmost recesses of the human heart, and will reward us according to our merits.” - Virginia Text-Book of Freemasonry, 56th District
As we alluded to previously, the Freemasonic origin story is deeply associated with solar processes and includes various veiled references to annual cycles in its rituals and symbols. This is important from the modern perspective. There are millions of Freemasons worldwide who are exposed to the universality of sun worship and have not been afraid to publicize it from time to time.
Take the quote of the prolific American writer and possibly most famous Masonic scholar in history, Albert Pike 33° (1809 - 1881 CE), as it appears in Manly P. Hall’s, the Secret Teachings of All Ages.
“To them [aboriginal peoples] he [the sun] was the innate fire of bodies, the fire of Nature. Author of Life, heat, and ignition, he was to them the efficient cause of all generation, for without him there was no movement, no existence, no form. He was to them immense, indivisible, imperishable, and everywhere present. It was thier need of light, and of his creative energy, that was felt by all men; and nothing was more fearful to them than his absence.
His beneficent influences caused his identification with the Principle of Good; and the BRAHMA of the Hindus, and MITHRAS of the Persians, and ATHOM, AMUN, PHTHA, and OSIRIS, of the Egyptians, the BEL of the Chaldeans, the ADONAI of the Phœnicians, the ADONIS and APOLLO of the Greeks, became but personifications of the Sun, the regenerating Principle, image of that fecundity which perpetuates and rejuvenates the world's existence."
Many additional peoples around the world devoted a religious reverence to our local star whether it be Africans, Australians, Arabians, Celts, Etruscans, or the early Americans. It is a phenomenon neither bound by land nor by time, which like the sun, manages to make its way across the earth defeating darkness and rallying life to grow.
Next, we will consider the development of Astrotheology as it is associated with the planets, ancient deities, and the monuments built in their honor.
stay tuned for part four…
The Greek translations of the Old Testament books are called the Septuagint and began in the middle of the third century BCE. Legend has it that seventy-two Jewish scholars were tasked by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the Greek Pharaoh of Egypt, to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek, where it would then have a more popular place on the shelves of the Library of Alexandria, and later, appeal to the Roman Empire which was comprised of an abundance of Greek-speaking peoples.