Editing Solar deity (section)

=== Greco-Roman world ===
{{main|Helios|Sol (Roman mythology)}}

==== Hellenistic mythology ====
In [[Greek mythology]], [[Helios]], a [[Titans|Titan]], was the personification of the [[Sun]]; however, with the notable exception of the island of [[Rhodes]] and nearby parts of southwestern [[Anatolia]],{{efn|''see'' [[Colossus of Rhodes]].}} he was a relatively minor deity. The [[Ancient Greeks]] also associated the Sun with [[Apollo]], the god of enlightenment. Apollo (along with Helios) was sometimes depicted as driving a fiery chariot.<ref>{{cite web |first=N.S. |last=Gill |date=3 December 2019 |title=Everything you need to know about Apollo |website=Thought Co |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/apollo-greek-god-sun-music-prophecy-111902 |access-date=2021-06-29 |language=en}}</ref>

The Greek astronomer [[Thales of Miletus]] described the scientific properties of the Sun and Moon, making their godship unnecessary.{{sfn|Smith|1952|p=[https://archive.org/details/manhisgods00smit/page/143 143]}} [[Anaxagoras]] was arrested in 434&nbsp;BC and banished from Athens for denying the existence of a solar or lunar deity.{{sfn|Smith|1952|p=[https://archive.org/details/manhisgods00smit/page/145 145]}} [[Electra|The titular character]] of [[Sophocles]]' ''[[Electra (Sophocles play)|Electra]]'' refers to the Sun as "All-seeing". [[Hermeticism|Hermetic]] author [[Hermes Trismegistus]] calls the Sun "God Visible".<ref name="Gillispie-1960"/>

The [[Minotaur]] has been interpreted as a solar deity (as [[Moloch]] or [[Chronos]]),{{sfn|Smith|1952|p=[https://archive.org/details/manhisgods00smit/page/137 137]}} including by [[Arthur Bernard Cook]], who considers both [[Minos]] and Minotaur as aspects of the sun god of the [[Cretans]], who depicted the sun as a bull.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

==== Roman mythology ====
During the [[Roman Empire]], a [[Roman festival|festival]] of the birth of the ''[[Sol Invictus|Unconquered Sun]]'' (or ''Dies Natalis Solis Invicti'') was celebrated on the [[winter solstice]]—the "rebirth" of the Sun—which occurred on 25 December of the [[Julian calendar]]. In [[late antiquity]], the theological centrality of the Sun in some Imperial religious systems suggests a form of a "solar [[monotheism]]". The religious commemorations on 25 December were replaced under Christian domination of the Empire with the birthday of Christ.<ref>"Sun worship." [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009</ref>

Much more ancient was the cult of [[Sol Indiges]], supposed to have been introduced among Roman deities by the [[Sabines]] at the times of [[Titus Tatius]].

==== Modern influence ====
[[Copernicus]] describing the Sun mythologically, drawing from Greco-Roman examples:
{{blockquote|In the middle of all sits the Sun on his throne. In this loveliest of temples, could we place the luminary in any more appropriate place so that he may light the whole simultaneously. Rightly is he called the Lamp, the Mind, the Ruler of the Universe: Hermes Trismegistus entitles him the God Visible. Sophocles' Electra names him the All-seeing. Thus does the Sun sit as upon a royal dais ruling his children the planets which circle about him.<ref name="Gillispie-1960">{{cite book |last=Gillispie |first=Charles Coulston |author-link=Charles Coulston Gillispie |title=The Edge of Objectivity: An Essay in the History of Scientific Ideas |year=1960 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-691-02350-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/edgeofobjectivit00char |url-access=limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/edgeofobjectivit00char/page/26 26]}}</ref>}}