Video: Greek sun god Helios embodied in the statue of the Colossus of Rhodes
2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43
The peoples of the world not only endowed the gods with a name, but also indicated their duties. For each, the share over which he ruled was determined. The supreme god, the seas and oceans, nature, fertility, love, hunting… But there is one that is different from the others. He has no subordinates, but nevertheless, without him there would be no plants, animals, people would be sad and not fall in love, they would not see the beauty of the world. This is the god of the Sun, which was present in many pagan cultures. Thanks to him, the day replaces the night, he gives warmth to the rays of the fireball, which pleases the people of the entire planet. So how did different civilizations imagine the sun god?
Egyptian God Ra
This god was very honored in Egypt. His cult began to form after the unification of the country, noticeably crowding out the current religious beliefs. The sun god Ra began to gain popularity during the reign of the fourth dynasty of pharaohs.
They added it to their name, thereby showing the people their power. And Ra they thus demonstrated their admirationin front of him. The name of the Egyptian deity in translation means "Sun". The Fifth Dynasty was marked by the peak of the popularity of this patron of the heavenly body. According to legend, the first three pharaohs of this kind were considered the sons of the sun god Ra.
Colossus of Rhodes
Glorious Greek religion could not do without the sun god. He was Helios, who lived in the east of the ocean in the castle. Every morning, the Greek god of the Sun rode out in a golden chariot drawn by four horses and rode across the sky, marking the beginning of the day. In the evening, in the same way, Helios returned home from the western part of the ocean to the castle. According to the myths, the Sun God was unable to attend the division of power in the world due to heavy daily employment in the sky, so he did not get anything.
To soften his situation a little, Helios decided to raise an island from the bottom of the ocean, which he named Rhodes in honor of his wife Rhoda. Once this piece of land tried to capture the commander Demetrius Poliorket, but Helios managed to dissuade him, thereby saving the inhabitants of this territory. As a thank you, they erected a 36-meter statue of clay and metal to him, which was built for 12 whole years. This monument is one of the seven wonders of the world and is called the Colossus of Rhodes. With his legs wide apart, he leaned on special supports sheathed in metal, between which ships could float freely. The statue was visible from afar, but due to the fact that the main material used in the construction was clay, and the metal was only outside, the Colossus was destroyedearthquake in 222 BC e.
Slavic Dazhdbog
Our ancestors had no less patrons than the Greeks. One of the most beloved and revered was the Slavic god of the Sun Dazhdbog. His name has nothing to do with rain, it means "giving god".
According to the legends, every morning he rides a chariot drawn by four horses to heaven. The patron saint of the luminary travels across the sky all day and gives people the sunlight that comes from his shield. The Slavs imagined that their sun god was extraordinarily beautiful and bright. His eyes were full of sincerity and did not tolerate lies; sunny hair fell in skeins from a mighty shoulder; blue, deep, like lakes, eyes, made him ideal in the understanding of the Slavs. They believed that the son of Heaven gives warmth to people with the reflections of his shield, illuminates fields, rivers, forests and takes care of animals.
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