By the Gods!
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Apep
The eternal enemy of the great sun god Ra, Apep was a terrifying serpent who symbolized chaos and destruction in the Egyptian pantheon. Each day, as the sun god Ra crossed the sky in his boat, Apep would viciously attack the vessel and occasionally, during a total eclipse, he was believed to have swallowed it whole.
Despite his ferocity, Apep never gained total victory over his enemy. However, at the same time, he himself was never believed to have been finally and completely conquered. The reddening of the sky at dusk was said to demonstrate that Apep had been overcome by Ra’s strength, but not utterly defeated. It’d be unnerving to have a divine god-snake still lurking around with a chip on his shoulder, I say.
According to one story, Apep was created with Neith, the Great Mother, spat into Nun, the primal, watery chaos. That’s a dirty habit, Neith. In later times, Apep came to be identified with Seth, the rising baddie of the Egyptian pantheon in later days.
Helios
Helios was the Greek sun god, and son of the Titan Hyperion. To the Romans he was known as Sol. It was thought that Helios, after crossing the sky in that shiny chariot of his, sailed during the night around the earth in a golden bowl on the encircling waters of Oceanus, arriving back in the east just before dawn. A busy guy, to say the least.
Both the Greeks and the Romans held that the inhabited world was a large island surrounded by an ocean (Oceanus). Although Oceanus was sometimes described as a river, it stretched into the unimaginable distance, endlessly far from any shore.
One big Helios myth concerns the sun god’s son, Phaethon. The impetuous youth tried to steer his father’s radiant chariot, but quickly lost control. Only the timely action of Zeus steadied the runaway horses and prevented the earth from catching fire. Phaethon, however, fell from the vehicle and drowned. Luckily, Helios had lots of other kids, like Augeas, Circe, and Pasiphae. One last thing about Helios: you may have heard of the gigantic Colossus built at the harbour of ancient Rhodes, That puppy was built in Helios’ image, and was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, before it was toppled by an earthquake around 226 BCE.
Skoll
In Germanic mythology, Skoll was a wolf that pursued the sun in her flight across the sky. At Ragnarok, the event that signals the end of the world and the doom of the Aesir, Skoll was destined to finally catch that pesky sun in its big ol’ jaws and swallow it. You devious, sky-wolf! However, just before the swallowing, the sun would give birth to a daughter as beautiful as herself, and this shiny new sun would warm and illuminate the new earth, fresh ‘n green, risen from the sea after the catastrophe.
Another wolf, Hati, chased after the moon, and both Skoll and Hati were said to be the sons of a giantess.
Ravenous dogs often threatened to eat the heavenly bodies in the myths of northern parts of both Europe and Asia. Chinese families today still bang cooking utensils to frighten “the dog of heaven” during the lunar eclipse. The sun and move needed a reason to haul-ass across the sky, I suppose, and what better reason is there than being chased by a hungry mega-dog?
Apollo
Apollo is the Greek god of the sun, plague, music, poetry, oracles, and medicine. He’s a busy guy. Apollo is also the twin brother of Artemis, and son of Leto and Zeus. Best known as the patron of Delphi, Apollo is symbolized by the lyre (think back to baby Hermes), the laurel wreath, the raven and, of course, a bow and arrow.
For those of you who know your Greek mythology, the fact that Apollo is the god of medicine may be a touch confusing. To clear things up a little, Asclepius, the god of medicine, is Apollo’s son. For many gods aspects of their power get passed on to their children.
When Hera (being the jealous lady she was) found out that Leto was preggers she forbade her from giving birth on firm ground, ie: terra firma, in an effort to keep her from giving birth. Leto, however, found Delos, the floating island, and Vuala, loop hole, and got the job done.
Apollo’s children include Asclepius, the god of medicine, Troilus, a Trojan prince, Aristaeus, a minor god and the discoverer of bee keeping and Orpheus, the Greek hero.
Apollo was also known to have male lovers. The most well-known is Hyacinthus, a Trojan prince who rivalled Paris in beauty and Hector in athletics. One day Apollo and Hyacinthus were throwing the discus and the west wind, Zephyrus, blew Apollo’s discus off course out of jealousy, for he was also courting Hyacinthus. Unfortunatly, the wayward discus ended up killing Hyacinthus and from his blood Apollo created the Hyacinth flower.
Ra
The Egyptian sun god and one of the most important members of the pantheon was the one, the only, Ra. He came into being on the primeval mound that rose out of Nun, and proceeded to plan all of creation. He was a real go-getter like that. Every day Ra was born anew. He would have a bath and a quick breakfast (for real) and then begin his journey across the sky in his boat. He would spend one of the hours of the day inspecting each of his 12 provinces, and when the sun went down, he entered the underworld until the morning. While in there, he fought all night long with his enemy Apep, the terrible cosmic serpent of the underworld.
Ra is usually depicted as a falcon-headed man wearing the disc of the sun on his head. He gave birth to Shu, god of the air, and Tefnut, goddess of moisture. The pair of Ra’s children disappeared to destroy the universe, and Ra, horrified at the loss of his children, hunted them down. When he finally found them, he was so relieved he burst into tears. From these tears, the first human beings were formed. The Pharaohs of Egypt called themselves “Sons of Ra,” not only because he was held in great awe, but also because he was accredited with creating order out of chaos.
We can see a lot of similarities in this sun god’s daily journey with the Babylonian sun god, Shamash, and the Slavic sun god, Dazhbog. Seems like people around the world were in agreement that the sun was the perfect embodiment of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
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