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Solar deity
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==== Solar boats ==== [[File:Ra Barque.jpg|right|thumb|[[Ra]] in his [[solar barque|barque]]]] [[File:Nebra disc 1.jpg|thumb|The [[Nebra Sky Disc]], [[Unetice culture|Germany]], {{circa|1800}}–1600 BC]] The Sun was sometimes envisioned as traveling through the sky in a boat. A prominent example is the [[solar barque]] used by Ra in [[ancient Egyptian mythology]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baines |first1=John R. |editor1-last=Johnston |editor1-first=Sarah Iles |title=Religions of the ancient world : a guide |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |page=600 |url=https://archive.org/details/religionsofancie0000unse_d0s1/page/n2/mode/2up?q=barque |access-date=3 October 2021 |chapter=Visual Representation|isbn=9780674015173 }}</ref> The [[Neolithic]] concept of a "solar barge" (also "solar bark", "solar barque", "solar boat" and "sun boat", a mythological representation of the Sun riding in a [[boat]]) is found in the later myths of [[ancient Egypt]], with [[Ra]] and [[Horus]]. Several Egyptian kings were buried with [[ancient Egyptian royal ships|ships]] that may have been intended to symbolize the solar barque,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.solarnavigator.net/egyptian_solar_boat.htm |title=Egypt solar boats |website=solarnavigator.net}}</ref> including the [[Khufu ship]] that was buried at the foot of the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Siliotti |first1=Alberto| first2=Zahi |last2=Hawass |year=1997 |title=Guide to the Pyramids of Egypt |pages=54–55}}</ref> [[File:Heracles on the sea in the bowl of Helios.jpg|thumb|[[Heracles]] in the golden cup-boat of the sun god [[Helios]], 480 BC]] Solar boats and similar vessels also appear in [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|Indo-European]] mythologies, such as a 'hundred-oared ship' of [[Surya]] in the [[Rigveda|Rig Veda]], the golden boat of [[Saulė]] in [[Baltic mythology]], and the golden bowl of [[Helios]] in [[Greek mythology]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC |title=Indo-European Poetry and Myth |date=2007 |last=West |first=M.L. |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199280759 |pages=208–209}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Massetti |first1=Laura |date=2019 |title=Antimachus's Enigma: On Erytheia, the Latvian Sun-goddess and a Red Fish |url=https://www.academia.edu/40428177 |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies |volume=47 |pages=223–240 |quote=synchronic analysis of Greek passages dealing with the journey of Helios reveals that the poetic image of the golden ‘cup, vessel’ hints at the solar boat.}}</ref> Numerous depictions of solar boats are known from the [[Bronze Age Europe|Bronze Age]] in Europe.<ref>{{cite book |title=The World of Stonehenge |date=June 2022 |pages=147–148 |publisher=British Museum Press |isbn=9780714123493 |last1=Garrow |first1=Duncan |last2=Wilkin |first2=Neil |oclc=1297081545}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Gold und Kult der Bronzezeit |publisher=Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg |year=2003 |isbn=3-926982-95-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/24174809 |journal=Hyperboreus |volume=18 |issue=1 |date=2012 |title=Scandinavian Background of Greek Mythic Cosmography: The Sun's Water Transport |last=Panchenko |first=Dmitri |pages=5–20}}</ref> Possible solar boat depictions have also been identified in [[Neolithic Europe|Neolithic]] petroglyphs from the [[Megalith|Megalithic culture]] in western Europe,<ref>{{cite thesis |last=McVeigh |first=Thor |date=2016 |title=Calendars, feasting, cosmology and identities: later Neolithic-early Bronze Age Ireland in European context |url=https://aran.library.nuigalway.ie/handle/10379/6074 |type=PhD |chapter=5.4 Boats and the sun's daily journey |publisher=University of Galway |pages=168–174}}</ref> and in [[Mesolithic]] petroglyphs from northern Europe.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/36843380 |title= North Meets South: Theoretical Aspects on theNorthern and Southern Rock Art Traditions in Scandinavia |date=2017 |publisher=Oxbow Books |chapter=The Circumpolar Context of the ‘Sun Ship’ Motif in South Scandinavian Rock Art |last=Lahelma |first=Antti |pages=144–171 |isbn=978-1-78570-820-6}}</ref> Examples of solar vessels include: * Neolithic [[petroglyph]]s which are interpreted as depicting solar barges. * The many early Egyptian goddesses that were seen as sun deities, and the later gods [[Ra]] and [[Horus]] were depicted as riding in a [[Atet|solar barge]]. In Egyptian myths of the afterlife, Ra rides in an underground channel from west to east every night so that he can rise in the east the next morning. * The [[Nebra sky disk]], {{circa|1800}}–1600 BC, associated with the [[Unetice culture]], which is thought to show a depiction of a gold solar boat.<ref name="Meller-2021">{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/80363367|title=Time is power. Who makes time?: 13th Archaeological Conference of Central Germany|chapter=The Nebra Sky Disc – astronomy and time determination as a source of power|last=Meller|first=Harald|date=2021|publisher=Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale).|isbn=978-3-948618-22-3}}</ref> * [[Gold lunulae]] associated with the [[Bell Beaker culture#Solar symbolism|Bell Beaker culture]], {{circa|2400}}–2000 BC, thought to represent solar boats.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/11627053|title='Here comes the sun....: solar symbolism in Early Bronze Age Ireland'|date=Spring 2015|journal=Archaeology Ireland |volume=29|issue=1|pages=26–33|last1=Cahill|first1=Mary}}</ref> * [[Nordic Bronze Age]] petroglyphs, including those found in [[Tanumshede]], often contain barges and [[sun cross]]es in different constellations. Solar boat imagery also appears on bronze razors from the period. * Miniature [[:de:Goldboote vom Torshøj|gold boats from Nors]] in Denmark, dating from the [[Nordic Bronze Age]].<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx_lxoNwpBo|title=The World of the Nebra Sky Disc: The Nors Boats|last=Meller|first=Harald|website=Halle State Museum of Prehistory|date=2022}}</ref> * The [[Caergwrle Bowl]] from Wales, dating from the [[Bronze Age Britain|British Bronze Age]], {{circa|1300 BC}}.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzh0pnpZudw|title=The World of the Nebra Sky Disc: The Caergwrle Ship|last=Meller|first=Harald|website=Halle State Museum of Prehistory|date=2022}}</ref> * Solar boat motifs depicted on bronze artefacts from the [[Urnfield culture]] and [[Lusatian culture]], {{circa|1300}}–500 BC. * Depictions of solar boats on Iron Age Celtic artefacts, such as the Petrie Crown from Ireland (1st century AD), and ornaments on the [[Vix grave]] wagon from France (500 BC).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/27838177|title=Reflections on the Past. Essays in honour of Frances Lynch|chapter=Tal-y-Llyn and the nocturnal voyage of the sun|date=2012|last=Waddell|first=John|editor-last1=Britnell|editor-first1=W.J.|editor-last2=Silvester|editor-first2=R.J.|publisher=Cambrian Archaeological Association|isbn=9780947846084|pages=337–350}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.sidestone.com/books/l-archeologie-et-la-mythologie-celtique|title=l'Archeologie et la Mythologie Celtique|last=Waddell|first=John|date=2022|publisher=Sidestone Press|isbn=9789464260595}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzAcx8kr6SM&t=2630s|last=Waddell|first=John|title=2014 Rhind Lecture 2: "The Otherworld Hall on the Boyne"|website=Society of Antiquaries of Scotland|date=2014}}</ref>
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