Editing Solar deity (section)

== Africa ==
=== Ancient Egypt ===
Sun worship was prevalent in [[ancient Egyptian religion]]. The earliest deities associated with the Sun are all goddesses: [[Wadjet]], [[Sekhmet]], [[Hathor]], [[Nut (goddess)|Nut]], [[Bast (mythology)|Bast]], [[Bat (goddess)|Bat]], and [[Menhit]]. First Hathor, and then Isis, give birth to and nurse [[Horus]] and [[Ra]], respectively. Hathor the horned-cow is one of the 12 daughters of Ra, gifted with joy and is a wet-nurse to Horus.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kamrin|first=Janice|date=March 2015|title=Papyrus in Ancient Egypt|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/papy/hd_papy.htm|website=The Metropolitan Museum}}</ref>

[[File:Ra_Enthroned_in_the_Tomb_of_Roy.jpg|thumb|Ra Enthroned in the Tomb of Roy]]

From at least the [[Fourth dynasty of Egypt|4th Dynasty]] of [[ancient Egypt]], the Sun was worshiped as the [[Ancient Egyptian deities|deity]] Ra (meaning simply {{'}}the sun{{'}}), and portrayed as a [[falcon]]-headed god surmounted by the solar disk, and surrounded by a serpent. Ra supposedly gave warmth to the living body, symbolized as an [[ankh]]: a "☥" shaped [[amulet]] with a looped upper half. The ankh, it was believed, was surrendered with death, but could be preserved in the corpse with appropriate mummification and [[funerary cult|funerary rites]]. The supremacy of Ra in the Egyptian [[pantheon (religion)|pantheon]] was at its highest with the [[Fifth dynasty of Egypt|Fifth Dynasty]], when open-air solar temples became common.

In the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt]], Ra lost some of his [[Greatness|preeminence]] to [[Osiris]], lord of the west, and judge of the dead. In the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Empire]] period, the Sun became identified with the [[dung beetle]], whose spherical ball of dung was identified with the Sun. In the form of the sun disc [[Aten]], the Sun had a brief resurgence during the [[Amarna Period]] when it again became the preeminent, if not only, divinity for the [[pharaoh]], [[Akhenaten]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Teeter|first1=Emily|title=Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt|date=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=9780521848558}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Frankfort|first1=Henri|title=Ancient Egyptian Religion: an Interpretation|date=2011|publisher=Dover Publications|isbn=978-0486411385}}</ref>

The Sun's movement across the sky represents a struggle between the pharaoh's soul and an avatar of Osiris. Ra travels across the sky in his solar-boat; at dawn he drives away the god of chaos, [[Apep]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Assman |first1=Jan |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=18 |url=https://archive.org/details/religionsofancie0000unse_d0s1/page/n5/mode/2up?q=sun-god+travels |access-date=3 October 2021 |chapter=Monotheism and Polytheism|isbn=9780674015173 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=John J. |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=61 |url=https://archive.org/details/religionsofancie0000unse_d0s1/page/n5/mode/2up?q=sun-god+travels |access-date=3 October 2021 |chapter=Cosmology: Time and History|isbn=9780674015173 }}</ref> The "solarisation" of several local gods (Khnum-Ra, Min-Ra, Amun-Ra) reached its peak in the period of the Fifth Dynasty.<ref>{{Citation |last=Kockel |first=Ullrich |title=Fifth Journey — Towards Castalia: To Re-Place Europe |date=2010 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230282988_6 |work=Re-Visioning Europe |pages=155–188 |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |doi=10.1057/9780230282988_6 |isbn=978-1-349-52060-2 |access-date=2022-10-17|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

{{Hiero|Akhet (horizon)|<hiero>N27</hiero>|align=right|era=egypt}}
[[File:Aker.svg|left|thumb|[[Aker (deity)|Aker]] guarding the horizon]]

Rituals to the god Amun, who became identified with the sun god Ra, were often carried out on the top of temple [[Pylon (architecture)|pylons]]. A pylon mirrored the [[hieroglyph]] for 'horizon' or ''[[akhet (hieroglyph and season)|akhet]]'', which was a depiction of two hills "between which the sun rose and set",<ref>Wilkinson, op. cit., p.195</ref> associated with recreation and rebirth. On the first pylon of the temple of Isis at [[Philae]], the pharaoh is shown slaying his enemies in the presence of Isis, Horus, and Hathor.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Temple of Isis at Philae {{!}} Ancient Egypt Online|url=https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/isisphilae/|access-date=2021-06-05|language=en-GB}}</ref>

In the [[Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|Eighteenth Dynasty]], the earliest-known monotheistic head of state, [[Akhenaten]], changed the polytheistic religion of Egypt to a monotheistic one, Atenism. All other deities were replaced by the Aten, including [[Amun-Ra]], the reigning sun god of Akhenaten's own region. Unlike other deities, Aten did not have multiple forms. His only image was a disk—a symbol of the Sun.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Amarna Period of Egypt|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Amarna_Period_of_Egypt/|access-date=2021-06-05|website=World History Encyclopedia|language=en}}</ref>

Soon after Akhenaten's death, worship of the traditional deities was reestablished by the religious leaders (Ay the High-Priest of Amun-Ra, mentor of Tutankhaten/Tutankhamen) who had adopted the Aten during the reign of Akhenaten.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Silverman|first=David|title=Ancient Egypt|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-19-521952-4|location=New York, NY|pages=128–9}}</ref>

=== Kongo ===
[[File:Kongo Cosmogram 3.png|thumb|The [[Kongo cosmogram|Kongo Cosmogram]]]]

In [[Kongo people|Kongo religion]], [[Nzambi a Mpungu|Nzambi Mpungu]] is the Sky Father and god of the Sun, while that his female counterpart, [[Nzambici]], is Sky Mother and the god of the Moon and Earth.<ref name="Asante-2009">{{cite book | last1=Asante | first1=Molefi Kete | last2=Mazama | first2=Ama | title=Encyclopedia of African Religion | publisher=SAGE | date=2009 | isbn=978-1-4129-3636-1 | pages = 120–124, 165–166, 361}}</ref> The Sun is very significant to [[Kongo people|Bakongo people]], who believe that the position of the sun marks the different seasons of a Kongo person's life as they transition between the four moments of life: conception (''musoni''), birth (''kala''), maturity (''tukula''), and death (''luvemba''). The [[Kongo cosmogram]], a sacred symbol in Bakongo culture, depicts these moments of the sun.<ref name="Asante-2009" /><ref>{{cite journal | last=Luyaluka | first=Kiatezua Lubanzadio | title=The Spiral as the Basic Semiotic of the Kongo Religion, the Bukongo | journal=Journal of Black Studies | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=48 | issue=1 | date=2016-11-21 | issn=0021-9347 | doi=10.1177/0021934716678984 | pages=91–112 | jstor = 26174215 | s2cid = 152037988| doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Kalenjin ===

[[Kalenjin mythology]] was based upon the belief in a supreme god, [[Asis (deity)|Asis]] or Cheptalel, represented in the form of the sun (asista), although the sun itself was not considered to be God. He lives in the sky and is supreme, omnipotent, and the guarantor of right.<ref>Kipkorir B.E, The Marakwet of Kenya: A preliminary study. East Africa Literature Bureau, 1973, p. 8-9.</ref> Among the Northern sections of the Kalenjin he is also commonly referred to as Tororut.<ref>Robins, P, Red Spotted Ox: A Pokot Life. IWGIA, 2010, p. 14.</ref> Beneath Asis is Elat, who controls thunder and lightning.