Winged sun
The winged sun was a sun symbol in the ancient Orient and was known in ancient Egypt , Mesopotamia and Anatolia .
The origin of the winged sun lies in ancient Egypt. From the 3rd dynasty (27th century BC) the sun disk was associated with the image of a crouching falcon, the bird of the sun and the sun deities Behdeti , Horus and Ra . The winged sun could be connected with the uraeus snake and became a symbol of god-favored royalty.
At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC The winged sun was adopted in Syria, with the new bird's tail being added. It was widespread in the Mittani empire, from where it began in the 14th century BC. Was also adopted by the Assyrians as a symbol of the sun god Šamaš .
Through Hurrian mediation, the sun came to the Hittites , where on the one hand it symbolized the sun god of the sky , on the other hand it referred to the title of ruler "My Sun", corresponding to the German "His Majesty".
From the 9th century BC In Assyria the upper part of a man could appear in the central part of the winged sun. The Persian king Darius I took over the winged sun, which was retained until the fall of the Achaemenids .
literature
- U. SE .: winged sun. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 4, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01474-6 , column 574 f.
- Stephan Lauber : winged sun. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.