Astral deity

Venus is both a planet and a Roman deity in the form of a woman. That makes her an astral deity.

In religious research, an astral deity describes a deity who embodies, originates from, or belongs to a celestial body or an astronomical event . Often there is no clear separation between the deity and her heavenly body.

The worship of heavenly bodies is called astral cult or star worship . People believed that special future events could be read from the stars . The stars should also strengthen the healing effects of herbs or support the magical craft . The astrology and astronomy shaped by the ancient Greeks later developed around the Mesopotamian and Babylonian star cults and the observation of the stars that began in this way .

Religions in which the worship of the sun , moon , planets and stars play a central role are called astral religions. These are based on the phenomena of heaven, which in their cyclical reflection and their constellation have been interpreted as divine power. A typical representative of these astral religions is the pre-Islamic religion of Yemen .

The sex of these deities is different: while the moon was interpreted more as a female deity, the planets were more likely to be seen as a male deity. Deities of the sun were interpreted differently depending on the religion.

Selection of astral deities

Sun deities

• Sol or Sunna ( Nordic deity)

• Helios ( Greek deity)

• Surya ( Hindu deity)
• Amaterasu ( Japanese deity)
• Sakuru ( Indian deity)

Moon deities

• Mani (Norse deity)
• Luna ( Roman deity)
• Selene (Greek deity)
• Meness ( Baltic deity)
• Candrama or Chandra (Hindu deity)
• Nanna (Mesopotamian deity)

Planetary deities

• Mercury or Mercurius (Roman deity) - Greek: Hermes
• Venus (Roman deity) - Greek: Aphrodite ; Ištar ( Akkadian or Old Babylonian deity); Astarte or ʿAthtar (West Semitic & Old South Arabian deity); Inanna (Sumerian deity, closely related to Ištar)
• Saturn (Roman deity) - Greek: Kronos

Deities such as the Roman god of war Mars , the Roman father of gods Jupiter , the Greek god of the dead Pluto or the Greek god of the sky Uranos are often not counted among the astral deities, as the connection with the planets was created later. Many other ancient deities are also often not counted among the astral gods.

Deities of the morning and evening stars are also counted among the astral planetary deities:

• Aurvandill (Norse deity)
• Lucifer (Roman deity)
• Eosphoros (Greek deity)
• Auseklis ( Latvian deity)
• Ushas ( Vedic deity)

Deities of the dawn

• Aurora (Roman deity)
• Eos (Greek deity)
• Aušrinė ( Lithuanian deity)
• Ushas

More deities

• The Greek Pleiades (in Greek mythology the daughters of Atlas and Pleione ) are counted among the astral deities. In the starry sky , the Pleiades form an open star cluster .
• Furthermore, individual stars like Sirius (Greek mythology) or the pole star form astral deities.

Astral deities among the Teutons

Although astral deities do not play a major role in Germanic mythology , there are still a few noteworthy. The ampsivarian king Boiocalus is said to have invoked the sun and other stars . He is said to have asked whether they really would rather see a deserted country after he and his people were driven from the Chauken tribe by land robbers .

Astral deities among the Egyptians

Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti during the adoration of Aten.

Even among the Egyptians , the worship of astral deities initially played no special role. This changed with Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV), who began to worship the sun ( Aten ). Akhenaten and his father Amenhotep III. saw Aton as the creator and keeper of all life and therefore broke away from the worship of Res . Aton was not seen as a human figure, but as a solar disk.

After Akhenaten's death, the new pharaoh Tutankhamun reintroduced the old religion and renounced the Aton cult. Aton itself is viewed as a further development of Re, which means that Re can also be referred to as the astral deity.

Web links

• Star interpretation in ancient Arabia
• Boiocalus and the Ampsivarians
• The ampsivarians
• Akhenaten, Nefertiti and the adoration of Aten
• Akhenaten and the Aton cult

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Duden | astral | Spelling, meaning, definition, origin. Retrieved August 26, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Stars / constellations / star interpretation . ( bibelwissenschaft.de [accessed on August 24, 2018]).
3. ↑ Gustav-Adolf Schoener: Publication: Astrology as religion and “empirical science” .
4. ^ Sol - Norse Goddess of the Sun | Mythology.net . In: Mythology.net . October 19, 2016 ( mythology.net [accessed August 24, 2018]).
5. ↑ Helios | Encyclopedia Mythica. Accessed August 24, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Yoga Vidya: Surya and Savitri - The Indian sun god and his wife. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Amaterasu - Kamigraphy. Retrieved on August 24, 2018 (German (Sie-Salutation)). 
8. ↑ www.indianerwww.de: The Indians of North America - Mythology, Manitou, Tirawa. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
9. ^ Sol and Mani - Norse Mythology for Smart People . In: Norse Mythology for Smart People . ( norse-mythology.org [accessed August 24, 2018]).
10. ↑ Luna | Encyclopedia Mythica. Accessed August 24, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Selene. Accessed August 24, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Mēness | Baltic god . In: Encyclopedia Britannica . ( britannica.com [accessed August 24, 2018]).
13. ↑ Bernhard Peter: http://www.kultur-in-asien.de/Indien/Sonstige/seite378.htm. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
14. ↑ Nanna. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
15. ↑ Zeno: Merkur, Hermes (mythology). Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
16. ↑ Hermes - Greek god of magicians and merchants | The gods. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
17. ↑ Venus . In: Ancient History Encyclopedia . ( ancient.eu [accessed August 24, 2018]).
18. ↑ Aphrodite the most beautiful and goddess of love | The gods. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
19. ↑ Brigitte Groneberg: Praise of Ištar: Prayer and ritual to the ancient Babylonian Venus goddess Tanatti Ištar . BRILL, ISBN 978-90-5693-006-6 .
20. ↑ Astarte . ( bibelwissenschaft.de [accessed on August 25, 2018]).
21. ↑ The goddess Inanna / Ishtar | The gods. Retrieved August 25, 2018 . 
22. ↑ Christa Gallery: Aquarius Astrology. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
23. ↑ Kronos (mythology) | Titan and father of Zeus. Retrieved on August 24, 2018 (German). 
24. ↑ AURVANDIL - the Norse Star God (Norse mythology) . In: Godchecker - Your Guide to the Gods . ( godchecker.com [accessed August 24, 2018]).
25. ↑ Lucifer | classical mythology . In: Encyclopedia Britannica . ( britannica.com [accessed August 24, 2018]).
26. ↑ EOSPHORUS & HESPERUS (Eosphoros & Hesperos) - Greek Gods of the Morning & Evening Stars. Accessed August 24, 2018 . 
27. ↑ Auseklis | Encyclopedia Mythica. Accessed August 24, 2018 . 
28. ↑ Ushas, ​​Mother Goddess, Goddess of Dawn. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
29. ↑ Aurora goddess of the dawn | The Römer Shop. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
30. ↑ Eos - Greek goddess of the dawn | The gods. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
31. ^ The Lithuanian Word. History. Ausrine. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
32. ↑ Ushas, ​​Mother Goddess, Goddess of Dawn. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
33. ↑ Pleiades myths - box of astronomy items. Retrieved on August 24, 2018 (German). 
34. ↑ Zeno: Sirius (mythology). Retrieved August 25, 2018 . 
35. ↑ The meaning of the north star. Retrieved August 25, 2018 . 
36. ↑ The Fate of the Ampsivarians - History-Knowledge. Retrieved August 23, 2018 . 
37. ^ Aton - Akhenaten and Nefertiti | The gods. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
38. ^ Judith Mathes: Akhenaten. Retrieved on August 24, 2018 (German). 
39. ↑ Aton | Akhenaten's Sun God - Ancient Egypt. Retrieved on August 24, 2018 (German). 
40. ↑ Janis Purucker: Tutankhamun - The prehistory: His ancestors and the Aton cult. Retrieved August 25, 2018 . 
41. ↑ Kirsten Gall: Faith in Ancient Egypt. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
42. ^ Aton - Egyptian sun god | Ancient egypt. Retrieved August 24, 2018 . 
43. ↑ Aton - universal Egyptian god | Ancient egypt. Retrieved August 24, 2018 .