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Information about Winged Sun

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"Winged Sun of Thebes" (from Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity by Samuel Sharpe, 1863)
The winged sun is a symbol (known as Behedeti) associated with divinity, royalty and power in the Ancient Near East (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Persia).

Ancient Near East

Ancient Egyptian use

In Ancient Egypt, the symbol is attested from the Old Kingdom (Sneferu, 26th century BC), often flanked on either side with a uraeus. In early Egyptian religion, the symbol Behedeti represented Horus of Edfu, later identified with Ra-Harachte. It is sometimes depicted on the neck of Apis, the bull of Ptah. As time passed (according to interpretation) all of the subordinated gods of Egypt were considered to be aspects of the sun god, including e.g. Khepri.

Mesopotamia and the Levant

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Stele to Assurnasiripal II at Nimrud (9th century BC), detail showing the winged sun.
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Neo-Hittite winged sun relief of Kapara's palace (9th c. BC)
From roughly 2000 BC, the symbol spread to the Levant and to Mesopotamia. It appears in reliefs with Assyrian rulers and in Hieroglyphic Anatolian as a symbol for royalty, transcribed as SOL SUUS (literally, "his own self, the Sun", i.e., "His Majesty").

Hebrew

From ca. the 8th century BC, it appears on Hebrew seals, by now as a generic symbol for "power". One example is a seal where the winged sun is flanled by two Ankh symbols and a Hebrew inscription translating to "possession of Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Juda". Numerous pottery finds dating to the same time bear the symbol together with the inscription lemelekh "king's [property]".

Compare also Malachi 4:2, referring to a winged "Sun of righteousness",
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings... (KJV)


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The Faravahar in the Behistun Inscription.

Zoroastrianism

The symbol evolved into the Faravahar (the "visual aspect of Ahura Mazda") in Zoroastrian Persia.

Greece

The winged sun is conventionally depicted as the knob of the Staff of Hermes.

Modern use

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as a symbol in Alchemy: a winged sun hovers over a sepulchre filled with water (from Rosary of the Philosophers).
The Egyptian symbol appeared in Jehovah's Witnesses literature during the 1910s, and was also in use by various groups such as Freemasonry, Theosophy and Rosicrucians.

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Syriac-Aramaic flag
The Syriac-Aramaic flag is based on a 9th century BC winged sun symbol with four rosette glyphs in its base found on an orthostat relief in Kapara's palace, Tell Halaf (discovered in 1911).

Literature

  • R. Mayer, Opificius, Die geflügelte Sonne, Himmels- und Regendarstellungen im Alten Vorderasien, UF 16 (1984) 189-236.
  • D. Parayre, Carchemish entre Anatolie et Syrie à travers l'image du disque solaire ailé (ca. 1800-717 av. J.-C.), Hethitica 8 (1987) 319-360.
  • D. Parayre, Les cachets ouest-sémitiques à travers l'image du disque solaire ailé, Syria 67 (1990) 269-314.

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Divinity and divine (sometimes 'the Divinity' or 'the Divine'), are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or
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Royalty may refer to:
  • A royal family (by extension the ruling house of any monarchy, regardless of the title), or one or more of its members.
  • Royalties, the payment made (originally to the licensing crown) for a concession of commercial value (e.g.

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The terms ancient Near East or ancient Orient encompass the early civilizations predating classical antiquity in the region roughly corresponding to that described by the modern term Middle East (Egypt, Iraq, Turkey), during the time roughly spanning the Bronze Age
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Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq. Sumer in southern Mesopotamia is commonly regarded as the world's earliest civilization.
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BCE Zayandeh River Civilization Sialk civilization 7500–1000 Jiroft civilization (Aratta) Proto-Elamite civilization Bactria-Margiana Complex Elamite dynasties 2800–550 Kingdom of Mannai Median Empire 728–550 Achaemenid Empire Seleucid Empire Greco-Bactrian
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The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – this was the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization
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Sneferu, also spelt as Snefru or Snofru (in Greek known as Soris), was the founder of the Fourth dynasty of Egypt, reigning from around 2613 BC to 2589 BC.
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c. 2900 BC–2334 BC — Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period continue.
  • c. 2600 BC — The Harappan civilization rises to become a powerful civilization.
  • c. 2600 BC — Pre-Palace Period, phase I, in Crete (Mellersh 1970)
  • c.
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    • Wadjet from the original uraeus had been joined by the white vulture image of Nekhbet because of the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt]]

    The Uraeus (plural Uraei or Uraeuses, from the Greek
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    Horus is one of the most ancient deities of the Ancient Egyptian religion, who appears in his earliest form in late Predynastic Egypt. Represented as a falcon, his name is believed to mean 'the high' or 'the far off'[1]
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    Edfu, south of Luxor (lower right).]]

    Edfu (also spelt Idfu or in modern French as Edfou and known in antiquity as Behdet) is an Egyptian city, located on the west bank of the River Nile between Esna and Aswan, with a population of
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    Apis or Hapis (alternatively spelt Hapi-ankh), was a bull-deity worshipped in the Memphis region.

    According to Manetho, his worship is said to have been instituted by Kaiechos of the Second Dynasty.
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    Ptah also refers to the asteroid 5011 Ptah
    Ptah
    in hieroglyphs
    <hiero>p:t-H</hiero>
    In Egyptian mythology, Ptah (also spelt Peteh
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    Khepri (also spelt Khepera, Kheper, Chepri, Khepra) is the name of a minor god. Khepri is associated with the dung beetle (kheper), whose behavior of maintaining spherical balls of dung represents the forces which move the sun.
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    The Levant (IPA: /lə'vænt/) is an imprecise geographical term historically referring to a large area in the Middle East south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and by the northern
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    Mesopotamia was a cradle of civilization geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq. Sumer in southern Mesopotamia is commonly regarded as the world's earliest civilization.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Ancient Mesopotamia

    Euphrates Tigris
    Cities / Empires
    Sumer: Uruk ' Ur ' Eridu
    Kish ' Lagash ' Nippur
    Akkadian Empire: Akkad
    Babylon ' Isin ' Susa
    Assyria: Assur Nineveh
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    Luwian}}}
    Language codes
    ISO 639-1: none
    ISO 639-2: —
    ISO 639-3: hlu Hieroglyphic Luwian is a variant of the Luwian language, recorded in official and royal seals and a small number of monumental inscriptions.
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    The 8th century BC started the first day of 800 BC and ended the last day of 701 BC.

    Overview

    The 8th century BC was a period of great changes in civilizations. In Egypt, the 23rd and 24th dynasties led to rule from Nubia in the 25 Dynasty.
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    Hebrews (or Heberites, Eberites, Hebreians "Habiru" or "Habiri"; Hebrew: עברים or עבריים, Standard ʿIvrim,
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    The ankh (symbol ☥) was the Egyptian hieroglyphic character that originally stood for the Egyptian word ˁnḫ
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    Hebrew}}} 
    Writing system: Alefbet Ivri abjad 
    Official status
    Official language of:  Israel
    Regulated by: Academy of the Hebrew Language

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    Hezekiah (or Ezekias) (Hebrew: חזקיה or חזקיהו, "the Lord
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    Ahaz (אחז Hebrew "has held", short form of Jehoahaz: "God has held") was king of Judah, and the son and successor of Jotham. William F. Albright has dated his reign to 735 BC-715 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 732 BC-716 BC.
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    Kingdom of Judah (Hebrew: מַלְכוּת יְהוּדָה, Standard  
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    For other uses, see Malachy.


    Malachi or Mal'achi (Hebrew: מַלְאָכִי, Standard  
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    The faravahar or farohar (transliteration varies) is one of the best-known symbols of Zoroastrianism.

    The winged disc has a long history in the art and culture of the ancient Near and Middle East.
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    Ahura Mazda (Ahura Mazdā) is the Avestan language name for a divinity exalted by Zoroaster as the one uncreated Creator, hence God.
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