The Egyptian peoples honored Ra, the sun god.

For people in ancient Egypt, the sun

was a source of life. It was power and energy, light and warmth. It was what made the crops
grow each season; Ra was the ruler of the heavens. He was the god of the sun, the bringer of
light, and patron to the pharaohs. According to legend, the sun travels the skies as Ra drives his
carriage through the heavens. Although he originally was associated only with the midday sun,
as time went by, Ra became connected to the sun's presence all day long. The Egyptians also
built solar temples in honor of Ra. The Greeks honored Helios, who was similar to Ra in his
many aspects. Helios was seen as giving light both to gods and men. The worshiping of Helios
was done with an impressive ritual that involved a giant carriage pulled by horses off the end of
a cliff and into the sea. The ancient Aztec religion was highly focused on keeping nature in
balance. According to ancient Aztec religion, it took the gods five tries to create the
world. These attempts were foiled because of infighting among the gods themselves. Under
similar circumstances, the world was created and then destroyed with wind, and then two
floods. Each time a creator-god would take a turn being the sun. Who was the Aztec sun

god? Actually, it's not such a simple question. Why? Because in the Aztec religion, there
wasn't only one sun, and there were many sun-gods over many ages.
The Egyptian Sun god Ra

Ra (pronounced ray) represents sunlight, warmth and growth. It was only natural that the
ancient Egyptians would believe him to be the creator of the world, as well as part of him being
represented in every other god. The ancient Egyptians believed that every god should illustrate
some aspect of him; while Ra himself should also represent every god. The ancient Egyptians
revered Ra as the god who created everything. Also known as the Sun God, Ra was a
powerful deity and a central god of the Egyptian pantheon. The ancient Egyptians worshiped
Ra more than any other god and pharaohs often connected themselves with Ra in their
efforts to be seen as the earthly embodiment of the Sun God. Ra was usually depicted in

human form. He had a falcon head which is crowned with a sun disc. This sun disc was
encircled by a sacred cobra named Uraeus. Ra has also been depicted as a man with the head
of a beetle and also a human man with the head of a ram. The ancients also depicted Ra in full
species form such as a serpent, heron, bull, lion, cat, ram, hawk, beetle, phoenix and others.
His main symbol, however, is the sun disk. The ancient Egyptians believed that as the sun god,
Ras role was to sail across the heavens during the day in his boat. He is also known as Re and
Atum. His children are Shu, the God of Dry Air and Father of the Sky, and his twin sister Tefnut,
the Goddess of Moisture and Wetness. As a lion-headed goddess, Tefnut is responsible for dew
and freshness. Humans were created from Ras tears. Solar temples were built for Ra but did
not contain a statue of the god. Instead, they were created to be open to the sunlight that Ra
represented. The earliest known temple built in honor of Ra exists in Heliopolis (what is now a
Cairo suburb).
Mesopotamian sun god

In Mesopotamian ancient culture the god of the sun is called Shamash. He

brings light and warmth to the land, allowing plants and crops to grow. At sunrise
ama was known to emerge from his underground sleeping chamber and take a
daily path across the skies