Page 377

[Alexandr Korol]

grants life and punishes criminals with blindness. Dwelling high in the sky, Helios sees the deeds of gods and humans, most often their wicked ones. Helios the ‘all- seeing’ is called upon as a witness and avenger. It was he who informed Demeter that Persephone had been abducted by Hades.” It is further described: “He was imagined as a handsome figure with a mighty body, clad in a thin garment swayed by the wind, with shining, fearsome eyes, with flowing hair covered either by a radiant crown or a gleaming helmet. His appearance is surrounded by dazzling light and radiance. He resides in a magnificent palace, surrounded by the four seasons, on a throne of precious stones.” So, you see, he is always surrounded by the four seasons because he rules over them. Next, there is also a mention of the god Apollo – the god of the Sun and music among the ancient Romans, who adopted faith in him from the Greeks. Apollo, the son of Zeus and Leto, the twin brother of Artemis, is one of the principal gods of the Olympian pantheon. “The golden-haired god of the Sun, light (sunlight was symbolized by his golden arrows), art, a healing god, leader and patron of the Muses (Musagetes), protector of sciences and arts, foreteller of the future, guardian of herds, roads, travelers, and sailors, as well as a purifier of those who had committed murder. He personified the Sun.” There is also a mention of the Sun God Mithra: “Mithra, in ancient Persian and ancient Indian mythology, was the god of contracts and friendship, the protector of truth. Mithra embodied light: he rushed across the sky in a golden chariot-Sun drawn by four white horses. He had 10,000 ears and eyes; wise, he was distinguished by courage in battle. This god could bless his worshippers, granting them victory over enemies and wisdom, but showed no mercy to his foes. As the god of fertility, he brought rain and caused plants to grow. According to one ancient tradition, Mithra, appearing to people as the Sun, created a connection between Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, the lord of darkness. This assumption was based on the understanding of the Sun’s role as a constant transition between states of light and darkness.” Additionally, in a separate article about Ra, it is written that “in Egyptian mythology, the Sun God was embodied in the form of a falcon, a giant cat, or a man with a falcon’s head crowned with a solar disk. Ra, the Sun God, was the father of Wadjet, the cobra of the North, who protected the pharaoh from the scorching rays of the Sun. According to myth, during the day, the benevolent Ra, illuminating the earth, sailed across the celestial Nile in the Mandjet barque, in the evening transferred to the Mesektet barque and continued his journey along the underground Nile, and in the morning, having defeated the serpent Apophis