Worshipping a sun god

By Carole Green
BBC York & North Yorkshire

The weather forecasters have changed their mind about the 'barbecue summer', the outlook doesn't look good and most people are feeling a little bit fed up with the somewhat changeable weather.

Maybe the answer is to turn to ancient methods in an effort to make the sun shine for more than ten minutes at a time.

The Yorkshire Museum is inviting visitors to go along and see a Romano British plaque of the sun god Sol and maybe say something nice to him, or even leave him a small token of their goodwill. You never know, it might make a difference.

Andrew Morrison, curator of archaeology, says: "I think everyone is a little sick of the continuous barrage of rain from the west, and with forecasters predicting more of the same for the next few weeks we thought it was time to look to other means to try and change the outlook. We are lucky enough at the museum to have a plaque depicting Sol. He would have been worshipped here in York around a thousand years ago as the bringer of life and warmth."

Helios, the Greek god of the sun drove his chariot across the sky each day

The plaque of Sol, which is about 75cm square, was found in York but exactly where was not recorded. The god's face, with his long moustache and flowing hair, would have resembled a Yorkshireman of the time. The Roman authorities encouraged the local people to worship their own gods by entwining them with their own rather than stamping them out.

The plaque may have formed part of a temple to the sun god, where people would have gone to pray for a good harvest or for a particularly bad winter to end. Gifts would have been left to appease the god.

There are plenty of other sun gods to worship if you don't want to trust it to just one! Helios is the Greek god of the sun. He was imagined as a handsome god, crowned with the shining aureole of the sun, who drove the chariot of the sun across the sky each day.

Sun worship was popular in ancient Egyptian religion. Gods associated with the sun included Wadjet, Hathor and Bat and the most well known are probably Horus and Ra.

Tonatiuh was the sun god in Aztec mythology and, according to their creation myth, he demanded human sacrifice as a tribute and without it would refuse to move through the sky.

In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Wuriupranili goddess of the sun lights a torch and travels from east to west extinguishing the torch in the western ocean. She decorates her body with red ochre which represents the colour of the sunrise and sunset.