Winged Sun Symbols And A Flock Of Mythical Birds And Bird Gods Were Inspired By A Bird-like Pattern In The Sun's Corona
This post is a reworking and republication aka "recycling"of a comment that I posted on Facebook in 2021:
I have extensively researched how eclipses, especially total solar eclipses, influenced ancient humanity's religious beliefs and practices. Nobody disputes that the sun and moon were perceived as gods by many ancient civilizations and, if the sun and moon weren't perceived as gods themselves, they were perceived as signs of God. One cannot properly understand ancient "pagan" religions without understanding how solar and lunar eclipses influenced their beliefs and practices. Total solar eclipses, and strong partial solar eclipses, especially when several solar eclipses occurred in a series within a comparatively short time period, lets say 1-3 decades, had a very significant influence on the religious beliefs and practices of ancient people.
http://eclipsology.blogspot.com/2009/09/nazca-lines-and-eye-in-sky-how-total.html
http://eclipsology.blogspot.com/2009/09/nazca-lines-and-eye-in-sky-how-total.html
The bird-like pattern that may be seen in the sun's corona during some total solar eclipses had a major influence on ancient "pagan" religious beliefs. It inspired a whole flock of bird gods and mythical birds such as Horus and the Phoenix, and indeed solar swans such as the swan form of Zeus, not to mention Aengus Og. . . The "winged sun" inspired various other winged mythical beings, including "winged serpents" aka dragons, as well as the winged sun symbols of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and other cultures.
https://www.academia.edu/5272557/Alexandrie006_Some_Historic_Aspects-Rev
I would argue that one of the reasons that swans are sacred beings in some cultures, if not the primary reason, is because a pure white bird-like pattern that distinctly resembles a swan appears in the sun's corona during the apparent "death" and "rebirth" of the sun. A dead new born baby being laid to rest on top a swan's wing in a prehistoric burial found in Denmark strongly suggests that this burial ritual arose out of beliefs about death and rebirth inspired by observations of the white "solar swan" during the one or more total solar eclipses.
One should not underestimate just how awe-inspiring total solar eclipses are, not only for ancient people, but even modern well-educated "eclipse chasers", and there is quite a bit more cosmic symbolism that may be perceived during solar eclipses than just this white "sun bird". . . Most notably, there is the striking similarity of most total solar eclipses to the pupil and iris of a gigantic eye staring down from the sky. These two perceptions were synthesized into the "winged eye" symbols of various cultures.
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