sun temples
Worship sites, daystar
Sun temples are religious structures built to honor solar deities, found across many ancient cultures from Egypt to Mesoamerica.
These temples typically incorporate astronomical alignments, positioning entrances or windows to capture sunlight at solstices or equinoxes: The sun temple at Konark is shaped like a giant chariot.
Some functioned as calendars or observatories alongside their ritual purposes.
- RaEgyptian sun deity
- obeliskTapering stone monument
- Ancient EgyptPharaonic Nile civilization
- altarSacred ritual table
- ritual sacrificeKilling as religious devotion
Helios · stone · pyramid · Tawantinsuyu · Amaterasu · solstice · summer solstice · celestial alignment · Sol Invictus · ziggurat · sanctuary · Abu Simbel · temple complex · priests · rays · chariot · golden rays · Inca
- Egyptian monumentspyramids, sphinx, obelisks, tombs, Giza pyramids
- Andean RuinsMachu Picchu, Inca ruins, Inca Trail, Moray, citadel
- archaeoastronomyStonehenge, stone circles, medicine wheels, ancient observatories, standing stones
- Egyptian astronomySirius, star maps, Nut, Orion, lunar calendar
- Inca AstronomyPleiades, Southern Cross, lunar cycles, moon phases, solstice
- ancient societiesMaya civilization, Mayan civilization, Aztec Empire, Inca Empire, African kingdoms