Sun Lore.

To help with the acknowledging of the sun-god in old tales I think it is worthwhile here to set down some old lore about the sun which pœtes were not unheedful of at one time.

The Daily Cycle.

  Felix Martianus Capella De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii ("On the Wedding of Philology and Mercurius") Book 1, §76 wrote of the sun god:

“Facie autem mox ut ingressus est, pueri renitentis, incessu medio iuvenis anheli, in fine senis apparebat occidui: licet duodecim nonnullis formas convertere crederetur.”

“As he entered, his face shone like a boy’s, in mid-course he looked like a young man out of breath, while at the end of his course he seemed a declining old man; there are some who think he has a dozen different appearances.”

[Felix Martianus Capella De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") (awended by William Harris Stahl and Richard Johnson with E.L. Burge) Book 1, §76, lvs. 119 to 120].

Proclus Commentary on the Timaeus of Plato Vol II, awent by Thomas Taylor, commentary on Timaeus 38c Book IV:

“...τὸν ἥλιον κατἀ ὥραν καὶ  κατἀ ζῴδιον εἰρήκασιν ἀμείβειν τὰς μορφὰς …”

“…the sun is said to change his forms every hour, and in each sign of the zodiac...”
 

Plutarch’s Moralia vol. V, Of Isis and Osiris §1 (awending F. C. Babbitt):

“οὐδὲ τὸν ἣλιον ἐκ λωτοῦ νομίζουσι βρέφος ἀνίσχειν νεογνόν, ἀλλ᾽ οὕτως ἀνατολὴν ἡλίου γράφουσι, τὴν ἐξ ὑγρῶν ἡλίου γιγνομένην ἄναψιν αἰνιττόμενοι.”

  “Nor, again, do they believe that the sun rises as a newborn babe from the lotus, but they portray the rising of the sun in this manner to indicate allegorically the enkindling of the sun from the waters.”

And §52 (372d):

“καὶ μὴν ἡμέρας ἑκάστης τριχῶς ἐπιθυμιῶσι τῷ ἡλίῳ, ῥητίνην μὲν ὑπὸ τὰς ἀνατολάς, σμύρναν δὲ μεσουρανοῦντι, τὸ δὲ καλούμενον κῦφι περὶ δυσμάς: …”

“Every day they make a triple offering of incense to the Sun, an offering of resin at sunrise, of myrrh at midday, and of the so-called cyphi at sunset…”.

Whence lauds, midday (sext) and evensong (vespers).

And we can see this has been borrowed to give us “Syre gawayne” in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur Book 4, chap. 18:

“but Syre gawayne fro it passed ix of the clok waxed euer stronger and stronger / for thenne hit cam to the houre of noone & thryes his myghte was encreaced / Alle this aspyed syr  Marhaus  and had grete wonder how his myghte encreaced / and so they wounded other passynge sore / And thenne whan it was past noone / and whan it drewe toward euensonge syre gawayns strengthe febled & waxt passynge faynte that vnnethes he myght dure ony lenger / and syr  Marhaus  was thenne bygger and bygger /”

But as Gawayne is “susters sone” (see Bk. 4, chap. 22, 23) to king Arthur, we may see that Arthur’s sun-likeness is truly being beckoned to by this. 

The Yearly Cycle.

But as well as the daily cycle the Sun hath a yearly cycle, as Varro De Lingua Latina Book VI.8 (awend. Roland G. Kent):

“4. Duo motus <solis : alter cum caelo, quod movetur ab love rectore, qui Graece Δία appellatur, cum ab oriente ad oc>casu<m> venit,^ quo tempus id ab hoc deo dies appellatur. Meridies ab eo quod medius dies. D antiqiii, non R in hoc dicebant, ut Praeneste incisum in solario vidi.

…

8. Alter motus solis est, al<i>ter <ac> caeli, quod movetur a bruma ad solstitium. Dicta bruma, quod brevissimus tunc dies est ; solstitium, quod sol eo die sistere videbatur, quo ad nos versum proximus est. Sol cum venit in medium spatium inter brumam et solstitium, quod dies aequus fit ac nox, aequinoctium dictum. Tempus a bruma ad brumam dum Sol redit , vocatur annus; quod ut parvuli circuli annuli , sic magni dicebantur circites anni : unde Annus.

9.   Huius temporis pars prima hiems, quod tum multi imbres ; hinc hibernacula, hibernum ; vel, quod tum anima quae flatur omnium apparet, ab hiatus hiems. Tempus secundum ver, quod tum virere incipiunt virgulta ac vertere se tempus anni ; nisi quod Iones dicunt ἦρ ver. Tertium ab aestu aestas; hinc aestivum; nisi forte a Graeco αἴθεσθαι. Quartum autumnus, <ab augendis hominum opibus dictus frugibusque coactis, quasi auctumnus>. ”

“4. There are two motions of the sun : one with the sky, in that the moving is impelled by Jupiter as ruler, who in Greek is called Δία‎, when it comes from east to west; wherefore this time is from this god called a dies ' day.' Meridies ' noon,' from the fact that it is the medius ' middle ' of the dies ' day.' The ancients said D in this word, and not R, as I have seen at Praeneste, cut on a sun-dial.

…

8. There is a second motion of the sun, differing from that of the sky, in that the motion is from bruma ' winter's day ' to solstitium ' solstice.'   Bruma is so named, because then the day is brevissimus ' shortest ': the solstitium, because on that day the sol ' sun ' seems sistere ' to halt,' on which it is nearest to us. When the sun has arrived midway between the bruma and the solstitium, it is called the aequinoctium ' equinox,' because the day becomes aequus ' equal ' to the nox ' night.' The time from the bruma until the sun returns to the bruma, is called an annus ' year,' because just as little circles are anuli ' rings,' so big circuits were called ani, whence comes annus ' year.'  
9.   The first part of this time is the hiems ' winter,'  so called because then there are many imbres ' showers '; hence hibernacula ' winter encampment,' hibernum ' winter time '; or because then everybody's breath which is breathed out is visible, hiems is from hiatus ' open mouth.' " The second season is the ver ' spring,' so called because then the virgulta ' bushes ' begin virere ' to become green ' and the time of year begins vertere ' to turn or change 'itself" ; unless it is because the Ionians say ἦρ for spring. The third season is the aestas ' summer,' from aestus ' heat '; from this, aestivum ' summer pasture ' ; unless perhaps it is from the Greek αἴθεσθαι ' to blaze.' The fourth is the autumnus ' autumn,' named from augere ' to increase ' the possessions of men and the gathered fruits, as if auctumnus.'”

At times Dionysus or Bacchus is understood as a “sun-god”, but as those who truly know will know, this is only so to speak, and only rightly understood of τριετηρικός Βάκχος Trietericus Bacchus.  Thus in Porphyry’s Περί Αγαλμάτων • Concerning Images: 

“τῆς δ' αὖ χορευτικῆς τε καὶ ἐγκυκλίου κινήσεως, καθ' ἣν τοὺς καρποὺς πεπαίνει, ἡ πυρὸς δύναμις ∆ιόνυσος κέκληται ἑτέρως  <ἢ>  ἡ τῶν ὑγροποιῶν καρπῶν δύναμις, ἢ παρὰ τὸ δινεῖν ἢ διανύειν τὸν ἥλιον τὴν κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν περιφοράν.”

“'But the fiery power of his [the Sun’s] revolving and circling motion, whereby he ripens the crops, is called Dionysus, not in the same sense as the power which produces the juicy fruits, but either from the sun's rotation (δινεῖν), or from his completing (διανύειν) his orbit in the heaven.”  

[found in Eusebius of Caesarea’s Praeparatio Evangelica (awending E. H. Gifford 1903) Book 3, Chapter Xi but otherwise unknown]
And Dionysus’ mythical shifts were therefore linked to the shifts which the sun seemingly undergoeth as it wheels about the earth bringing about the four yeartides (=seasons), thus Saturnalia  I.18.12 (awend.  Percival Vaughan Davies):

12 Orpheus quoque solem volens intellegi ait inter cetera:

Τήκων αἰυέρα δι᾽ ὃν, άκίνητον πρὶν ἐοντα,  

ἐξανέφηνε θεοῖσιν ὁρᾶν κάλλιστον ίδέσθαι,

ὃν δὴ νῦν καλέουσι Φάνητά τε καὶ Διόνυσον

Εὐβουλῆα τ᾽ ἄνακτα καὶ Ἀνταύγην ἀρίδηλον·

ἄλλοι δ᾽ ἄλλο καλοῦσιν ἐπιχθονίων ἀνθρώπων.

Πρῶτος δ᾽ ἐς φάος ἤλθε, Διόνυσος δ᾽ ἐπεκλήθη,

οὗνεκα δινεῖται κατ᾽ ἀπείρονα μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον·

ἀλλαχθεὶς δ᾽ ὄνομ᾽ ἔσχε, προσωνυμίας πρὸς ἕκαστον

παντοδαπὰς κατὰ καιρὸν, ἀμειβομένοιο χρόνοιο.

“Orpheus too intended the following passage to be understood to refer to the sun:

    ‘Melting the divine ether which aforetime was without motion,

he [the Creator]   brought up and displayed a most beautiful sight,

him, whom men now call by the  names of Phanes and Dionysus

and the lord Eubouleus and Antauges seen afar

(for  on earth some men give him one name and some another). 

He was the first to come forth into light, and he was called Dionysus,

because he wheels (dineitai) throughout the boundless length of Olympus;

but with change he took another name, having titles  manifold

to fit each change according to the seasons of changing time.’”

Thus  Macrobius  “The Saturnalia” Book I, chapter 18 (awend. Percival Vaughan Davies) :

 “item Liberi patris simulacra partim puerili aetate partim iuuenis fingunt. praeterea barbata specie, senili quoque, uti Graeci eius quem Βασσαρέα, item quem Βρισέα apellant, et ut in Campania Neapolitani celebrant Ἥβωνα  cognominantes. hae autem aetatum diuersitates ad solem referuntur, ut paruulus uideatur hiemali solstitio, qualem Aegyptii proferunt ex adyto die certa, quod tunc breuissimo die ueluti paruus et infans uideatur. exinde autem procedentibus augmentis aequinoctio uernali similiter atque adulescentis adipiscitur uires figuraque iuuenis ornatur. postea statuitur eius aetas plenissima effigie barbae solstitio aestiuo, quo tempore summum sui consequitur augmentum. exinde per diminutiones ueluti senescenti quarta forma deus figuratur.”

“[9] Likewise, statues of Liber Pater represent him sometimes as a young man; again, as a man  with a beard and also as an old man, as for example the statue of the god which the Greeks call Bassareus and Briseus, and that which in Campania the Neapolitans worship under the name Hebon. [10] These differences in age have reference to the sun, for at the winter solstice the sun would seem to be a little child, like that which the Egyptians bring forth from a shrine on an appointed day, since the day is then at its shortest and the god is accordingly shown as a tiny infant.  Afterward, however, as the days go on and lengthen, the sun at the spring equinox acquires strength in a way comparable to growth to adolescence, and so the god is given the appearance of a young man.  Subsequently, he is represented in full maturity, with a beard, at the summer solstice, when the sun’s growth is completed.  After that, the days shorten, as though with the approach of his old age-hence the fourth of the figures by which the god is portrayed.”  

The “paruulus… qualem Aegyptii proferunt … die certa” “a little child, like that which the Egyptians bring forth from a shrine on an appointed day,” looketh to what was said of Harpocrates “the Elder Horus” in Ægypt, thus Plutarch (Greek:  Πλούταρχος), Isis and Osiris §65, 377b-c (awend. F. C. Babbitt) wrote of this:

“διὸ καὶ λέγεσθαι τὴν Ἶσιν αἰσθομένην ὅτι κύει περιάψασθαι φυλακτήριον ἕκτῃ μηνὸς ἱσταμένου Φαωφί: τίκτεσθαι δὲ τὸν Ἁρποκράτην περὶ τροπὰς χειμερινὰς ἀτελῆ καὶ νεαρὸν ἐν τοῖς προανθοῦσι καὶ προβλαστάνουσι. διὸ καὶ φακῶν αὐτῷ φυομένων ἀπαρχὰς ἐπιφέρουσι, τὰς δὲ λοχείους ἡμέρας ἑορτάζειν  μετὰ τὴν ἐαρινὴν ἰσημερίαν.  ”

“ ... For this reason also it is said that Isis, when she perceived that she was pregnant, put upon herself an amulet on the sixth day of the month Phaophi; and about the time of the winter solstice she gave birth to Harpocrates, imperfect and premature, amid the early flowers and shoots. For this reason they bring to him as an offering the first-fruits of growing lentils, and the days of his birth they celebrate after the spring equinox.  ...”

Whilst the “senescenti” “approach of his old-age” of the sun is also marked by Plutarch §52 (372c):

“Τῇ δὲ ὀγδόῃ φθίνοντος τοῦ Φαωφὶ βακτηρίας ἡλίου γενέθλιον ἄγουσι μετὰ φθινοπωρινὴν ἰσημερίαν, ἐμφαίνοντες οἷον ὑπερείσματος δεῖσθαι καὶ ῥώσεως τῷ τε θερμῷ γιγνόμενον ἐνδεᾶ καὶ τῷ φωτί {ἐνδεᾶ}, κλινόμενον καὶ πλάγιον ἀφ´ ἡμῶν φερόμενον.”

“On the 8th of the waning of the month of Phaophi they conduct the birthday of the staff of the sun following upon the autumnal equinox, and by this they declare, as it were, that he is in need of support and strength, since he becomes lacking in warmth and light, and undergoes decline, and is carried away from us to one side.” 

In the Egyptish calendar brooked by Plutarch in his Isis and Osiris it is well to mark that the first month Thout would be when the sun is in Virgo, Phaophi is sun in Libra as the above outfoldeth, Athyr is sun in Scorpio (see §13, 356c-d), Choeac sun in Sagittarius, Tybi sun in Capricorn, Méchir sun in Aquarius, Phaminoth sun in Pisces, Pharmouti sun in Aries, Pachon sun in Taurus, Payni sun in Gemini, Epiphi sun in Cancer and Mésori sun in Leo.

 That the old eld of the sun endeth in death, can be seen from what Macrobius writeth of Adonis “The Saturnalia” Book I, chapter 21, lf.141 §4:

  “ab apro autem tradunt interemptum Adonin, hiemis imaginem in hoc animali fingentes, quod aper hispidus et asper gaudet locis humidis lutosis pruinaque contectis proprieque hiemali fructu pascitur glande. ergo hiems ueluti uulnus est solis, quae et lucem eius nobis minuit et calorem, quod utrumque animantibus accidit morte.”

“In the story which they tell of Adonis killed by a boar the animal is intended to represent winter, for the boar is an unkempt and rude creature delighting in damp, muddy, and frost-covered places and feeding on the acorn, which is especially a winter fruit.  And so winter, as it were, inflicts a wound on the sun, for in winter we find the sun’s light and heat ebbing, and it is an ebbing of light and heat that befalls all living creatures at death.”

But the death of the sun is not so much a death as a death and again-birth, thus Macrobius in “The Saturnalia”, Book I, chapter 20, §2:

  “Hinc est, quod simulacris et Aesculapii et Salutis draco subiungitur, quod hi ad solis naturam lunaeque referuntur. et est Aesculapius uis salubris, de substantia solis subueniens animis corporibusque mortalium. Salus autem natura lunaris effectus est quo corpora animantium iuuantur salutifero firmata temperamento. ideo ergo simulacris eorum iunguntur figurae draconum, quia praestant, ut humana corpora uelut infirmitatis pelle deposita ad pristinum reuirescant uigorem, ut reuirescunt dracones per annos singulos pelle senectutis exuta. propterea et ad ipsum solem species draconis refertur, quia sol semper uelut a quadam imae depressionis senecta in altitudinem suamut in robur reuertitur iuuentutis.” 

“Statues of Aesculapius and Salus, then, have figures of serpents in attendance because these two deities enable human bodies, as it were, to slough off the skin of weakness and to recover the bloom of their former strength, just as serpents each year shed the skin of old age and renew their youth.  And it is for this reason that the sun itself too is represented in the form of a serpent, because in its passage from the lowest point of its course to its height it always seems, as it were, to pass from the depth of old age and return to the vigour of youth.”

The pœtes setting to work with an eye on what the starcrafty say, weave this into many a spell, thus Manly P. Hall The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928) quoting Robert Hewitt Brown, 32°: 

“The Sun, as he pursued his way among these 'living creatures' of the zodiac, was said, in allegorical language, either to assume the nature of or to triumph over the sign he entered”.   

Proclus Commentary on the Timaeus of Plato Vol II, awent by Thomas Taylor, commentary on Timaeus 38c Book IV lf.775:

“...τὸν ἥλιον …  κατἀ ζῴδιον εἰρήκασιν ἀμείβειν τὰς μορφὰς …”

“…the sun is said to change his forms … in each sign of the zodiac...”

Capella:

“...licet duodecim nonnullis formas convertere crederetur. ...”

“...there are some who think he has a dozen different appearances. ...” 

Hercules or Heracles (Ἡρακλῆς) is maybe the most readily understood “sun-hero” thus Porphyry again (awending E.H. Gifford 1903):

“καθὸ δὲ ἀπαλεξίκακός ἐστι τῶν ἐπιγείων ὁ ἥλιος, Ἡρακλέα αὐτὸν προσεῖπον, ἐκ τοῦ κλᾶσθαι πρὸς τὸν ἀέρα ἀπ' ἀνατολῆς εἰς δύσιν ἰόντα. δώδεκα δ' ἄθλους ἐκμοχθεῖν ἐμυθολό γησαν, τῆς κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν διαιρέσεως τῶν ζῳδίων τὸ σύμβολον ἐπιφημίσαντες· ῥόπαλον δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ λεοντῆν περιέθεσαν, τὸ μὲν τῆς ἀνωμαλίας μή 3.11.26 νυμα, τὸ δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὸ ζῴδιον ἐμφανιστικὸν ἰσχύος.”

“But inasmuch as the sun wards off the evils of the earth, they called him Heracles (Ἑρακλῆς), from his clashing against the air (κλᾶσθαι πρὸς τὸν ἀέρα) in passing from east to west. And they invented fables of his performing twelve labours, as the symbol of the division of the signs of the zodiac in heaven; and they arrayed him with a club and a lion's skin, the one as an indication of his uneven motion, and the other representative of his strength in "Leo" the sign of the zodiac.”

But it is worth calling to mind here that not only Hercules’ twelve labours, but also, his whole life from birth to death, may be fitted into the tokening of the zodiac.

And as may be gleaned from Macrobius’ words above, it is in the sign of the Capricorn at the so-called shortest day or winter solstice we have the end and beginning of all such spells when the old sun seemingly dieth and the new sun is born.  At times the sun was understood not so much as dying and being born again, as being ednewed as a snake is ednewed by the sloughing of its skin, and this death-birth tale gave rise to the myth of the phœnix, and this findeth an odd echo in our wont of linking the  robin redbreast to Yule.  Capella:

“Praetendebat dextra flammivomum quendam draconem caudae suae ultima devorantem, quem credebant anni numerum nomine perdocere.”

“[70] In his right hand he held a fire-breathing dragon devouring its own tail – a dragon which was believed to teach the number of days in the year by the spelling of its own name.”

[The Marriage of Mercury and Philology awent by William Harris Stahl and Richard Johnson with E.L. Burge, Columbia University Press, 1977C.E. – Book 1, §70, lvs. 26].

 For the Romans, the winter solstice, the shortest day, was reckoned to be on the 25th December.  If it was not so thought of from the beginning, it witterly came to be so.  Fl. Claudius Julianus, Emperor 361-363C.E., marketh it as a great festival of the Sun [awend. Emily Wilmer Cave Wright]:

 “πρὸ τῆς νουμηνίας, εὐθέως μετὰ τὸν τελευταῖον τοῦ Κρόνου μῆνα, ποιοῦμεν Ἡλίῳ  τὸν περιφανέστατον ἀγῶνα, τὴν ἑορτὴν Ἡλίῳ καταφημίσαντες ἀνικήτῳ, μεθ᾽ ὃν οὐδὲν θέμις ὧν ὁ τελευταῖος μὴν ἔχει σκυθρωπῶν μέν, ἀναγκαίων δ᾽ ὅμως, ἐπιτελεσθῆναι θεαμάτων, ἀλλὰ τοῖς Κρονίοις οὖσι τελευταίοις εὐθὺς συνάπτει κατὰ τὸν κύκλον τὰ Ἡλίαια, ἃ δὴ πολλάκις μοι δοῖεν οἱ βασιλεῖς ὑμνῆσαι καὶ ἐπιτελέσαι θεοί, ...” 

“Before the beginning of the year, at the end of the month which is called after Kronos [=December], we celebrate in honour of Helios the most splendid games, and we dedicate the festival to the Invincible Sun. And after this it is not lawful to perform any of the shows that belong to the last month, gloomy as they are, though necessary. But, in the cycle, immediately after the end of the Kronia [=Saturnalia] follow the Heliaia. That festival may the ruling gods grant me to praise and to celebrate with sacrifice! ...”

And from this we can see that the ‘Saturnalia’,  properly held on the 17th December,  is first and not to be formenged with the solstice festival.  That, the winter solstice was not only a feast of the Sun, but regarded as his birthday, we learn from the calendar of Philocalus (CIL I lf.388) which marketh the 25th December as: “Dies Natalis Invicti: circenses missus  XXX”. 

Roger Pearse hath some further markings on his leaf [here]  and  above all I mark therefrom Cyprian, in De pascha Computus, 19 :

O quam præclare providentia ut illo die quo natus est Sol . . . nasceretur Christus.

O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which the Sun was born . . . Christ should be born.

And in an old sermon  de Solst. Et Æquin. an outdraught of which is to be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia, with a mark  “II, p. 118, ed. 1588”:

Sed et dominus noster nascitur mense decembris . . . VIII Kal. Ian. . . . Sed et Invicti Natalem appelant. Quis utique tam invictus nisi dominus noster? . . . Vel quod dicant Solis esse natalem, ipse est Sol iustitiae.

But Our Lord, too, is born in the month of December . . . the eighth before the calends of January . . . But they call it the ‘Birthday of the Unconquered’. Who indeed is so unconquered as Our Lord. . .? Or, if they say that it is the birthday of the Sun, He is the Sun of Justice.

Now the Christen say that their Jesus was “born” at this Roman winter solstice on the 25th December.  But the sooth is that they did not know it.  Indeed Jesus’ birthday is given by Clemens as one of three likely dates: “the twenty-fifth day of Pachon Παχών” “the fifteenth day of the month TubiΤυβί/Τῦβι ; and some that it was the eleventh of the same month,” or “ the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth of Pharmuthi Φαρμουθί/Φαρμοῦθι”.   If we take it that Clemens is brooking the calendar which Augustus fastenened the year to begin on the 29th. August in 26/5 ante æram vulgarem then Pachon is the ninth month beginning 26th April so 16th is our 10th May. Pharmuthi is the eighth month beginning 27th March so the 24th or 25th are our 19th and 20th April.  Tubi is the fifth month beginning 27th december, so the 11th would be 6th January    and the 15th. 10th January.  The holiday of the 25th. December is thus wholly borrowed from the Romans and their worship of the old gods.  As the early Church acknowledged in a marking etched to a handwrit of the 12th-yearhundred Syrish bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi.:

“It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part.” 

But whatever the "historical" Jesus might have been, amongst the Gentiles of the Romans' Empire he was soon lost sight of behind whatever god was worshipped in this stead or that, and overall he was everywhere taken for a sun-god. Thus Thomas Paine wrote well:

“... the Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun, ....” 

Thus in the Dabestān-e Mazāheb beyond the censors’ reach, we find:

“The wise men believe, that every master of fame worshipped one of the stars: ... Jesus worshipped the sun, on which account Sun­day was sanctified by him, and finally his soul united with the sun;...”.

The Isenheim Altarpiece by the Germans Niclaus of Haguenau and Matthias Grünewald dated to 1512–1516, and

now in the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar, Alsace, in France. ᛋ

Tertullian  The Apology  chapter xvi:

“[9] Alii plane humanius et versimilius solem credunt deum nostrum. Ad Persas, si forte, deputabimur, licet solem non in linteo depictum adoremus, habentes ipsum ubique in suo clypeo. [10] Denique inde suspicio quod innotuerit nos ad orientis regionem precari. Sed et plerique vestrum adfectatione aliquando et caelestia adorandi ad solis ortum labia vibratis. [11] Aeque si diem solis laetitiae indulgemus, alia longe ratione quam religione solis secundo loco ab eis sumus qui diem Saturni otio et victui decernunt exorbitantes et ipsi a Iudaico more, quem ignorant.”

 “Others, again, certainly with more information and greater verisimilitude, believe that the sun is our god. We shall be counted Persians perhaps, though we do not worship the orb of day painted on a piece of linen cloth, having himself everywhere in his own disk. The idea no doubt has originated from our being known to turn to the east in prayer.  But you, many of you, also under pretence sometimes of worshipping the heavenly bodies, move your lips in the direction of the sunrise.  In the same way, if we devote Sun-day to rejoicing, from a far different reason than Sun-worship, we have some resemblance to those of you who devote the day of Saturn to ease and luxury, though they too go far away from Jewish ways, of which indeed they are ignorant.”

And Ad Nationes Book I (awending Dr. Holmes.) Chapter XIII:

“[1] Alii plane humanius solem Christianum deum aestimant, quod innotuerit ad orientis partem facere nos precationem, uel die solis laetitiam curare. [2] Quid uos minus facitis? Non plerique affectatione adorandi aliquando etiam caelestia ad solis initium labra uibratis? [3] Vos certe estis, qui etiam in laterculum septem dierum solem recepistis, et ex diebus ipsorum praelegistis, quo die lauacrum subtrahatis aut in uesperam differatis, aut otium et prandium  curetis. ...”.

“Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, suppose that the sun is the god of the Christians, because it is a well-known fact that we pray towards the east, or because we make Sunday a day of festivity. What then? Do you do less than this? Do not many among you, with an affectation of sometimes worshipping the heavenly bodies likewise, move your lips in the direction of the sunrise? It is you, at all events, who have even admitted the sun into the calendar of the week; and you have selected its day, [Sunday] in preference to the preceding day [Saturday] as the most suitable in the week for either an entire abstinence from the bath, or for its postponement until the evening, or for taking rest and for banqueting. ...”.

From which last you will see that even the holiness of the “day of the sun” or “Sun-day” is not a Christian thing, but earlier.  

Now before someone sayeth what about Jesus being this or that god, tou should know that Capella, The Marriage of Mercury and Philology Book II, §§182-193 maketh us to understand  that the sun is Apollo under the names Phœbus and Lyceus, Serapis, Osiris, Mithra, “Attis pulcher,” and Byblius Adonis.    Osiris was long evened with Dionysus by the Greeks.  It is worthwhile here to add that Plutarchus of Chæronea  in his Table Talk (Συμποσιακά) Book VIII, Question VI. What God is Worshipped by the Jews?  doth tell us that the god worshipped by them is Dionysus!  And bearing in mind that in Question V about swinesflesh he had   evened Dionysus himself with Adonis (Ἄδωνις), I mark well here that Hieronymus of Strido  writeth that Bethlehem was holy to Adonis!  The Greeks play with this Middle Eastern mythology by making Actæon the unlucky hunter, a kinsman of Dionysus, but at heart both Actæon's tale and Dionysus' are the same, for both were torn asunder.  But doth not Jesus’s name mean “healer” (see matt. 1:21) and the letters of his name add up to 888 by isopsephy?  Æsculapius or Asklepios the healer and a son of Apollo cometh into the frame as Æsculapius was the even-worth of the god Eshmun, "the eighth", among the Syri, yet from what is written by Photius of Eshmun's myth we can see he is truly one and the same as Adonis!