represented the sun, and was the favorite god. Sin was the goddess of
the moon.

The Phoenicians were also sun-worshippers. The sun was represented by
Baal-Samin, the great god, the god of light and the heavens, the creator
and rejuvenator.

"The attributes of both Baal and Moloch (the good and bad powers of the
sun) were united in the Phoenician god Melkart, "king of the city," whom
the inhabitants of Tyre considered their special patron. The Greeks
called him "Melicertes," and identified him with Hercules. By his great
strength and power he turned evil into good, brought life out of
destruction, pulled back the sun to the earth at the time of the
solstices, lessened excessive beat and cold, and rectified the evil
signs of the zodiac. In Phoenician legends he conquers the savage races
of distant coasts, founds the ancient settlements on the Mediterranean,
and plants the rocks in the Straits of Gibraltar." ("American
Cyclopaedia," art. Mythology.)

The Egyptians worshipped the sun under the name of Ra; the Hindoos
worshipped the sun under the name of Rama; while the great festival of
the sun, of the Peruvians, was called Ray-mi.

Sun-worship, as the ancient religion of Atlantis, underlies all the
superstitions of the colonies of that country. The Samoyed woman says to
the sun, "When thou, god, risest, I too rise from my bed." Every morning
even now the Brahmans stand on one foot, with their hands held out
before them and their faces turned to the east, adoring the sun. "In
Germany or France one may still see the peasant take off his hat to the
rising sun." ("Anthropology," p. 361.) The Romans, even, in later times,