Plausibility Check: The Sun is Evil?

Could an ancient civilization/culture group have viewed the sun as an evil, negative force instead of the 'giver of life' or 'king of heavens' it so often appears as?

The closest OTL example I can think of are the pre-Islamic Arabs seeing it as a source of dehydration, but in their case they saw it more as annoying than they did evil.

And yes, I am aware of legends like Hou Yi's but those were more cases of 'the sun was out of control' than they were 'the sun is evil.'
 
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First thing that came to mind was the Arabs.

The Subharan Africans could have seen the sun as evil as well, but even they saw the advantages of the sun.

The only thing I could really think of is have a moon cult get way out of hand. Maybe a fanatic moon cult leader convinces people that the sun is evil, comparable to the idea of Satan in the Abrahamic religions. I just don't know where this fanatic moon cult could arise.
 
Some [small] group of people in very unusual circumstances, maybe. But I doubt they could establish a civilization worth the name. Humans are not a nocturnal species, otherwise it would be plausible. Heat could be a menace but light is almost always welcome. So sun can be viewed as an ambivalent force, but hardly negative.
 
Tbh I could only imagine a small clan based foraging society in harsh arid climates believing this.

See I thought the same thing but even the Saharan African peoples saw the advantages of the sun. Many African myths went so far to say that the sun created them. So...I mean they put the sun on a pretty high pedestal.
 
Some [small] group of people in very unusual circumstances, maybe. But I doubt they could establish a civilization worth the name. Humans are not a nocturnal species, otherwise it would be plausible. Heat could be a menace but light is almost always welcome. So sun can be viewed as an ambivalent force, but hardly negative.

Agreed, these people would have to be a cave people in a very unusual situation to see the sun as evil.
 
If the population is made up of albinos, their vunrability to sunburn would make them shun direct sunlight.They could view the sun as a crule punishing God.
 
If the population is made up of albinos, their vunrability to sunburn would make them shun direct sunlight.They could view the sun as a crule punishing God.

That's interesting I didn't think about that. Albinism seemed to first appear in the Greak Lakes region of Africa, maybe Albinism spreads and maintains a genetic foothold in the area. The sun is then seen as a cruel and sadistic god by these Albino people. While the Moon is seen as a great merciful god.
 
See I thought the same thing but even the Saharan African peoples saw the advantages of the sun. Many African myths went so far to say that the sun created them. So...I mean they put the sun on a pretty high pedestal.
Well I mean why would it be so? All the Saharan people lived off dates and grains in Oasis that need sun.
 
Well I mean why would it be so? All the Saharan people lived off dates and grains in Oasis that need sun.

Very true. Sun worship is only logical. It's a large material object that gives light, life, crops and protection from night animals and well as protection in battle from enemies you couldn't see in the dark.
 
Very true. Sun worship is only logical. It's a large material object that gives light, life, crops and protection from night animals and well as protection in battle from enemies you couldn't see in the dark.
The only exception I could see are indigenous Haratin left untouched in some brine Oasis so impoverished and infertile/filled with pestilence that Tuareg find it a cursed land and leave them alone.

If they have the cultural knowledge of sipwells, maintain archaic natural "sinks", augmented by say some sort of brine shrimp and brine fly larvae diet eaten in conjunction with hunted nocturnal prey, some kreb grain loke kram-kram in the surrounding dunes harvested in the full moon during the rare rain you could have a population of say one hundred rather incestuous people engaging in wife sharing with travellers.

With a couple date palms stunted by salt and especially salt tolerant could be habitat for Apis mellifera sahariensis.

Call then ant people after the Saharan desert ant species
 

Saphroneth

Banned
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bila_(sun)

A cannibal who was stopped and captured by a folk hero. Close enough?

Remember, you don't have to view sunlight as negative to have an evil sun - they can be contained by the good deities to prevent their light being either kept jealously away from humanity or being poured out on the world as incandescent wrath. I could easily see a hot or rainforest climate having, say, a culture where the sun is trying to destroy the world but is continually tricked into giving only the right amount of heat, and the rain gods send their rains every day to keep the land from drying out.
 
In Hinduism, there's a god of the night sun (when the sun travels from the west to the east), named Varuna. Originally, in pre-Vedic times, he was the sky god, the king of the gods, and the Hindu cognate of Ahura Mazda, sharing much imagery such as the sun being described as his eye. However, as time passed, Indra superseded Varuna as the sky god, resulting in Varuna's domain shrinking to the sea, the night sun, and the underworld. His associations with maya, a concept that originally referred to wisdom but later referred to illusion, also led to him growing into a somewhat-malevolent god, but still fundamentally a good god.

But I think this demonization could have gone further. He was an asura, a group of beings originally seen as good but becoming demons in later texts. However, Varuna and other asuras like Mitra were exceptions to this demonization. If you have Varuna go "all the way" and become a total demon, you then have a demon with several attributes of the sun.
 
The best 'evil sun' option I can think of is perhaps an 'Indulging Sun' for a society that is purposely very spartan and minimalistic.

So say we have a culture that has emerged in mountain valleys that are regularly attacked - but do acknowledge the sun is useful, but almost always precedes an attack. They need it to grow food, and indulge their needs. It does at some point become the victor (perhaps by fortifying their valley, and flourishing with an otherwise spartan existence), but maintain their near-fantatical minimalist/practical roots - perhaps revering the Moon as a paragon of this - providing just enough light to see by at night, but not so much as to burn or exhaust like the sun. (How that stands up to the discovery that the moon is a reflective surface I don't know, but lets roll with this).

I could see this arising in any mountainous region to be honest - but I'm drawn to Greece - an alternative or rival to Sparta on the idea of Laconic phrases and minimalism.

Interestingly, despite poor documentation, there were meant to be a number of male moon gods (including the Proto-European god, heaven knows what he was called though) - so that might help with the dicotomy. There was apparently (according to Wiki) a male moon god called Meneleus but I can't find anything on him.

So perhaps a moon-cult with an anti-sun message arises in the highlands of the Peloponesse - perhaps an allegory against Egyptians they may have fled, and establish themselves in a secure valley - eventually taking control of the Peloponesse.

You could have a lot of fun with it too - The moon being tied to fertility, safe times when it is dark, probably something to do with purity.

Indulgent Sun and Benevolent Moon - Cruel People of the Sun and Practical People of the Moon. Loads of dualism there which would be fun.
 
Could an ancient civilization/culture group have viewed the sun as an evil, negative force instead of the 'giver of life' or 'king of heavens' it so often appears of?

The closest OTL example I can think of are the pre-Islamic Arabs seeing it as a source of dehydration, but in their case they saw it more as annoying than they did evil.

And yes, I am aware of legends like Hou Yi's but those were more cases of 'the sun was out of control' than they were 'the sun is evil.'
Maybe a major sunstorm causes great suffering
 
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