The Sun as a tattoo design is a reflection of the Sun's profound symbolic nature in most cultures around the world. The sun was worshipped as a personified, life-giving deity in Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and almost every other major civilizations of history. The Sun or Sun figure was almost always the predominant figure within the pantheon of those spiritual belief systems.
Nearly every culture has a creation myth that explains how the sun came into being, and often times an accompanying apocalypse myth that details the end of the world, as we know it, when the sun is destroyed or devoured in some manner. Many cultures have myths that explain the rising and the setting of the sun, and this repeating cycle of light and dark has come to symbolize life and death, regeneration and reincarnation.
The most common symbol of the sun is a circle with the sun's rays emanating from the perimeter. A dot or point in the center of a circle symbolizes the blending of male and female forces. The sun is usually seen as a masculine symbol and the moon and the earth as feminine symbols, hence you will often the Sun symbolically paired with the Moon or the Earth. For many millennia the Sun was believed to be at the center of the Universe, around which all other heavenly bodies radiated. The Sun was a symbol of both royal and divine powers, adopted by both secular and religious authorities.
Below you will find a gallery of inspirational images that will help you in your quest of creating the perfect sun tattoo.
