Hyperion and Theia, Titans of heavenly light, bore the three luminaries of the Roman sky — Sol who drives the day, Luna who governs the night, and Aurora who heralds the dawn between them.
Sol Invictus was the late imperial development of the ancient Roman Sol cult. Aurelian elevated Sol to supreme state deity in 274 CE, synthesizing native Italian sun worship with eastern solar theology into the cult of the Unconquered Sun.
Usil, Helios, and Sol are the Etruscan, Greek, and Roman sun gods — Usil rises crowned with rays on Etruscan mirrors, and his position on the Piacenza Liver aligns with the celestial placement of the sun in all three traditions.
In Ovid's Metamorphoses (4.169-189), Sol discovered the adultery of Venus and Mars and reported it to Vulcan. Vulcan then forged an invisible net to trap the lovers, exposing their affair before the assembled gods.
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