Gods worshipped by prehistoric and Bronze Age cultures are found in Proto-Indo-European Sun Goddess *Seh₂ul and Moon God *Meh₁not. They are not specific gods, but created as prototypes of ancient divinities based on those revered in contemporary cultures.
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Often in ancient cultures the Sun is female and the Moon male. She represents the warm, nurturing, life-giving aspect of the Sun. She's a mother image rather than a blazing warrior energy. Angry or displeased she can scorch the earth, cause water sources to dry up and crops to die in the fields.
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The male Moon is her companion, consort or brother. He follows as she crosses the sky in her golden chariot. The passage of these two luminaries creates the luni-solar calendar of ancient nations like China.
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Today of course, we know the moon reflects the light of the Sun Goddess while she's in the Dark Earth. Early people watch the Sun go into the Earth every night.
The Dark Earth is a Hittite term for the Underworld. The concept of an Underworld or Land of the Dead goes back to Neolithic times at least. In the Bronze Age the Underworld is primarily ruled by women. Babylonian Ereshkigal is one of the best known in the ancient world.
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When the Sun Goddess travels below ground at night, her steeds take her through a layer or gap. Above is the mortal domain of the Earth and below, the spirits of the Underworld.
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She might dip beneath the edge of the earth's ocean, or go into a mountain and come up from another mountain to the east. She might meet her husband, often a Storm God, in the realms beneath the earth.
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Surviving mythology from Mesopotamia, Egypt and other ancient cultures weave a complex pantheon around the Sun. In Egypt the Eye of Ra functions as the male sun god's vengeful or destructive anger. The Eye of Ra is usually Sekhmet, Egyptian Goddess of War.
Every morning the Dawn Goddess and the Morning Star herald the arrival of the Sun Goddess in the eastern sky. Sometimes the Dawn Goddess is celebrated more than the Sun herself, for without the dawn there can be no day.
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In some Nordic myths the moon is the lustful brother of the Sun who chases her across the firmament. In others, she's pursued by the giant wolf Fenrir of Nordic mythology. In southern Germanic tradition she is die Sonne, the Sun, identified with the feminine pronoun die (pron. dee).
In ancient Mesopotamia, the Moon God Sin (Suen, Nanna) is the father of the Sun god Utu / Shamash. In this case the sun god takes a deferential role to the moon.
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The Sun is also male in Greek (Helios) and Roman (Apollo, Sol) mythology, although Apollo is bisexual. The Romans celebrate the Feast of Sol Invictus or the Unconquerable Sun on Dec 25 each year. Sol Invictus can also apply to Roman gods such as Apollo and Jupiter.
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