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The Sumerian Black Sun
The Sumerians had a seven day week with the first day dedicated to the Sun and the last day dedicated to what they referred to as the Black Sun, which is generally believed to have been the planet Saturn.
The Black Sun as Saturn
The Black Sun was only visible during the night, and was described as a ring of light. This fits well with Saturn.
So does the fact that our current calendar puts Saturn’s day, known to us as Saturday, six days after Sunday.
However, the Black Sun was said to be larger than the Sun. It was also associated with evil. There was presumably something foreboding about it.
That doesn’t fit so well with a distant planet associated with wealth and agriculture.
The Black Sun as northern lights
So, maybe the Sumerians observed something in the skies that we rarely or never see today. A phenomenon that was somehow connection to Saturn.
When the original phenomenon faded, the secondary effect was brought forward. What was originally observed ended up replaced by Saturn in both our calendars and myths.
This is of course wild speculations. But there is a phenomenon that fits the bill, and that is the northern lights.
This phenomenon is only visible close to our planet’s poles these days. However, it may have been visible farther to the south in Sumerian times. Especially if the Sun was more active back then.
The Sumerians may have noticed a connection between intense northern lights and bad weather.
This would explain why it was associated with evil.
They may also have noticed some relationship between our northern lights and the luminosity of Saturn. If so, they would have noted this down as a connection between the Black Sun and Saturn.
Cosmic radiation
While I’m far from certain of any connection between solar flaring and the luminosity of Saturn, there is a proven connection between cosmic radiation and cloud formation.
If we get a prolonged period with above normal radiation, we get brighter and more active northern lights. We also get more clouds, and colder and harsher weather.
The intensity of the Black Sun could therefore have functioned as a climate forecasting tool for the Sumerians. When the Black Sun shone bright for many days in a row, bad weather was likely to follow.
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Hi Fredrik,
Thanks for that little read. I’m just discovering the idea that Saturn is considered by some as the Black Sun.
Don’t know if you’ve ever read ‘The Saturn Myth’ by David Talbott, but, if I remember rightly (I’m no expert), he suggests that Saturn was considered the main sun in the sky by ancient peoples and that it’s main (or most powerful) part of the day was what we call night time nowadays (apparently, back in those days, the ‘day’ began as the sun was going down and ended when it rose again), so that kind of fits to say it was only visible at night if you look at it through a modern lens? Saturn was also said to be much closer than it is currently, so yes, it would be larger than our diurnal sun of today. And you’re right re. its association with wealth and agriculture as Saturn was said to preside over a Golden Age. I think it was Emmanuel Velikovsky who suggested that Saturn was flung out of its old orbit because of what he termed ‘catastrophism’ to the place we see it now, hence bringing an end to that Golden Age.
Incidentally, Saturn supposedly didn’t have its rings back then, either.
If interested, Talbott narrates ’Symbols of an Alien Sky’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7EAlTcZFwY&t=121s). I think in that video (or another of his) he speaks about Saturn’s evil aspect and how the horns and trident, often depicted in various mythologies, came to be such revered symbols, certainly in regard to evil. Saturn is, after all, often associated with Satan.
Anyway, as I say, I’m no expert, but food for thought at least 🙂
P.S. That Gnosophia article you’ve linked to seems to be dead.
Thank you very much for your feedback. Thank you also for reporting on the dead link. I’ve replaced it with a link to this more scholarly article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298447154_Saturn_as_the_%27Sun_of_Night%27_in_Ancient_Near_Eastern_Tradition
Yes, I’m aware of Talbott’s interpretation, and I quite like it. However, Saturn is only visible in the night sky for half the year, when Earth and Saturn are at the same side of the Sun, so the idea that Saturn is a night time sun requires a different constellation of the planets from what we have today, or else it would only be an occasional sun, shining six month per year.
On the other hand, the theory presented here, requires no shuffling of the current constellation. It requires only that the northern lights were brighter back in the days of the Sumerians. In such a case, they would have seen a shimmer to the north, and were they to travel north to see the source of this light they would have discovered that there’s nothing at its center. A black sun indeed, shining every night with no apparent source other than a central void.
[…] See also: The biblical connection between Satan and Saturn and The Sumerian Black Sun […]
https://metaknow.wordpress.com/2025/05/21/saturn-the-planet-that-keeps-us-in-the-dark/
Thank your for your link.