Throughout history, humanity has sought to explain the cosmos through narratives that reflect how ancient peoples understood their place in the universe. Among these myths and religious accounts, a specific and striking motif appears across vastly distant cultures: the idea that the right eye of a deity represents the sun, while the left eye represents the moon. This shared mythological theme, found in places as far apart as ancient Egypt and the Pacific’s Gilbert Islands, raises questions about the cultural connections between ancient societies. Could such a precise parallel be coincidence, or does it point to a shared cultural currency stretching back to prehistory?
This article explores this motif, its implications, and how it challenges conventional understandings of ancient human exchange.
1. Left Eye, Right Eye: A Shared Mythological Motif
The separation of heaven and earth, are present in almost all creation myths, around the world. Celestial bodies such as the sun and moon are almost always imbued with divine symbolism. What is extraordinary, however, is the consistent pairing of the right eye with the sun and the left eye with the moon. This is not a generic archetype but a specific association tied to a divine figure, repeated across widely separated cultures. There is a widespread theme of a primordial god being torn up and the various parts of this god becoming the sun, the moon, the rivers, the mountains, rain, etc.
In the Gilbert Islands of the Pacific (modern-day Kiribati), a creation myth tells of Na Arean, who slew his father, Na Atibu. With his father’s consent, Na Arean cast his right eye into the eastern sky, where it became the sun, and his left eye into the western sky, where it became the moon.
The Gilbert Islanders relate that Na Arean slew his father, Na Atibu, with the latter's consent, 'took the right eye of Na Atibu and flung it to the Eastern sky. Behold the sun! He took the left eye and flung it to the Behold, the moon! (1)
In ancient Egyptian mythology, the sky god Horus's right eye represented the sun and his left eye the moon. This association is depicted in various artefacts, such as an amulet from the tomb of Tutankhamun, which features the Eye of Horus beneath a disk and crescent symbol representing the moon. The mythological narrative known as "The Contendings of Horus and Seth", a myth dating back to the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom (circa 2686–2181 BCE), describes a battle between Horus and his uncle Seth for the throne of Egypt. During this conflict, Seth gouged out Horus's left eye, which was later restored by the god Thoth. This restoration was seen as an explanation for the waxing and waning of the moon. The Pyramid Texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom (circa 2686–2181 BC), also reference the myth of Horus's eye being torn out and restored. These texts are among the oldest religious writings from ancient Egypt and provide insight into early mythological beliefs. While there are different versions of these stories, as well as stories of a primordial goddess whose two eyes are the sun and the moon, these ancient texts and artefacts illustrate the symbolic connection between Horus's eyes and the celestial bodies of the sun and moon in Egyptian mythology.
The religious importance of the eyes of the supreme cosmic deity for the ancient Egyptians is well known, and certain convolutions and interchanges between the two eyes and various cosmological interpretations are well attested and acknowledged, though perhaps less well understood. For the ancient Egyptians the sun and the moon could represent the right and left eyes respectively of the supreme deity. The lunar left eye can appear as the eye of Horus, the solar right eye as the eye of Re. Both the solar eye and the eye of Horus can be the avenging eye who shoots arrows of fire into the enemies of the solar deity; (2)
In Egypt and in the Gilbert Islands, the left eye becomes the moon, the right eye becomes the sun. Such precise correspondences are difficult to dismiss as coincidental. This is not merely about associating celestial bodies with gods; it is about a structured, mirrored symbolism of left and right, sun and moon. This specific motif suggests a shared conceptual framework that transcends geography.
The left and right eye dualism, and correspondence to the moon and the sun respectively, is echoed elsewhere in the ancient world. In Hindu cosmology, particularly within the Atharvaveda, there's a depiction of the primordial being known as the Vratya (an ascetic form of Lord Shiva) where the right eye is associated with the sun, and the left eye with the moon. This association is detailed in the Atharvaveda (Book 15, Hymn 18), which states:
Of that Vratya, the right eye is the Sun and the left eye is the Moon. (3)
This hymn further correlates other body parts of the Vratya with cosmic elements, emphasising the embodiment of the universe within this primordial being.
In Chinese mythology, particularly within Taoist-influenced creation myths, the primordial giant Pangu is central to the formation of the world. Upon his death, various parts of his body transformed into elements of the natural world:
"His left eye became the sun, and his right eye became the moon."
This narrative illustrates the direct association of Pangu's eyes with the sun and moon, integrating the cosmos with his corporeal form.
In Japan, however, there is a variation: the sun goddess is born as the "Male Who Invites" is bathing in a stream, and as he does so spirits spring from his clothing and his body. But here the sides have been switched, the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami (The Heaven Shining Great August Spirit) is born as he washes his left eye, and the moon god Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto (His Augustness Moon Night Possessor), as he washes his right eye. (4)
The image below is a screenshot from Google Earth showing the four places on earth, as best possible, where the left eye and right eye motif exists in creation myths: Egypt (just hidden from view), India, China and the Gilbert Islands.
2. Implications: Evidence of Ancient Cultural Exchange
The implications of this shared motif are profound. If cultures as geographically distant as Egypt and the Gilbert Islands share this symbolic structure, it points to the possibility of prehistoric cultural exchange. While the exact mechanisms of transmission remain speculative, the existence of this motif supports the idea of a common cultural origin or long-range diffusion of ideas.
This theory gains additional weight when viewed alongside other global similarities:
Megalithic and Pyramid Construction: Monumental stone structures appear across every inhabited continent during the Neolithic and early Bronze Ages. These structures often share architectural techniques and alignments with celestial events.
Creation Myths of Separation: Many creation myths describe a primordial union of heaven and earth, separated by a divine force to create the ordered world (e.g., the Egyptian Nut and Geb, the Māori Rangi and Papa, and the Mesopotamian Anu and Ki).
Dismembered Deities: The motif of a god’s body becoming elements of the cosmos (e.g., Purusha in Hinduism, Pangu in Chinese mythology) aligns with the myth of divine eyes becoming the sun and moon.
These parallels collectively point to a prehistoric world far more interconnected than generally acknowledged, where ideas and practices traversed oceans and continents long before recorded history. Direct evidence of prehistoric transoceanic contact exists. For example, similarities between Austronesian and Malagasy languages, suggest prehistoric seafaring connections. The mythological parallels provide additional evidence, supporting the idea of an ancient network of cultural exchange that has left its imprint on human storytelling.
Conclusion: Re-imagining Prehistory
Officially, in broad terms, there is no connection between the megaliths of the Americas, North and South, of Tonga, Rapa Nui and other Pacific islands, of Asia, Africa and Europe, and other remote islands such as the Azores. Nor is there any officially accepted connection between the pyramids of stone constructed on every continent. Nor is there any connection between the creation myths of heaven and earth being separated from one chaotic watery mass or cosmic egg into an ordered sky and earth. However, the many coincidences in architectural styles, techniques, and creation myths suggest that there was exchange on a global scale, before historical records begin. The details of creation myths alone can prove this easily, looking at the eyes of the primordial deity or their offspring. The motif of the left and right eye as the moon and sun is more than a mythological curiosity, it is a key to understanding the inter-connectedness of ancient societies. Its presence in cultures as far apart as Egypt and the Gilbert Islands challenges the traditional narrative of isolated development and invites us to imagine a prehistoric world where ideas, symbols, and stories travelled vast distances. If myths like this could traverse oceans, then so too could the builders of megaliths and pyramids.
While general archetypes might explain broad motifs like the sun and moon being linked to deities, they fail to account for the specificity of the left-right, sun-moon pairing. Archetypes are broad patterns, but this motif reflects a detailed and structured association unlikely to emerge independently in such precise form.
The principle of independent invention holds that similar solutions can arise to similar problems. However, the mythological motif of left eye/right eye is not a practical solution to a problem; it is a symbolic construct. The repeated specificity across distant cultures suggests a shared intellectual or cultural inheritance, rather than isolated development.
This shared cultural heritage reveals a deep, ancient unity among human societies and calls for a reassessment of the global exchange of ideas in prehistory. Far from being an era of isolation, the ancient world may have been one of remarkable connectivity, a legacy we can begin to uncover, if we open our own eyes.
Notes
A. Grimble, 'Myths from the Gilbert Islands', Folklore, vol 5, quoted in in Seidenberg, A. (1969). The Separation of Sky and Earth at Creation (II). Folklore, 80(3), 188–196. https://www-jstor-org.dcu.idm.oclc.org/stable/pdf/1257894.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default%3A36b84a40aa5ded4755414aa036f6998c&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&initiator=search-results&acceptTC=1
Darnell, John Coleman. “The Apotropaic Goddess in the Eye.” Studien Zur Altägyptischen Kultur, vol. 24, 1997, pp. 35–48. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152728.
Hymns of the Atharva Veda, by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1895], at sacred-texts.com
Campbell, Joseph, 1959, The Masks of God Volume 1
https://archive.org/details/masksofgod0000camp/page/470/mode/2up?q=eye
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