at was once the world's largest religion-the Religion of the Sun. It preceded and gave rise to the great sun worshiping civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, before being lost to history. Its vestiges remain in surviving ancient traditions, like those of Native American and European paganism, and Eastern religions such as Hinduism, where sun worship is still practiced today.

In 2011, husband and wife team, Mark and Lara Atwood, embarked upon a project that would have huge implications. As Lara researched hundreds of ancient sites, texts, and myths, she and Mark discovered the beliefs, practices, and artifacts of those who worshiped the sun shared similarities-so many, and often so alike, as to be statistically out of the question to assign to coincidence. Above all, each culture had revered the sun as the highest symbol of divinity.

It became inescapably clear that the great ancient civilizations of history had once shared the same religion, which had spread across the world in prehistory and branched off into many traditions over time. This is how pyramids, dynasties of sacred kings said to descend from the sun, beliefs about the afterlife centered around the stars, and a founding myth of seven sages, among many, many other things, can be found like a repeating pattern across the ancient world.

Thousands of years ago, the oceans had not been barriers, but highways of currents that allowed ancient seafarers to spread the arts of civilization and their religious ideas.

After more than a decade of research using archaeological, historical, linguistic, and genetic evidence from across the globe, this religion has been rediscovered, and its past reconstructed. It's the missing puzzle piece that connects the huge sun-aligned pyramids and megaliths scattered all over the world. Its existence explains why common symbols, sacred sites, and mythologies can be found in so many disparate places, and why the sun was revered as the most prolific sacred symbol in history.

Since this religion had never formally been identified, it had never been given any name-so Mark and Lara called it the Religion of the Sun. This book describes its origins, rise, fall, legacy, and revival.

Packed with photos and illustrations, along with quotes from ancient texts and experts, this book takes the reader on a rich, evidence-based journey through time and place. For more than two thousand years this religion has lain hidden in plain sight, but once you see it, you cannot unsee it. Its rediscovery has the potential to cause one of the biggest shifts in our understanding of history. Essential reading for those wishing to understand ancient mysteries and religion.

About the author

Lara Atwood is a prolific researcher and a practitioner of the Religion of the Sun, which she first began researching and writing about in 2011, and has been dedicated to ever since. She runs the website SakroSawel.com where she presents her findings ("sakro sawel" means "sacred sun" in the Proto-Indo-European language).