This fresh, strong young sun is just bout to start on his journey. Dawn is soon to break upon the world and with muscles stretched, the heavenly joy of the first move expressed upon his face, the wind blowing thru his hair, the vigor of young life pulsating thru his body, he will start the chest forward and move those outstretched wings.
Walk toward him and you will see him begin his journey thru space.
Now read the quotation an the Triumphal Arch of the Rising Sun:
"The moon sinks yonder in the west
While in the east the glorious sun
Behind the herald dawn appears
Thus rise and set in constant change those shining orbs
And regulate the very life of this our world."
- By Kalidasa (the Shakespeare of India).
The sun at setting is represented by a beautiful woman. The day is just about to close and with muscles relaxed (knees bent, head drooping, arms falling, wings folding) she is soon to sink to slumber, to pass from view. This is what is suggested by calling the figure the Setting Sun.
In the Fine Arts Palace, Mr. A. A. Weinmann has called the same figure "Descending Night," and that title is much more consistent and satisfactory, for how are you going to account for the youthful sun's appearing at the end of the day as a woman?
Then again the reliefs refer to "Descending Night," for they are called
"The Mysteries of Dusk."
Now raise your eyes to those beautiful cameo figures on the burnt orange ground at the entrance to the colonnades, and you will be carried in thought to the Zodiac, that great imaginary belt thru which the sun and planets travel.
There you see the zodiacal figures, two and two, with their symbols, gliding thru space.