<P> A similar concept in the Old Testament might pre-date Herodotus and Xerxes I where Psalm 72: 8 speaks of the Messianic King:' He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth' for' as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations' Ps 72: 5 . This concept had existed in the Ancient Near East before the Old Testament . The Story of Sinuhe (19th century BC) announces that the Egyptian King rules "all what the sun encircles ." Mesopotamian texts contemporary to Sargon of Akkad (c. 2334--2279 BC) proclaim that this king ruled "all the lands from sunrise to sunset ." </P> <P> In the early 16th century, the phrase, "el imperio en el que nunca se pone el sol" (the empire on which the sun never sets) originated with a remark made by Fray Francisco de Ugalde to Charles I, who as king of Spain and as Holy Roman Emperor by the name of Charles V, had an empire, which included many territories in Europe, islands in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, cities in North Africa and vast territories in the Americas . </P> <P> The phrase gained added resonance during the reign of Charles's son, Philip II of Spain, when the Philippines and several other island chains in the Pacific were obtained by Spain . When King Henry of Portugal died, Philip II pressed his claim to the Portuguese throne and was recognised as Philip I of Portugal in 1581 . He then reigned over all his father's possessions in Europe, Africa and the Americas (except the Holy Roman Empire) and Asia and the Portuguese Empire, which itself included territories in the Americas, in the North and the Subsaharian Africa, in all the Asian Subcontinents, and islands in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans . </P> <P> In 1585, Giovanni Battista Guarini wrote Il pastor fido to mark the marriage of Catherine Michelle, daughter of Philip II, to Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy . Guarini's dedication read, "Altera figlia / Di qel Monarca, a cui / Nö anco, quando annotta, il Sol tramonta ." ("The proud daughter / of that monarch to whom / when it grows dark (elsewhere) the sun never sets ."). </P>

The empire on which the sun never sets