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{{Short description|Greek god and personification of the Sun}}
{{Distinguish|Helloi}}
{{About|the Greek deity|other uses of "Helios" and "Helius"|Helios (disambiguation)}}
'''Helios''' ({{lang-grc|Ἥλιος}}, ''Hēlios''; Ἠέλιος in [[Homeric Greek]]) is the god of the [[Sun]] in [[Greek mythology]]. He is often thought to be the [[personification]] of the Sun itself. He is the [[son]] of the [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]] [[Hyperion (titan)|Hyperion]] and [[Theia]]. He is the brother of [[Selene]], goddess of the Moon, and [[Eos]], goddess of the dawn. During the [[Hellenistic period]], particularly the 3rd Century BCE, he became more and more identified with [[Apollo]], the god of light, music and prophecy. Helios' equivalent in [[Roman mythology]] was [[Sol]].  
{{Redirect|Helius|the crane fly|Helius (fly)|the poet|Helius Eobanus Hessus}}
{{Infobox deity
| type            = Greek
| name            = Helios
| image            = File:Wall painting - Dionysos with Helios and Aphrodite - Pompeii (VII 2 16) - Napoli MAN 9449 - 02.jpg
| alt                =
| tree              = [[Boswellia sacra|Frankincense]], [[Populus|poplar]]
| planet          = [[Sun]]
| day              = [[Sunday]] (''hēméra Hēlíou'') 
| caption          = ''Helios on an antique fresco from [[Pompeii]]''
| god_of          = Personification of the Sun
| abode            = [[Sky]]
| cult_center      = [[Rhodes]], [[Corinthia]]
| gender          = Male         
| animals          = [[Horse]], [[rooster]], [[wolf]], [[cattle]]
| symbol          = Sun, [[Quadriga|chariot]], horses, [[aureole]], whip, [[heliotropium]], [[globe]], [[cornucopia]],<ref name=":howm">Alexander Stuart Murray and William H. Klapp, ''Handbook of World Mythology'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BOFzYThPlk8C&pg=PA117 117]</ref> ripened fruit<ref name=":howm"/>
| mount            = A chariot driven by four white horses
| festivals        = [[Halieia|Halia]]
| consort          = Many including: [[Clymene (mother of Phaethon)|Clymene]], [[Clytie (Oceanid)|Clytie]], [[Perse (mythology)|Perse]], [[Rhodos]], and [[Leucothea]]
| parents          = [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]] and [[Theia]]
| siblings        = [[Selene]] and [[Eos]]
| children        = [[Achelous]], [[Actis (mythology)|Actis]], [[Aeëtes]], [[Aega (mythology)|Aex]], [[Aegiale (daughter of Helios)|Aegiale]], [[Aegle (mythology)|Aegle]], [[Heliades|Aetheria]], [[Aethon]], [[Aloeus]], [[Astris]], [[Augeas]], [[Bisaltes]], [[Candalus]], [[Cercaphus]], the [[Charites]], [[Chrysus]], [[Horae|Cheimon]], [[Circe]], [[Clymenus]], the [[Korybantes|Corybantes]], Cos, [[Dioxippe]], [[Dirce]], [[Horae|Eiar]], [[Alectrona|Electryone]], [[Heliades|Helia]], [[Hemera]], [[Ichnaea]], [[Lampetia]], [[Lelex (king of Sparta)|Lelex]], [[Macareus of Rhodes|Macareus]], Mausolus, [[Merope (Greek myth)|Merope]], [[Ochimus]], [[Pasiphaë]], [[Perses of Colchis|Perses]], [[Phaethon]], [[Phaethusa]], [[Rioni|Phasis]], [[Phoebe (Greek myth)|Phoebe]], [[Phorbas]], [[Horae|Phthinoporon]], [[Sterope]], [[Tenages]], [[Horae|Theros]], [[Thersanon]] and [[Triopas]]
| Roman_equivalent = [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]]
| Norse_equivalent = [[Sól (Norse mythology)|Sól]]
| Etruscan_equivalent = [[Usil]]
| Canaanite_equivalent = [[Shapash]]
| Hinduism_equivalent = [[Surya]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Pande |first=Govind Chandra |author-link=Govind Chandra Pande |title=A golden chain of civilizations : Indic, Iranic, Semitic, and Hellenic up to c. 600 B.C. |date=2007 |publisher=Project of History of Indian Science, philosophy, and Culture |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-8187586289 |page=572 |edition=1 publ. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZGsMAQAAMAAJ&q=Surya+Helios |access-date=20 April 2018}}</ref>
| equivalent1_type = Mesopotamian
| equivalent1 = [[Utu]]
| equivalent2_type = Egyptian
| equivalent2 = [[Ra]]
}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}
In [[ancient Greek religion]] and [[Greek mythology|mythology]], '''Helios''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|iː|l|i|ə|s|,_|-|ɒ|s}}; {{lang-grc|{{math|[[wikt:Ἥλιος|Ἥλιος]]}}||Sun}}; [[Homeric Greek]]: {{lang|grc|{{math|[[wikt:Ἠέλιος|Ἠέλιος]]}} }}) is the [[deity|god]] and [[personification]] of the [[Sun]] ([[Solar deity]]). His name is also [[Latin]]ized as '''Helius''', and he is often given the [[epithet]]s '''Hyperion''' ("the one above") and '''Phaethon''' ("the shining").{{efn|Hyperion and Phaethon are also the names of his father and son respectively.}} Helios is often depicted in art with a [[radiant crown]] and driving a horse-drawn chariot through the sky. He was a guardian of oaths and also the god of sight. Though Helios was a relatively minor deity in Classical Greece, his worship grew more prominent in [[late antiquity]] thanks to his identification with several major solar divinities of the Roman period, particularly [[Apollo]] and [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]]. The [[Roman Emperor]] [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] made Helios the central divinity of his short-lived revival of [[Religion in ancient Rome|traditional Roman religious practices]] in the 4th century AD.


Helios figures prominently in several works of [[Greek mythology]], poetry, and literature, in which he is often described as the son of the [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]] [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]] and [[Theia]] and brother of the goddesses [[Selene]] (the [[Moon]]) and [[Eos]] (the [[Dawn]]). Helios' most notable role in Greek mythology is the story of his mortal son [[Phaethon]] who asked his father for a favour; Helios agreed, but then Phaethon asked for the privilege to drive his four-horse fiery chariot across the skies for a single day. Although Helios warned his son again and again against this choice, explaining to him the dangers of such a journey that no other god but him was capable to bring about, Phaethon was hard to deter, and thus Helios was forced to hand him the reins. As expected, the ride was disastrous and [[Zeus]] struck the youth with one of his lightning bolts to stop him from burning or freezing the earth beyond salvation. Other than this myth, Helios occasionally appears in myths of other characters, witnessing oaths or interacting with other gods and mortals.<ref>March, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nZnwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT343 s.v. Helios]</ref>
{{commonscat|Helios}}


In the [[Homeric epic]]s, his most notable role is the one he plays in the ''[[Odyssey]]'', where [[Odysseus]]' men despite his warnings impiously kill and eat his [[Cattle of Helios|sacred cattle]] the god kept at Thrinacia, his sacred island. Once informed of their misdeed, Helios in wrath asks Zeus to punish those who wronged him, and Zeus agreeing strikes their ship with a thunderbolt, killing everyone, except for Odysseus himself, the only one who had not harmed the god's cattle, and was allowed to live. After that, Helios troubles Odysseus no more in his journey.


Due to his position as the sun, he was believed to be an all-seeing witness, and thus was often invoked in oaths. He also played a significant part in ancient magic and spells. In art he is usually depicted as a beardless youth in a chiton holding a whip and driving his [[quadriga]], accompanied by various other celestial gods such as Selene, Eos, or the stars. In ancient times he was worshipped in several places of ancient Greece, though his major cult centers were the island of [[Rhodes]], of which he was patron god, [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] and the greater [[Corinthia]] region. The [[Colossus of Rhodes]], a gigantic statue of the god, adorned the port of Rhodes until it was destroyed in an earthquake, thereupon it was not built again.
{{Europe-stub}}


== Etymology ==
[[Category:Titans]]
[[File:Veronalapidary5.jpg|thumb|290px|right|Helios (far right) in a Phaethon sarcophagus, detail, marble, third century AD, [[Verona]], [[Italy]].]]
 
The Greek gender view of the world was also present in their language. [[Ancient Greek]] had three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), so when an object or a concept was personified as a deity, it inherited the gender of the relevant noun; ''helios'' is a masculine noun, so the god embodying it is also by necessity male.<ref>Hansen, p. [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/26/mode/2up?view=theater 27]</ref> The Greek {{math|ἥλιος}} ({{small|[[Genitive|GEN]]}} {{lang|grc|{{math|ἡλίου}} }}, {{small|[[Dative|DAT]]}} {{lang|grc|{{math|ἡλίῳ}} }}, {{small|[[Accusative|ACC]]}} {{lang|grc|{{math|ἥλιον}} }}, {{small|[[Vocative|VOC]]}} {{lang|grc|{{math|ἥλιε}} }}) (from earlier {{math|ἁϝέλιος}} /hāwelios/) is the inherited word for the [[Sun]] from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] ''*{{PIE|seh₂u-el}}''<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R.S.P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 516.</ref> which is cognate with [[Latin]] ''sol'', [[Sanskrit]] ''[[surya]]'', [[Old English]] ''swegl'', [[Old Norse]] [[Sól (Norse mythology)|sól]], [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''haul'', [[Avestan]] ''[[Hvare-khshaeta|hvar]]'', etc.<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=sol&searchmode=none ''helios'']. ''[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]''.</ref><ref>Toorn et al, [https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA394 s.v. Helios pp 394–395]</ref> The [[Doric Greek|Doric]] and [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolic]] form of the name is {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἅλιος}} }}, ''Hálios''. In [[Homeric Greek]] his name is spelled {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἠέλιος}} }}, ''Ēélios'', with the Doric spelling of that being {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἀέλιος}} }}, ''Aélios''. In Cretan it was  {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἀβέλιος}} }} (''Abélios'') or {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἀϝέλιος}} }} (''Awélios'').<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=h(/lios ἥλιος] in Liddell & Scott (1940), ''[[A Greek–English Lexicon]]'', Oxford: Clarendon Press</ref> The female offspring of Helios were called [[Heliades]], the male [[Heliadae]].
 
The author of the ''[[Suda]]'' lexicon tried to etymologically connect ''{{math|ἥλιος}}'' to the word {{lang|grc|{{math|ἀολλίζεσθαι}} }}, ''aollízesthai'', "coming together" during the daytime, or perhaps from {{lang|grc|{{math|ἀλεαίνειν}} }}, ''aleaínein'', "warming".<ref>Suidas, ''[[Suda]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/240#eta.239 {{math|Ἥλιος}}]</ref> [[Plato]] in his dialogue ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'' suggested several etymologies for the word, proposing among others a connection, via the Doric form of the word ''halios'', to the words {{lang|grc|{{math|ἁλίζειν}} }}, ''halízein'', meaning collecting men when he rises, or from the phrase {{lang|grc|{{math|ἀεὶ εἱλεῖν}} }}, ''aeí heileín'', "ever turning" because he always turns the earth in his course:
 
{{Blockquote|
'''[[Socrates]]''': What, then, do you wish first? Shall we discuss the sun ({{lang|grc|{{math|Ἥλιος}} }}), as you mentioned it first?<br />
'''[[Hermogenes (philosopher)|Hermogenes]]''': By all means.<br />
'''Socrates''': I think it would be clearer if we were to use the Doric form of the name. The Dorians call it {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἅλιος}} }}. Now {{lang|grc|{{math|ἅλιος}} }} might be derived from collecting ({{lang|grc|{{math|ἁλίζειν}} }}) men when he rises, or because he always turns ({{lang|grc|{{math|ἀεὶ εἱλεῖν}} }}) about the earth in his course, or because he variegates the products of the earth, for variegate is identical with {{lang|grc|{{math|αἰολλεῖν}} }}.
|title=[[Plato]], ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]''.<ref>[[Plato]], ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0172%3Atext%3DCrat.%3Asection%3D408e 408e]–[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0172%3Atext%3DCrat.%3Asection%3D409a 409a]</ref>}}
 
[[Doric Greek#Long a|Doric Greek]] retained Proto-Greek long *ā as [[Alpha|α]], while Attic changed it in most cases, including in this word, to [[Eta|η]].
''Cratylus'' and the etymologies Plato gives are contradicted by modern scholarship.<ref>{{cite book |page=[https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=o1xn5Bb-CacC&pg=PA39 39]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o1xn5Bb-CacC|title=Limiting the Arbitrary|isbn=1556197497|last1=Joseph|first1=John Earl|year=2000}}</ref> From ''helios'' comes the modern English prefix ''[[wikt:helio-|helio-]]'', meaning "pertaining to the Sun", used in compounds word such as ''[[heliocentrism]]'', ''aphelion'', ''[[heliotropium]]'', ''heliophobia'' (fear of the sun) and ''heliolatry'' ("sun-worship").<ref>{{OEtymD|helio-|accessdate=2022-06-22}}</ref>
 
== Origins ==
=== Proto-Indo-European origin ===
[[File:Mack, Ludwig (der Jüngere), Helios-Relief, mitte.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Helios relief (1830), [[Stuttgart]], [[Rosenstein Castle]].]]
 
Helios most likely is Proto-Indo-European in origin. [[Walter Burkert]] wrote that "... Helios, the sun god, and [[Eos]]-[[Aurora (mythology)|Aurora]], the [[Dawn deities|goddess of the dawn]], are of impeccable Indo-European lineage both in etymology and in their status as gods" and might have played a role in PIE poetry.<ref>Burkert, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=sxurBtx6shoC&pg=PA17 17]</ref> The imagery surrounding a chariot-driving solar deity is likely [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] in origin.<ref name=Pachoumi/><ref>Gelling, P. and Davidson, H.E. ''The Chariot of the Sun and Other Rites and Symbols of the Northern Bronze Age''. London, 1969.</ref><ref>Gamkrelidze, Thomas V.; Ivanov, Vjaceslav V., ''Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=M2aqp2n2mKkC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA634 634]</ref> Greek solar imagery begins with the gods Helios and Eos, who are brother and sister, and who become in the day-and-night- cycle the day (''hemera'') and the evening (''hespera''), as she accompanies him in his journey across the skies. At night, he pastures his steeds and travels east in a golden boat. In them evident is the Indo-European grouping of a sun god and his sister, and the equine pair.<ref name=":adms">Adams, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC&pg=PA164 164]</ref>
 
The name [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] is thought to share the same etymology as Helios<ref name=":adms"/><ref>Euripides, Robert E. Meagher, ''Helen'', Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1986</ref><ref>O'Brien, Steven. "Dioscuric Elements in Celtic and Germanic Mythology". ''Journal of Indo-European Studies'' 10:1 & 2 (Spring–Summer, 1982), 117–136.</ref><ref>Skutsch, Otto. "Helen, her Name and Nature". ''Journal of Hellenic Studies'' 107 (1987), 188–193.</ref> and may express an early alternate personification of the sun among Hellenic peoples. The [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|Proto-Indo-European]] sun goddess's name ''*Seh₂ul'' has been reconstructed based on several solar mythological figures, like Helios and Helen,  the Germanic [[Sól (Germanic mythology)|Sól]], the Roman [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]], and others, all of which are considered derivatives of this proto-sun goddess. In PIE mythology, the Sun, a female figure, was seen as a pair with the [[Moon]], a male figure, which in [[Greek mythology]] is recognized in the female deity [[Selene]], usually united in marriage.<ref>Gamkrelidze, Thomas V.; Ivanov, Vjaceslav V., ''Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture'', pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=M2aqp2n2mKkC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA590 590-591], (1995).</ref> [[Martin L. West]] proposed the reconstruction of a [[Proto-Indo-European|PIE]] suffix -''nā'', so that Helena's name would roughly translate to "mistress of sunlight", connecting to "hḗlios" and denoting the goddess controlling the natural element.<ref>West, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA137 137]</ref> Helen might have originally been considered to be a daughter of the Sun, as she hatched from an [[egg]] and was given tree worship, features associated with the PIE Sun Maiden;<ref>Larson 1995, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fasGIzLTlBEC&pg=PA66 66]</ref>  in surviving Greek tradition however Helen is never said to be Helios' daughter, instead being the daughter of [[Zeus]], except in one late and extremely disreputable source, [[Ptolemaeus Chennus]].<ref name=":west">West, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA230 230]</ref>
 
Although the [[Mycenaean Greek]] word has been reconstructed as ''*hāwélios'', no unambiguous attestations of the word and the god for the sun have been discovered so far in [[Linear B]] tablets. It has been proposed that in the [[List of Mycenaean deities|Mycenaean pantheon]] existed a female sun goddess, ancestor/predecessor to Helios and closely related to [[Helen of Troy]].<ref>Kristiansen, Kristian; Larsson, Thomas B. ''The Rise of Bronze Age Society: Travels, Transmissions and Transformations'' p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=di7Dc7Y1ETYC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA297 297]; see also [[Helen of Troy#Etymology|Etymology of Ἑλένη]].</ref> While Helen was not a goddess in the [[homeric epics]], she was worshipped as one in [[Laconia]] and in [[Rhodes]], where Helios was also a major deity; those cults had not risen out of the epic myth, rather they had been so from the start.<ref name=":west"/>
 
=== Phoenician influence ===
It has been suggested that the [[Phoenicians]] brought over the cult of their patron god [[Baal]] among others (such as [[Astarte]]) to [[Corinth]], who was then continued to be worshipped under the native name/god Helios, similarly to how Astarte was worshipped as [[Aphrodite]], and the Phoenician [[Melqart]] was adopted as the [[List of water deities|sea-god]] [[Melicertes]]/[[Palaemon (Greek mythology)|Palaemon]], who also had a significant cult in the [[isthmus of Corinth]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/makersofhellascr00geej/mode/2up|pages=[https://archive.org/details/makersofhellascr00geej/page/n95/mode/2up? 138–139]|title=The Makers of Hellas|publisher=C. Griffin, Limited |last1=Jevons |first1=Frank Byron|year=1903}}</ref>
 
=== Egyptian influence ===
Helios' journey on a chariot during the day and travel with a boat in the ocean at night is likely a reflection of the [[Egypt]]ian sun god [[Ra]] sailing across the skies in a barque and through the body of the sky goddess [[Nut (goddess)|Nut]] to be reborn at dawn each morning anew; both gods were known as the (all-seeing in Helios's case) Eye of the Heaven in their respective pantheons.<ref>Kilinski, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=0qZLGqoAkvQC&pg=PA10 10]</ref>
 
== Description ==
[[File:Ilion---metopa.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Helios in his chariot, early 4th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC, [[Athena]]'s temple, [[Troy|Ilion]]]]
 
Helios is the son of [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]] and [[Theia]],<ref name=":hesd">[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D371 371]</ref><ref name=":pseuap">Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D2 1.2.2]</ref><ref>Scholia on [[Pindar]], ''Isthmian Odes'' [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001d.perseus-grc1:5.2/ 5.2]</ref> or Euryphaessa,<ref name=":hh31">''[[Homeric Hymns]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=31 31.5]</ref> or Aethra,<ref name=":hygi">[[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 preface]</ref> or Basileia,<ref name=":dio"/> the only brother of the goddesses Eos and Selene. If the order of mention of the three siblings is meant to be taken as their birth order, then out of the four authors that give him and his sisters a birth order, two make him the oldest child, one the middle, and the other the youngest.{{efn|[[Hesiod]] and [[Hyginus]] both give their birth order as first Helios/[[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]], then [[Selene]]/[[Luna (goddess)|Luna]] and lastly [[Eos]]/[[Aurora (mythology)|Aurora]],<ref name=":hesd" /><ref name=":hygi" /> [[pseudo-Apollodorus]] makes him the middle child (with Eos as the oldest)<ref name=":pseuap" /> and the author of his ''[[Homeric Hymn]]'' has him as the youngest of the three (with Eos again as the oldest).<ref name=":hh31" />}} Helios was not among the regular and more prominent deities, rather he was a more shadowy member of the Olympian circle,<ref>Gardner and Jevons, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ifTOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA115 115]</ref> though in spite of him being a relatively marginal god, he was one of the most ancient ones, and one that the other gods did not want to meddle with.<ref>Ogden, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yOQtHNJJU9UC&pg=PA8 8]</ref> From his lineage, Helios might thus be described as a second generation Titan, but the ancient Greeks were fairly vague on the matter.<ref name=":barry">Powell, Barry B.. "14 Sun, Moon, Earth, Hekatê, and All the Gods". Greek Poems to the Gods: Hymns from [[Homer]] to [[Proclus]], Berkeley: [[University of California Press]], 2022, pp. [https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520972605-017 243-245]</ref> [[Homer]] in the ''[[Odyssey]]'' calls him ''Helios Hyperion'' (literally "the Sun up above"), with Hyperion used in a patronymic sense to Helios. In the ''Odyssey'', ''[[Theogony]]'' and the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Demeter]]'', Helios is once in each work called {{lang|grc|{{math|Ὑπεριονίδης}}}} (''Hyperionídēs'', "the son of Hyperion") and this example is followed by many later poets (like [[Pindar]]<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D7 7.40]</ref>), who distinguish between Helios and Hyperion; in later literature the two gods are distinctly father and son. In literature, it is not uncommon for authors to use "Hyperion's bright son" instead of his proper name when referring to the Sun.<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] 2 to [[Demeter]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D2%3Acard%3D1 26]; ''[[Homeric Hymn]] 28 to [[Athena]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=28 28.13]; [[Eumelus of Corinth]], ''Corinthiaca'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=UbswDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PT62 frag 18]</ref> He is associated with harmony and order, both in the sense of society and the literal movement of the celestial bodies; in this regard, he resembles [[Apollo]] a lot, a god he was very often identified with.<ref name=":berg45">van den Berg, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=3et5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA145 145]</ref>
 
[[File:Bust of the sun-god Helios. 2nd cent. A.D.jpg|thumb|right|265px|Bust of the sun-god Helios, second century AD; the holes were used for the attachment of a sun ray crown, [[Ancient Agora Museum]], [[Athens]], Greece.]]
 
Helios is usually depicted as a handsome young man crowned with the shining [[Aureola|aureole]] of the Sun who drove the [[Solar Deity#Solar vessels and Sun chariots|chariot of the Sun]] across the sky each day to Earth-circling [[Oceanus]] and through the world-ocean returned to the East at night. Beyond his Homeric Hymn, not many texts describe his physical appearance; [[Euripides]] describes him as ''{{lang|grc|{{math|χρυσωπός}} }}'' (khrysо̄pós) meaning "golden-eyed/faced" or "beaming like gold",<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Electra (Euripides play)|Electra]]'' 740, West [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA199 p. 199 note 16]</ref> [[Mesomedes]] of [[Crete]] writes that he has golden hair,<ref>[[Mesomedes]], ''Hymn to the Sun'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=ULNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 4]</ref> and [[Apollonius Rhodius]] that he has light-emitting, golden eyes.<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/theargonauticaof00apoliala/page/172/mode/2up 4.727]</ref> According to [[Augustan poetry|Augustan poet]] [[Ovid]], he dressed in [[tyrian purple]] robes and sat on a throne of bright [[emerald]]s.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph2.htm#476707488 2.23&ndash;24]</ref> In ancient artefacts (such as coins, vases, or reliefs) he is presented as a beautiful youth with wavy hair,<ref name=":fairb"/> a strong god in the bloom of youth, with a crown of rays upon his head.<ref name=":seyf"/> His solar crown traditionally had twelve rays, symbolising the twelve months of the year.<ref name=":thon">Thonemann, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KS3JDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 109]</ref> He was usually represented clothed, his face somewhat full.<ref>Stoll, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UWoBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA61 61]</ref> In the ''Homeric Hymn to Helios'', Helios is said to drive the golden chariot drawn by steeds;<ref name=":hom">''[[Homeric Hymn]] 31 to the Sun'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=31 31.14&ndash;15]</ref> and Pindar speaks of Helios's "fire-darting steeds".<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D7 7.71]</ref> Still later, the horses were given fire related names: Pyrois ("The Fiery One"), Aeos ("he of the dawn"<ref>Gordon MacDonald Kirkwood, ''A Short Guide to Classical Mythology'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OkUGQeGGn7IC&pg=PA88 88]</ref>), [[Aethon]] ("Blazing"), and Phlegon ("Burning").
 
As mentioned above, the imagery surrounding a chariot-driving solar deity is likely [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] in origin and is common to both early Greek and Near Eastern religions.<ref>Burkert, W. ''Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical''. Cambridge Mass., 1985, p. 175.</ref><ref name=":verg">Vergados, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qzF9UQt8NDUC&pg=PA286 286]</ref> The earliest artistic representations of the "chariot god" come from the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian period]] (3rd century) in [[Persia]] where there is evidence of rituals being performed for the sun god by [[Magi]], indicating an assimilation of the worship of Helios and [[Mithras]].<ref name=Pachoumi/>
 
Helios is seen as both a personification of the Sun and the fundamental creative power behind it<ref name=julian_works/> and as a result is often worshiped as a god of life and creation. Homer described Helios as a god "who gives joy to mortals"<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/3#12.265 12.269]; "{[[Tiresias]] and [[Circe]]} very strongly ordered me to avoid the island of the sun who brings delight to mortals."</ref> and other ancient texts give him the epithet "gracious" (''{{lang|grc|{{math|ἱλαρός}}}}''), given that he is the source of life and regeneration and associated with the creation of the world. The [[Ancient Greek comedy|comic]] playwright [[Aristophanes]] in ''[[The Clouds|Nephelae]]'' describes Helios<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Aristophanes]] ''[[The Clouds|Nubes]]'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiaaristopha01ruthuoft/page/198/mode/2up?view=theater 571]</ref> as "the horse-guider, who fills the plain of the earth with exceeding bright beams, a mighty deity among gods and mortals."<ref>[[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Clouds]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0241%3Acard%3D563 563-574], translation by William James Hickie.</ref> One passage recorded in the [[Greek Magical Papyri]] says of Helios, "the earth flourished when you shone forth and made the plants fruitful when you laughed and brought to life the living creatures when you permitted."<ref name=Pachoumi/> He is said to have helped create animals out of primeval mud.<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/340/mode/2up?view=theater 4.673]</ref>
 
== Mythology ==
=== God of the Sun ===
==== Rising and Setting ====
[[File:Hans Rathausky - Helios et Selene.jpg|thumb|right|260px|Helios and Selene, by Johann Rathausky, fountain group statue in [[Opatija]], [[Croatia]].]]
 
Helios was envisioned as a god driving his chariot from east to west each day, pulled by four white horses. In the ancient world people were not too troubled over how his chariot flew through the sky, as they did not envision the Earth as a spherical object, so Helios would not be travelling around a globe in an orbit; rather he crossed the sky from east to west each morning in a linear direction.<ref>Hansen, p. [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/218/mode/2up?view=theater 219]</ref> The chariot and his horses are mentioned by neither Homer nor [[Hesiod]], the earliest work in which they are attested being the ''Homeric Hymn to Helios''.<ref>''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DH%3Aentry+group%3D6%3Aentry%3Dhelios-bio-1 Helios]</ref><ref>Keightley, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lWAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA56 56], [https://books.google.com/books?id=lWAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA62 62]</ref><ref name=":verg"/> Although the chariot is usually said to be the work of [[Hephaestus]],<ref>[[Aeschylus]] in his lost play ''Heliades'' writes: "Where, in the west, is the bowl wrought by Hephaestus, the bowl of [[Phaethon|thy]] sire, speeding wherein he crosseth the mighty, swelling stream that girdleth earth, fleeing the gloom of holy night of sable steeds."</ref><ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus11b.html#469 11.38]</ref> [[Hyginus]] states that it was Helios himself who built it.<ref>[[Hyginus]], ''[[De Astronomica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.13.1 2.13.1]</ref> In one Greek vase painting, Helios appears riding across the sea in the cup of the Delphic tripod which appears to be a solar reference. His chariot is described as golden<ref name=":hom"/> or pink<ref>[[Mesomedes]], ''Hymn to the Sun'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=ULNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 2]</ref> in colour. The [[Horae]], goddesses of the seasons, are part of his retinue and help him yoke his chariot.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/141#2.19 27]</ref><ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#38.272 38.298]</ref><ref>[[Valerius Flaccus (poet)|Valerius Flaccus]], ''Argonautica'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0058%3Abook%3D4%3Acard%3D58 4.92&ndash;93]</ref> His sister Eos is said to have not only opened the gates for Helios, but would often accompany him as well in his daily swing across the skies.<ref>Bell, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/180/mode/2up?view=theater Eos]</ref> Every day he rose from the [[Oceanus|Ocean]], the great earth-encircling [[river]], carried by his horses:
 
[[File:Helios, painting on a terracotta disk, 480 BC, Agora Museum Athens, 080646.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Helios the rising Sun, painting on a terracotta disk, 480 BC, Agora Museum Athens]]
 
{{Blockquote|As he rides in his chariot, he shines upon men and deathless gods, and piercingly he gazes with his eyes from his golden helmet. Bright rays beam dazzlingly from him, and his bright locks streaming from the temples of his head gracefully enclose his far-seen face: a rich, fine-spun garment glows upon his body and flutters in the wind: and stallions carry him. Then, when he has stayed his golden-yoked chariot and horses, he rests there upon the highest point of heaven, until he marvelously drives them down again through heaven to Ocean.|title=''[[Homeric Hymn]] 31 to the Sun''<ref name=":hom"/>}}
 
In Homer, he is said to go under the earth at sunset, but it is not clear whether that means he travels through [[Tartarus]].<ref name=":keig"/> [[Athenaeus]] in his ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' relates that, at the hour of sunset, Helios climbs into a great cup of solid gold in which he passes from the Hesperides in the farthest west to the land of the Ethiops, with whom he passes the dark hours. According to Athenaeus, [[Mimnermus]] said that in the night Helios travels eastwards with the use of a bed (also created by Hephaestus) in which he sleeps, rather than a cup,<ref name=":ath">[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus11b.html#470 11.39]</ref> and writes that "Helios gained a portion of toil for all his days", as there is no rest for either him or his horses.<ref>{{harvnb|Kirk|Raven|Schofield|1983|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=kFpd86J8PLsC&pg=PA13 12–13]}}: [F]or him does his lovely bed bear across the wave, [...] from the dwelling of the Hesperides to the land of the Aithiopes where his swift chariot and his horses stand till early-born Dawn shall come; there does the son of Hyperion mount his car."</ref> Just like his chariot and horses, the cup is attested in neither Hesiod nor Homer, first appearing in the ''[[Titanomachy (epic poem)|Titanomachy]]'', an 8th-century BC epic poem attributed to [[Eumelus of Corinth]].<ref name=":keig">Keightley, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lWAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA53 53&ndash;54].</ref> [[Ancient Greek tragedy|Tragedian]] [[Aeschylus]] in his lost play ''[[Prometheus Unbound (Aeschylus)|Prometheus Unbound]]'' (a sequel to ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'') describes the sunset as such:
 
{{Blockquote|"There [is] the sacred wave, and the coralled bed of the [[Erythraean sea|Erythræan Sea]], and [there] the luxuriant marsh of the Ethiopians, situated near the ocean, glitters like polished brass; where daily in the soft and tepid stream, the all-seeing Sun bathes his undying self, and refreshes his weary steeds."|title=[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Prometheus Unbound (Aeschylus)|Prometheus Unbound]]''.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+1.2.27&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239 1.2.27], translation by H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A., Ed.</ref>}}
 
[[File:(24) Flaxman Ilias 1795, Zeichnung 1793, 188 x 255 mm.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|''Hera makes Helios set earlier'', [[Iliad]] engraving, [[John Flaxman]].]]
 
In the extreme east and west lived people who tended to his horses in their stalls, people for whom summer and heat were perpetual and ripeful.<ref name=":fairb"/> The sun god is described as being "tireless in his journeys" as he repeats the same process day after day for an eternity.<ref name=":fairb">Fairbanks, pp [https://archive.org/details/MythologyOfGreeceAndRomespecialReferenceToItsInfluenceOnLiterature/page/n173/mode/2up?view=theater 160-161]</ref> On several instances in mythology the normal solar schedule is disrupted; he was ordered not to rise for three days during the conception of [[Heracles]], and made the winter days longer in order to look upon [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]], [[Athena]]'s birth was a sight so impressive that Helios halted his steeds and stayed still in the sky for a long while,<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] 28 to [[Athena]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=28 28.13] ; Waterfield, p. [https://archive.org/details/greekmythsstorie0000wate/page/52/mode/2up?q=&view=theater 53]</ref> as heaven and earth both trembling at the newborn goddess' sight.{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=U4mFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 195]}} In the ''[[Iliad]]'' [[Hera]] who supports the Greeks, makes him set earlier than usual against his will during battle,<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D18%3Acard%3D219 18.239&ndash;240]</ref> and later still during the same war, after his sister Eos's son [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]] was killed, she made him downcast, causing his light to fade, so she could be able to freely steal her son's body undetected by the armies, as he consoled his sister in her grief over Memnon's death.<ref>[[Philostratus of Lemnos]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/225#1.7.2 1.7.2]</ref> It was said that summer days are longer due to Helios often stopping his chariot mid-air to watch from above nymphs dancing during the summer,<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''Hymn to Artemis'' [https://archive.org/details/callimachuslycop00calluoft/page/76/mode/2up?view=theater 181&ndash;182]</ref><ref>Powell Barry, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mtoSEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA182 182]</ref> and sometimes he is late to rise because he lingers with his consort.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-gods#section12 Aphrodite and Eros]</ref> If the other gods wish so, Helios can be hastened on his daily course when they wish it to be night.<ref>Fairbanks, p. [https://archive.org/details/MythologyOfGreeceAndRomespecialReferenceToItsInfluenceOnLiterature/page/n51/mode/2up?view=theater 39]</ref>
 
[[File:Heracles on the sea in the bowl of Helios.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Helios's cup with Heracles in it, [[Rome]], [[Vatican Museums#Museo Gregoriano Etrusco|Museo Gregoriano Etrusco]], n. 205336.]]
 
When Zeus desired to sleep with [[Alcmene]], he made one night last threefold, hiding the light of the Sun, by ordering Helios not to rise for those three days.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D8 2.4.8]; [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Hercules (Seneca)|Hercules Furens]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0003 24]; ''[[Argonautica Orphica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/549#113 113].</ref>{{sfn|Stuttard|2016|page=[https://archive.org/details/greekmythologytr0000stut/page/114/mode/2up?view=theater 114]}} Satirical author [[Lucian]] of [[Samosata]] dramatized this myth in one of his ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'', where the messenger of the gods [[Hermes]] goes to Helios on Zeus' orders to tell him not to rise for three days so Zeus can spend much time with [[Alcmene]] and sire Heracles. Although Helios reluctantly agrees and wishes best luck, he complains about this decision of the king of gods, finding the reason too weak for humanity to be deprived of sunlight and stay in the dark for so long, and negatively compares Zeus to his [[Cronus|father]], claiming Cronus never abandoned his marital bed and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] for the love of some mortal woman.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [https://pt.calameo.com/read/000107044fc0f01286992 Hermes and the Sun]</ref>{{efn|Helios (and Lucian) is wrong here; Cronus had [[Chiron]] by [[Philyra (mythology)|Philyra]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus]], [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D4 1.2.4]''</ref>}} From the union of Zeus and Alcmene, Heracles was born. While Heracles travelled to Erytheia to retrieve the cattle of [[Geryon]] for his tenth labour, he crossed the Libyan desert and was so frustrated at the heat that he shot an arrow at Helios, the Sun. Almost immediately, Heracles realized his mistake and apologized profusely ([[Pherecydes of Syros|Pherecydes]] wrote that Heracles stretched his arrow at him menacingly, but Helios ordered him to stop, and Heracles in fear desisted<ref name=":ath"/>); In turn and equally courteous, Helios granted Heracles the golden cup which he used to sail across the sea every night, from the west to the east because he found Heracles' actions immensely bold. In the versions delivered by Apollodorus and Pherecydes, Heracles was only ''about to'' shoot Helios, but according to [[Panyassis]], he ''did'' shot and wounded the god.<ref>Matthews, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=d92mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 52]</ref> Heracles used this golden cup to reach Erytheia, and after he had taken Geryon's cattle, returned it back to its owner.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D10#note6 2.5.10]</ref><ref>Noted in Kerenyi 1951:191, note 595.</ref> A late sixth century or early fifth century BC [[lekythos]] depicts Heracles offering a sacrifice on one side, and Helios rising on the other, suggesting that Heracles is sacrificing to the god seeking help from him in order to reach the three-bodied Geryon.<ref name=":coh"/> On the vase, Helios is rising in his chariot between Eos and [[Nyx]] (the Night), represented as swirls of mist, while Heracles is roasting the sacrificial meat next to a lurking dog, identified as [[Cerberus]], guiding the entrance to the [[Greek Underworld|Underworld]]; from this one can infer that the vase depicts the place in the Ocean where the earth, the sky and the sea meet, as the light of Helios is juxtaposed with the darkness of the Underworld, separated by a barrier of mist.<ref name=":beau">Beaulieu, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=cp29CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43 43–44]</ref>
 
==== Travelling Backwards ====
When the brothers [[Thyestes]] and [[Atreus]] fought over which would get to rule [[Mycenae]],<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Epitome]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D11 2.11]</ref> following the death of the previous king, [[Eurystheus]], Atreus suggested that whoever possessed of a splendid golden ram would be declared king. Unbeknownst to Atreus, his unfaithful wife [[Aerope]] had given Thyestes the ram, and thus Thyestes became king. Zeus sent Hermes to Atreus, telling Atreus to get Thyestes to agree that should the Sun rise in the west and set in the east, the kingship would be given to Atreus.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Epitome]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D12 2.12] ; Hansen, p. [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/80/mode/2up?view=theater 80]</ref> Thyestes agreed, and Helios indeed rose where he usually set, and set where he usually rose, not standing the unfairness of Thyestes' actions.<ref>[[John Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#18 1.18]</ref> According to Plato, Helios at first used to rise in the west and set in the east, and only changed that after the incident of the golden ram, as did the other celestial bodies.<ref>[[Plato]], ''[[Statesman (dialogue)|The Statesman]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0172%3Atext%3DStat.%3Asection%3D268e 268e] and [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0172%3Atext%3DStat.%3Asection%3D269a 269a]</ref>
 
==== Solar eclipses ====
[[Solar eclipse]]s were phaenomena of fear as well as wonder in Ancient Greece, and were seen as the Sun abandoning humanity.<ref>Glover, Eric. "The eclipse of Xerxes in Herodotus 7.37: Lux a non obscurando." ''The Classical Quarterly'', vol. 64, no. 2, 2014, pp. [https://jstor.org/stable/43905590 471–492]. New Series. Accessed 12 Sept. 2021.</ref> According to a fragment of [[Archilochus]], it is Zeus who blocks Helios and makes him disappear from the sky; "Zeus the Olympian veiled the light to make it night at midday even as sun was shining: so dread fear has overtaken men" he writes<ref>[[Archilochus]] frag [https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2015/09/26/now-nothing-is-unexpected-archilochus-on-an-eclipse-fr-122/ 122]; Rutherford, p. [https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=gPjZOB1YNqAC&pg=193 193]</ref> and in one of his [[paean]]s, the lyric poet Pindar describes a solar eclipse as the Sun's light being hidden from the world, a bad omen of destruction and doom:<ref>Ian Rutherford, ''Pindar's Paeans: A reading of the fragments with a survey of the genre''.</ref>
 
{{Blockquote|Beam of the sun! What have you contrived, observant one, mother of eyes, highest star, in concealing yourself in broad daylight? Why have you made helpless men's strength and the path of wisdom, by rushing down a dark highway? Do you drive a stranger course than before? In the name of Zeus, swift driver of horses, I beg you, turn the universal omen, lady, into some painless prosperity for Thebes ... Do you bring a sign of some war or wasting of crops or a mass of snow beyond telling or ruinous strife or emptying of the sea on land or frost on the earth or a rainy summer flowing with raging water, or will you flood the land and create a new race of men from the beginning?|title=[[Pindar]], ''[[Paean]]'' IX<ref>Rutherford, p. [https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=gPjZOB1YNqAC&pg=191 191]</ref>}}
 
[[Plutarch]] in his ''[[Moralia]]'' writes that it is "through love of the sun that the [[Selene|moon]] herself makes her circuit, and has her meetings with him to receive from him all fertility".<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''[[Moralia]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0357%3Asection%3D30 On the Apparent Face in the Orb of the Moon]</ref> [[Aristophanes]] describes a solar eclipse in his play ''[[The Clouds|Nephelae]]'' that was observed in Athens in 425 BC.<ref>Guillermier and Koutchmy, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1F_zSwe9iU4C&pg=PA88 88]</ref>
 
[[File:Helius kalyx-krater puglia british museum.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.34|Helios rising in his chariot, [[red-figure]] calyx-krater, 430 BC (circa), [[British Museum]].]]
 
==== Horses of Helios ====
{{Redirect|Pyrois|the moth|Pyrois (moth)}}
Some lists, cited by Hyginus, of the names of horses that pulled Helios' chariot, are as follows. Scholarship acknowledges that, despite differences between the lists, the names of the horses always seem to refer to fire, flame, light and other luminous qualities.<ref>Slim, Hédi. "La chute de Phaeton sur une mosaïque de Barrarus-Rougga en Tunisie". In: ''Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres''. 147<sup>e</sup> année, N. 3, 2003. p. 1121. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/crai.2003.22628; www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_2003_num_147_3_22628</ref>
 
* According to [[Eumelus of Corinth]] – late 7th/ early 6th century BC:  The male trace horses are Eous (by him the sky is turned) and Aethiops (as if flaming, parches the grain) and the female yoke-bearers are Bronte ("Thunder") and Sterope ("Lightning").
* According to Ovid&nbsp;— Roman, 1st century BC ''Phaethon's ride'': Pyrois ("the fiery one"), Eous ("he of the dawn"), [[Aethon]] ("blazing"), and Phlegon ("burning").<ref name=":hyg183">[[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#183 183]</ref><ref>Dain, Philippe. ''Mythographe du Vatican III. Traduction et commentaire''. Besançon: Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité, 2005. p. 156 (footnote nr. 33) (Collection "ISTA", 854). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/ista.2005.2854; www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_2005_edc_854_1</ref>
 
Hyginus writes that according to Homer, the horses' names are Abraxas and Therbeeo; but Homer makes no mention of horses or chariot.<ref name=":hyg183"/>
 
[[Alexander of Aetolia]], cited in Athenaeus, related that the magical herb grew on the island [[Thrinacia]], which was sacred to Helios, and served as a remedy against fatigue for the sun god's horses. [[Aeschrion of Samos]] informed that it was known as the "dog's-tooth" and was believed to have been sown by Cronus.<ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae|Scholars at Dinner]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Athenaeus/7D*.html#p329 7.294C]</ref>
 
=== Awarding of Rhodes ===
[[File:Rhodos tetradrachm Helios.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Silver [[tetradrachm]] of [[Rhodes]] showing Helios and a rose (205-190 BC, 13.48 g)]]
 
According to Pindar,<ref name=":pin7">[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D7 7]</ref> when the gods divided the earth among them, Helios was absent, and thus he got no lot of land. He complained to Zeus about it, who offered to do the division of portions again, but Helios refused the offer, for he had seen a [[Rhodes|new land]] emerging from the deep of the sea; a rich, productive land for humans and good for cattle too. Helios asked for this island to be given to him, and Zeus agreed to it, with [[Lachesis]] (one of the three [[Moirai|Fates]]) raising her hands to confirm the oath. Alternatively in another tradition, it was Helios himself who made the island rise from the sea when he caused the water which had overflowed it to disappear.<ref name=":dd563">[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca Historica|Library of History]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#56 5.56.3]</ref> He named it Rhodes, after his lover [[Rhodos|Rhode]] (the daughter of [[Poseidon]] and Aphrodite<ref>Scholia on Pindar's ''Olympian Odes'' [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001a.perseus-grc1:7.25 7.25]</ref> or [[Amphitrite]]<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D5 1.4.5]</ref>), and it became the god's sacred island, where he was honoured above all other gods. With Rhode Helios sired seven sons, known as the [[Heliadae]] ("sons of the Sun"), who became the first rulers of the island, as well as one daughter, [[Alectrona|Electryone]].<ref name=":dd563"/> Three of their grandsons founded the cities [[Ialysos]], [[Camiros]] and [[Lindos]] on the island, named after themselves;<ref name=":pin7"/> thus Rhodes came to belong to him and his line, with the autochthonous peoples of Rhodes claiming descend from the Heliadae.<ref>[[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]], ''Narrations'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_05bibliotheca.htm 47]</ref>
 
Once Athena was born from Zeus' head, Helios enjoined his children and the rest of the Rhodians to immediately build an altar for the goddess quickly, in order to win her favour (and apparently he disclosed the same to the Atticans too<ref name=":dd563"/>); they did as he told them, however they forgot to bring fire with them to properly do the sacrifice. Zeus, however, sent a golden cloud and rained gold on them, and Athena still graced them with unmatched skill in every art.<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D7 7.39]</ref> For this reason, Athena was worshipped in Rhodes with flameless sacrifices; the victim would be slain on the altar of burn offering, but the fire was not set on the altar.<ref name=":riat74"/>
 
=== Phaethon ===
{{Main|Phaethon}}
The most well known story about Helios is the one involving his son [[Phaethon]]. Phaethon was Helios' son by [[Clymene (mother of Phaethon)|Clymene]],<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]''; [[Euripides]], ''[https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.325.xml Phaethon]''; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]''; [[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#152A 152A]</ref> or alternatively Rhode<ref name=":pin">[[Scholia]] on [[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://cts.perseids.org/read/greekLit/tlg5026/tlg007/First1K-grc1/2.17.1-2.17.3 17.208]</ref> or Prote.<ref>[[John Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades'' 4.127</ref> In one version of the story, Phaethon is Helios' grandson, rather than son, through his father [[Clymenus]].<ref name=":fb154">[[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#154 154]</ref> In Euripides' lost play ''[[Phaethon (play)|Phaethon]]'', Phaethon is the product of an illicit liaison between his mother Clymene (who's married to [[Merops (mythology)|Merops]], king of [[Aethiopia]]) and Helios, though she claimed that her lawful husband was the husband of her children.<ref>Gantz, pp [https://www.academia.edu/29883249/GANTZ_Timothy_Early_Greek_myth_a_guide_to_literary_and_artistic_sources_Johns_Hopkins_University_Press_1993_ 31–32]</ref><ref>Diggle, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=RYAh8dv18lUC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA7 7–8]</ref> Clymene reveals the truth to her son, and urges her son to travel east to get confirmation from his father after she informs him that Helios promised to grant their child any wish when he slept with her.<ref>Cod. Claromont. - Pap. Berl. 9771, [[Euripides]] fragment [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.335.xml 773 Nauck]</ref> In a surviving fragment from the play, Helios accompanies his son in his ill-fated journey in the skies, trying to give him instructions on how to drive the chariot while he rides on a spare horse named Sirius,<ref name=":dig138"/> as someone, perhaps a [[paedagogi|paedagogus]] informs Clymene of Phaethon's fate, who is probably accompanied by slave women:
[[File:Ovide - Métamorphoses - I - Phaéton.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.02|''Phaethon meets the Sun'', engraving for the ''[[Metamorphoses]]''.]]
 
{{Blockquote|Take, for instance, that passage in which Helios, in handing the reins to his son, says—<br />
<blockquote>
"Drive on, but shun the burning [[Ancient Libya|Libyan]] tract;<br />
The hot dry air will let thine axle down:<br />
Toward the seven [[Pleiades]] keep thy steadfast way."<br />
</blockquote>
And then—<br />
<blockquote>
"This said, his son undaunted snatched the reins,<br />
Then smote the winged coursers' sides: they bound<br />
Forth on the void and cavernous vault of air.<br />
His father mounts another steed, and rides<br />
With warning voice guiding his son. 'Drive there!<br />
Turn, turn thy car this way."
</blockquote>
|title=[[Euripides]], ''Phaethon'' frag [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.349.xml?readMode=verso 779]<ref>Longinus, ''[[On the Sublime]]'' [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17957/17957-h/17957-h.htm#tag_35 15.4], with a translation by H. L. Havell.</ref>}}
 
[[File:Nicolas Poussin - Helios and Phaeton with Saturn and the Four Seasons.jpg|upright=1.3|thumb|left|''Helios and Phaethon with Saturn and the Four Seasons'', by [[Nicolas Poussin]], oil on canvas]]
 
If this messenger did witness the flight himself, it is possible there was also a passage where he described Helios taking control over the bolting horses in the same manner as [[Lucretius]] described.<ref>Diggle, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=RYAh8dv18lUC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA42 42–43]</ref> Phaethon inevitably dies; a fragment near the end of the play has Clymene order the slave girls hide Phaethon's still-smouldering body from Merops, and laments Helios' role in her son's death, saying he destroyed him and her both.<ref name=":frag"/> Near the end of the play it seems that Merops, having found out about Clymene's affair and Phaethon's true parentage, tries to kill her; her eventual fate is unclear, but it has been suggested she is saved by some [[deus ex machina]].<ref name=":cocro">Collard and Cropp, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uT78DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA202 202]</ref> A number of deities have been proposed for the identity of this possible deus ex machina,  with Helios among them.<ref name=":cocro"/>
 
In Ovid's account, Zeus' son [[Epaphus]] mocks Phaethon's claim that he is the son of the sun god; his mother Clymene tells Phaethon to go to Helios himself, to ask for confirmation of his paternity, and the boy travels east to meet his father. Helios, living in a palace far away and attended by several other gods, warmly receives his son, and promises him on the river [[Styx]] any gift that he might ask as a proof of paternity; Phaethon asks for the privilege to drive Helios' chariot for a single day, causing his father to immediately regret his gift. Although Helios warns his son of how dangerous and disastrous this would be, and keeps begging Phaethon to rethink his wish, he is nevertheless unable to change Phaethon's mind or revoke his promise. Phaethon takes the reins in his father's horror, and drives the chariot with catastrophic results; the earth burns when he travels too low, and freezes when he takes the chariot too high. Zeus, in order to save the world, strikes Phaethon with a lightning, killing him. Helios, in his sorrow and deprived of all light out of grief, refuses to resume his job, but he returns to his task and duty at the appeal of the other gods, as well as Zeus' threats. He then takes his anger out on his four horses, whipping them in fury for causing his son's death.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph.php#anchor_Toc64105482 1.747]&ndash;[https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph2.php#anchor_Toc64106101 2.400]</ref>
 
[[File:Godfried Maes - Phaeton in the Chariot of the Sun God.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Phaethon in the chariot of the Sun, Godfried Maes, ca 1664-1700]]
 
[[Nonnus]] of [[Panopolis]] presented a slightly different version of the myth, narrated by Hermes; according to him, Helios met and fell in love with Clymene, the daughter of the [[Oceanus|Ocean]], and the two soon got married with her father's blessing; Merops does not factor at all, and their son Phaethon is born within marriage. When he grows up, fascinated with his father's job, he asks him to drive his chariot for a single day. Helios does his best to dissuade him, arguing that sons are not necessarily fit to step into their fathers' shoes, bringing up as example that none of Zeus' sons wields lightning bolts like he does. But under pressure of Phaethon and Clymene's begging both, he eventually gives in, and gives his son the reins and instructions for the road. As per all other versions of the myth, Phaethon's ride is catastrophic and ends in his death.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft/page/102/mode/2up?view=theater 38.142]–[https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft/page/122/mode/2up?view=theater 435]</ref>
 
At any point, Helios recovered the reins in time, thus saving the earth and keeping it from burning to a cinder due to the flames from the chariot.<ref>Bell, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/150/mode/2up?view=theater Phaethon]</ref> Another consistent detail across versions are that Phaethon's sisters the [[Heliades]] mourn him by the [[Eridanos (river of Hades)|Eridanus]] and are turned into black poplar trees, who shed tears of [[amber]]. According to [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], it was Helios who turned them into trees, for their honour to Phaethon.<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''[[Posthomerica]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=KiDDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT134 5.300], "The Daughters of the Sun, the Lord of Omens, shed (tears) for Phaethon slain, when by Eridanos' flood they mourned for him. These, for undying honour to his son, the god made amber, precious in men's eyes."</ref> The part concerning the Heliades might have been a mythical device to account for the origin of amber; it is probably of no coincidence that the Greek word for amber, ''elektron'' ({{lang|grc|{{math|ἤλεκτρον}} }}), resembles ''elektor'' ({{lang|grc|{{math|ἠλέκτωρ}} }}), an epithet of Helios.<ref>Keightley, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lWAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA58 58, especially note a]</ref> The poplar tree was considered sacred to Helios, due to the sun-like brilliance its shining leaves have.<ref>Decharme, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=nU9msl7p2vMC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA240 240–241]</ref>
 
In one version of the myth, Helios conveyed his dead son to the stars, as a constellation.<ref>[[Hyginus]], ''De Astronomica'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.42.2 2.42.2]</ref>
 
The aftermath of this episode was satirized by Lucian; in one of his dialogues, Zeus angrily berates Helios for lenting his chariot to his inexperienced son, who burned the earth with it as Helios makes excuses for himself and his child; Zeus returns the damaged chariot to its owner and threatens Helios to zap him with one of his lightning bolts should he ever do such thing again.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-gods#section25 Zeus and the Sun]</ref>
 
[[The Frogs and the Sun|Relating to this is a fable]] from [[Aesop]], in which Helios announces his intention to get married, causing the frogs to protest intensively. When Zeus, disturbed by all that noise, asks them to explain their stance, they reply that the Sun already burns their ponds on his own just fine; if he gets married and begets even more sons, it will sure doom them.<ref>[[Aesop]], ''[[Aesop's fables|Fables]]'' [http://www.mythfolklore.net/aesopica/oxford/436.htm 436] (this particular version is [[Phaedrus (fabulist)|Phaedrus]]'s). The English language provides a fortuitous pun with the words ''son'' and ''sun'', which is not possible in either [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] or [[Latin]].</ref>
 
=== The Watchman ===
==== Persephone ====
[[File:Head Helios AM Rhodes E49.jpg|thumb|left|Head of Helios, middle period, [[Archaeological Museum of Rhodes]]]]
 
{{rquote|right|But, Goddess, give up for good your great lamentation.<br />You must not nurse in vain insatiable anger.<br />Among the gods Aidoneus is not an unsuitable bridegroom,<br />Commander-of-Many and Zeus's own brother of the same stock.<br />As for honor, he got his third at the world's first division<br />and dwells with those whose rule has fallen to his lot.|''[[Homeric Hymn]] to [[Demeter]]'', lines 82&ndash;87, translated by Helene Foley<ref>Foley, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wRARAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA6 6]</ref>}}
 
Helios saw and stood witness to everything that happened underneath him where his light shone. When [[Hades]] abducted [[Persephone]], Helios, who was characterized with the epithet '''Helios Panoptes''' ("the all-seeing Sun"), was the only one to witness it, while [[Hecate]] only heard Persephone's screams as she was snatched away. Persephone's mother [[Demeter]], looked far and wide in search of her daughter, and at the suggestion of Hecate, came to him, and asked him to respect her as a goddess and tell her if he had seen anything. Helios, sympathizing with her grief, told her in detail that it was Hades who, with Zeus' permission, had taken an unwilling and screaming Persephone to the Underworld to be his wife and queen,<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] 2 to [[Demeter]]'' [https://uh.edu/~cldue/texts/demeter.html 2.75]</ref> and that Zeus had not only permitted the marriage but also consented to the abduction.{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=U4mFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 124]}}
 
In the ''Homeric Hymn to [[Demeter]]'' he asks Demeter to sooth her pain, as Hades is not an unworthy son-in-law or bridegroom{{efn|The word used in the ancient text, {{lang|grc|{{math|γαμβρός}} }}, translates to both "son-in-law" and "bridegroom".<ref>See [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3Dgambro%2Fs γαμβρός].</ref>}} for her, being her own brother and king of the Underworld besides, living with those he was chosen by lot to rule over, before he yokes his winged horses and chariot and ascends in the sky as the day breaks. In Ovid's ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'', Demeter asks the stars first about Persephone's whereabouts, and it is [[Helice (mythology)|Helice]] (the constellation [[Ursa Major]]) who advises her to go ask Helios, for the night knew nothing of those events. Demeter is not slow to approach him, and Helios then tells her not to waste time, and seek out for "the queen of the third world", the bride of Zeus's brother.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/OvidFastiBkFour.php#anchor_Toc69367852 4.575]</ref>
 
Helios and Hecate informing Demeter of Persephone's abduction seems to be based on a common theme found in many parts of the world where the Sun and the Moon are questioned concerning events that happen below based on their perceived ability to bear witness to everything that take place on earth, and is one of the earliest examples of Hecate's connection to the moon and Helios.<ref name=":queen">Sharynne MacLeod NicMhacha, ''Queen of the Night: Rediscovering the Celtic Moon Goddess'', Weiser Books, 2005; pp [https://books.google.gr/books?id=1l1yXq4xGHsC&pg=PA62 62-63]; {{ISBN|1-57863-284-6}}.</ref><ref>Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA90&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 90]</ref>
 
==== Ares and Aphrodite ====
[[File:JOHANN HEISS VULCAN SURPRISING VENUS AND MARS.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|''Vulcan surprises Venus and Mars'', by [[Johann Heiss]] (1679)]]
 
In another myth, Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but she cheated on him with his brother [[Ares]], god of war. Helios caught them in the act, and informed Aphrodite's husband Hephaestus. Upon learning that, Hephaestus forged a net so thin it could hardly be seen, in order to ensnare them. He then announced that he was leaving for [[Lemnos]]. Upon hearing that, Ares went to Aphrodite and the two lovers coupled.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218%3Abook%3D8%3Acard%3D5 8. 266&ndash;295]</ref> Helios informed Hephaestus again, who came into the room and trapped them in the net. He then called the other gods to witness the humiliating sight.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218%3Abook%3D8%3Acard%3D6 8. 296&ndash;332]</ref> Later versions add a young man, a warrior named [[Alectryon (mythology)|Alectryon]], tasked by Ares to stand guard should anyone approach. But Alectryon fell asleep, allowing Helios to discover the two lovers and inform Hephaestus. In his anger, Ares turned Alectryon into a [[rooster]], a bird that to this day crows at dawn, to announce the arrival of the Sun.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''Gallus'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:the-rooster 3]</ref><ref>[[Decimius Magnus Ausonius|Ausonius]], [https://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/decimus-magnus-ausonius/ausonius-osu/page-22-ausonius-osu.shtml 26.2.27]</ref><ref>[[Libanius]], ''[[Progymnasmata]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=kRi-If9IAOYC&pg=PA31&hl=el&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4 2.26]</ref> According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], the rooster is Helios' sacred animal, always crowing when he is about to rise.<ref name=":5259">[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Paus.+5.25.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 5.25.9]</ref> For this, Aphrodite hated Helios and his race for all time.<ref name=":senny">[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]]'' [https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/sen/sen.phaedra.shtml 124]</ref> In some versions, she cursed his daughter [[Pasiphaë]] to fall in love with the [[Cretan Bull]] as revenge against him.<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Euripides]]' ''[[Hippolytus (play)|Hippolytus]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=quBFAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA501&redir_esc=y 47]</ref><ref>[[Libanius]], ''[[Progymnasmata]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=kRi-If9IAOYC&pg=PA27 2.21]</ref> Pasiphaë's daughter [[Phaedra (mythology)|Phaedra]]'s passion for her step-son [[Hippolytus of Athens|Hippolytus]] was also said to have been inflicted on her by Aphrodite for this same reason.<ref name=":senny"/>
 
==== Leucothoe and Clytie ====
[[File:The nymph klytie transforming into a sunflower as the sun god drives his chariot above, engraving by abraham diepenbeeck for the metamorphoses book by ovid, in a greek language copy.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Clytie turns into a sunflower as the Sun refuses to look at her, engraving by [[Abraham van Diepenbeeck]].]]
 
For Helios' tale-telling, Aphrodite would have her revenge on him. She made him fall for a mortal princess named [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]], forgetting his previous lover the [[Oceanid]] [[nymph]] [[Clytie (Oceanid)|Clytie]] for her sake. "And he that betrayed her stolen love was equally betrayed by love. What now avail, O son of Hyperion, thy beauty and brightness and radiant beams? For thou, who dost inflame all lands with thy fires, art thyself inflamed by a strange fire. Thou who shouldst behold all things, dost gaze on Leucothoe alone, and on one maiden dost thou fix those eyes which belong to the whole world. Anon too early dost thou rise in the eastern sky, and anon too late dost thou sink beneath the waves, and through thy long lingering over her dost prolong the short wintry hours. Sometimes thy beams fail utterly, thy heart's darkness passing to thy rays, and darkened thou dost terrify the hearts of men. Nor is it that the moon has come 'twixt thee and earth that thou art dark; 'tis that love of thine alone that makes thy face so wan. Thou delightest in her alone.", writes Ovid. Helios would watch her from above, even making the winter days longer so he could have more time looking at her. Taking the form of her mother [[Eurynome]], Helios entered their palace with no problem and came into the girl's room where he dismissed her servants so he would be left alone with her, using the excuse of wanting to entrust a secret to his "daughter". There he took his real form, revealing himself to the girl.
 
However, Clytie, still in love with him, informed Leucothoe's father [[Orchamus]] of this affair, and he buried Leucothoe alive in the earth. Helios came too late to rescue her, his grief over her death compared to the one he had over Phaethon's fiery end, and could not revive her, so instead he poured [[nectar]] into the earth, and turned the dead Leucothoe into a [[Boswellia sacra|frankincense tree]], so that she could still breathe air (after a fashion) instead of rotting beneath the soil. Clytie had hoped that this would get Helios back to her, but he wanted nothing to do with her, angered as he was about the role she played in his love's death, and went on his way. Clytie stripped herself naked, accepting no food or drink, and sat on a rock for nine days, pining after him; he never looked back at her. Eventually she turned into a purple, sun-gazing flower, the [[Heliotropium|heliotrope]], which follows Helios' movement in the sky, still in love with him; her form much changed, her love unchanged.<ref name=":1">[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/141#4.190 4.167]&ndash;[https://topostext.org/work/141#4.256 273]; [[Lactantius Placidus]], ''Argumenta'' [https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=oDRdAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA18&hl=el 4.5]; Paradoxographers anonymous, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eTUOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA222 222]</ref><ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA45 p. 45]; Gantz, p. 34; Berens, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_NcDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA63 p. 63]; Grimal, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00grim/page/102/mode/2up?view=theater Clytia]</ref> [[Edith Hamilton]] notes that this case is unique in [[Greek mythology]], as rather than the usual, a god being in love with an unwilling maiden, it is instead the maiden who is in love with an unwilling god.<ref>[[Edith Hamilton]], ''Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes'' pg [https://books.google.com/books?id=oZU3AQAAQBAJ&pg=PT275 275]</ref> This myth, it has been theorized, might have been used to explain the use of [[frankincense]] [[aroma]]tic resin in Helios' worship, similar to the story of [[Daphne]] for the use of [[Laurus nobilis|laurel]].{{sfn|Κακριδής|Ρούσσος|Παπαχατζής|Καμαρέττα|1986|page=228}} Leucothoe being buried alive as punishment by a male guardian, which is not too unlike [[Antigone]]'s own fate, may also indicate an ancient tradition involving [[human sacrifice]] in a vegetation cult.{{sfn|Κακριδής|Ρούσσος|Παπαχατζής|Καμαρέττα|1986|page=228}} At first the stories of Leucothoe and Clytie might had been two distinct myths concerning Helios that were later combined along with a third story, that of Helios discovering Ares and Aphrodite's affair and then informing Hephaestus, into a single tale either by Ovid himself or his source.<ref name="20–38">[[Joseph Fontenrose|Fontenrose, Joseph]]. ''The Gods Invoked in Epic Oaths: [[Aeneid]], XII, 175-215.'' [[The American Journal of Philology]] 89, no. 1 (1968): pp [https://doi.org/10.2307/293372 20–38].</ref>
 
Clytie's herb has been identified with the [[purple]] heliotropium, however people from the Middle Ages onwards have supplanted it with the [[yellow]] [[sunflower]] in retellings, commentaries and artwork, even though in the story Ovid describes it as ''purple'', or "like a [[Viola (plant)|violet]]".<ref>Seaton, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=fiBbdJ1sdA8C&pg=PA42 42], p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=fiBbdJ1sdA8C&pg=PA120 120]</ref> Moreover, sunflowers are native to [[North America]],<ref>[http://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200024005 Flora of North America: Common sunflower], [[United States Department of Agriculture]], [https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=HEAN3 Helianthus annuus L.]</ref> not [[Greece]] or [[Italy]], so it is unlikely ancient writers would have been familiar with it.
 
==== Other ====
In [[Sophocles]]' play ''[[Ajax (play)|Ajax]]'', [[Ajax the Great]], minutes before committing suicide, calls upon Helios to stop his golden reins when he reaches Ajax' native land of [[Salamis Island|Salamis]] and inform his aging father [[Telamon]] and his mother of their son's fate and death, and salutes him one last time before he kills himself.<ref>[[Sophocles]], ''[[Ajax (play)|Ajax]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0184%3Acard%3D815 845-860]</ref>
 
=== Interactions with other gods and mortals ===
==== Involvement in wars ====
Helios sided with the other gods in several battles; during what appears to have been the [[Titanomachy]],{{efn|[[Diodorus Siculus]] writes "battle against the Giants" but the events described do not add up.<ref name=":gig"/>}} Zeus sacrificed a bull to him, [[Gaia]], and [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]], and in accordance they revealed to him the will of the gods in the affair, the omens indicating the victory of the gods and a defection to them of the enemy.<ref name=":gig">[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#p289 5.71.3]</ref> Surviving fragments from the lost poem ''[[Titanomachy (epic poem)|Titanomachy]]'', traditionally attributed to [[Eumelus of Corinth]] (8th century BC), imply scenes where Hyperion is the only one to decide against attacking the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympians]],<ref>Fr. *4 Serv. in Aen. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D6%3Acommline%3D580 6.580] (de Titanomachia; II 81.12–13 Thilo et Hagen) [= *4 GEF]</ref> and they, in recognition of the help he offered, award him with a four-horse chariot to drive during the day and a vessel in which he will sail the ocean at night as he steps in to become the Sun/Helios.<ref>''[[Titanomachy (epic poem)|Titanomachy]]'' fragments 4.GEF, 11.EGEF and 12.EGEF in Tsagalis, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lL0vDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 47]</ref><ref name=":mad"/>
 
[[File:Altar Pérgamo Helios 01.JPG|thumb|left|upright=1.5|Helios on his chariot fighting a Giant, detail of the Gigantomachy frieze, [[Pergamon Altar]], [[Pergamon museum]], Berlin]]
 
He also took part in the Giant wars; it was said by [[Pseudo-Apollodorus]] that during the battle of the [[Giants (Greek mythology)|Giants]] against the gods, the giant [[Alcyoneus]] stole Helios' cattle from [[Erytheia]] where the god kept them,<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D6%3Asection%3D1 1.6.1]</ref> or alternatively, that it was Alcyoneus' very theft of the cattle that started the war.<ref>Scholia on [[Pindar]], ''Isthmian Odes'' [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001d.perseus-grc1:6.47 6.47b]</ref><ref>Gantz, pp. 419, 448–449</ref> Because the [[earth]] goddess Gaia, mother and ally of the Giants, learned of the prophecy that the giants would perish at the hand of a mortal, she sought to find a magical herb that would protect them and render them practically indestructible; thus Zeus ordered Helios, as well as his sisters Selene (Moon) and Eos ([[Dawn]]) not to shine, and harvested all of the plant for himself while Athena summoned the mortal Heracles to fight.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D6%3Asection%3D1  1.6.1]; Hansen, p. [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/178/mode/2up?view=theater 178]; Gantz, [https://archive.org/details/early-greek-myth-a-guide-timothy-gantz/page/448/mode/2up?view=theater 449]</ref> At some point during the battle of gods and giants in Phlegra, where the battle took place,<ref>[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Oresteia|Eumenides]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0006%3Acard%3D276 294]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Herakles (Euripides)|Heracles Gone Mad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=779AD6C623207413812A728B409D9381?doc=Eur.+Her.+1192 1192&ndash;1194]; ''[[Ion (play)|Ion]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Ion+987 987&ndash;997]; [[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Birds (play)|The Birds]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0019,006:824&lang=original 824]; [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/210/mode/2up 3.232&ndash;234 (pp. 210&ndash;211)], [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/276/mode/2up 3.1225&ndash;7 (pp. 276&ndash;277)]. See also Hesiod fragment 43a.65 MW (Most 2007, p. 143, Gantz, p. 446)</ref> Helios took up an exhausted from the fight Hephaestus on his chariot (in gratitude, Hephaestus forged four ever-flowing fountains and fire-breathing bulls for Helios' son [[Aeëtes]]).<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/208/mode/2up?view=theater 3.220&ndash;234]</ref> After the war was won and over, one of the giants, [[Picolous]], fled the battle against Zeus; he went to [[Aeaea]], the island where Helios' daughter, the sorceress Circe, lived. He attempted to chase Circe away from the island, only to be killed by Helios, who defended his daughter.<ref>[[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]], ''Ad Odysseam'' 10.305; translation by Zucker and Le Feuvre p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=EAYREAAAQBAJ&pg=PT324 324]: "Alexander of [[Paphos]] reports the following tale: Picoloos, one of the Giants, by fleeing from the war led against Zeus, reached Circe's island and tried to chase her away. Her father Helios killed him, protecting his daughter with his shield; from the blood which flowed on the earth a plant was born, and it was called μῶλυ because of the {{lang|grc|μῶλος}} or the battle in which the Giant aforementioned was killed."</ref><ref>''The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius: Book III'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yQU4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA89 89 note 845]</ref><ref>Le Comte, p. [https://archive.org/details/poetsriddlesessa0000leco/page/74/mode/2up?view=theater 75]</ref> From the blood of the slain giant that dripped on the earth a new plant was sprang, the [[herb]] [[Moly (herb)|moly]], named thus from the battle ("malos" in [[Ancient Greek]]):<ref>Knight, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=292mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA180 180]</ref>
<blockquote>The plant "moly" of which Homer speaks; this plant had, it is said, grown from the blood of the giant killed in the isle of Circe; it has a white flower; the ally of Circe who killed the giant was Helios; the combat was hard (''mâlos'') from which the name of this plant.<ref>[[Ptolemaeus Chennus|Ptolemy Hephaestion]], ''New History'' [https://topostext.org/work/237#190.32 Book 4]</ref><ref>Chrystal, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=htD9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT101 101]</ref></blockquote>
The flower had a black root, for the colour of the blood of the slain Giant, and a white flower, either for the white Sun that killed him, or for the fact that Circe grew pale of terror.<ref>Rahner, Hugo. ''Greek Myths and Christian Mystery'' New York. Biblo & Tannen Publishers. 1971. pg. [https://books.google.com/books?id=N8XAF-JE6PAC&pg=PA204 204]</ref> This is the very same plant, a plant only immortals can uproot from the ground, that [[Odysseus]] would later use on Hermes' suggestion to save his companions from Circe's magic, after she transformed them all into swines.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D6 10.302&ndash;306]</ref> Helios is depicted in the [[Pergamon Altar]], waging war against Giants next to his sisters Eos and Selene in the southern frieze.<ref>Picón and Hemingway, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr3WCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 47]</ref> He is riding his four-horse chariot against a Giant, while another lays dead under the hooves of his steeds, wearing a long chiton, holding a torch on his right hand and the reins in his left.<ref>Faita, pp [https://archive.org/details/THEGREATALTAROFPERGAMONTHEMONUMENTINITSFHISTORICALANDCULTURALCONTEXTBYANTONIASTELLAFAITA2000/page/n213/mode/2up?q=&view=theater 202–203]</ref> His participation in the Gigantomachy (wearing a cuirass) is also depicted on a fragmentary vase by the Pronomos Painter, and perhaps in an attic column krater.<ref name=":mad"/> Additionally, a rein guide for a chariot depicts Helios and a goddess with a crescent and veil over her head, thought to be Selene, standing on a gate tower and repelling the attacks of snake-legged Giants.<ref>Now housed in the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]] and can be seen [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/153313/rein-guide-for-a-chariot-with-a-scene-of-the-battle-of-the-g?ctx=9f6c1772-3544-4c76-85a7-593a85983117&idx=82 here].</ref>
 
[[File:Phébus&Borée.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''Phoebus and Boreas'', [[Jean-Baptiste Oudry]]'s cosmic interpretation of La Fontaine's fable, 1729/34]]
 
==== Clashes ====
Despite that, he sometimes clashed with other gods; just like the Athenians had a story about how Athena and Poseidon fought over the patronage of the city of [[Athens]], the Corinthians had a similar story about [[Corinth]]. Helios and Poseidon, representing [[fire]] versus [[water]], clashed as to who would get to have the city. The [[Hecatoncheires|Hecatoncheir]] Briareos, an elder god, was tasked to settle the dispute between the two gods; he awarded the [[Acrocorinth]] to Helios, while Poseidon was given the [[Isthmus of Corinth|isthmus]] of Corinth.<ref name=":p215">Fowler 1988, p. 98 n. 5; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.1.6 2.1.6], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4.6 2.4.6].</ref><ref>[[Dio Chrysostom]], ''Discourses'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/37*.html#p13 37.11&ndash;12]</ref> [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] wrote that [[Nerites (mythology)|Nerites]] was the son of the sea god [[Nereus]] and the Oceanid [[Doris (mythology)|Doris]]. In the version where Nerites became the lover of Poseidon, it is said that Helios turned him into a shellfish, for reasons unknown to Aelian's sources, who theorized that perhaps Helios was somehow offended. At first Aelian writes that Helios was resentful of the boy's speed, but when trying to explain why he changed his form, he suggests that perhaps Poseidon and Helios were rivals in love, and the sun god wished the youth would run among the constellations, rather than be with the sea monsters.<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'' [http://www.attalus.org/translate/animals14.html#28 14.28]</ref>{{sfn|Sanders|Thumiger|Carey|Lowe|2013|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qt7JkvxScSkC&pg=PA86 86]}}
 
In an Aesop fable, Helios and the north wind god [[Anemoi#Boreas|Boreas]] [[The North Wind and the Sun|argued]] about which one between them was the strongest god. They agreed that whoever was able to make a passing traveller remove his cloak would be declared the winner. Boreas was the one to try his luck first; but no matter how hard he blew, he could not remove the man's cloak, instead making him wrap his cloak around him even tighter. Helios shone bright then, and the traveller, overcome with the heat, removed his cloak, giving him the victory. The moral is that persuasion is better than force.<ref>[[Aesop]], ''[[Aesop's Fables|Fables]]'' [http://www.mythfolklore.net/aesopica/oxford/183.htm 183]</ref> Athenaeus of [[Naucratis]] records in his ''Deipnosophistae'' that Greek author [[Hieronymus of Rhodes]], in his ''Historical Notes'', quoted an anecdote about playwrights Sophocles and Euripides that referenced the fable of the two gods' contest; it related how Sophocles made love to a boy outside the city's gates who then proceeded to steal Sophocles' cloak, and leave behind his own boyish one. Euripides then joked that he had had that same boy too, and it had not cost him anything. Sophocles then replied to him that "It was the Sun, and not a boy, whose heat stripped me naked; as for you, Euripides, when you were kissing someone else's wife the North Wind screwed ''you''. You are unwise, you who sow in another's field, to accuse Eros of being a snatch-thief."<ref>{{cite book | title=Lyco and Traos and Hieronymus of Rhodes: Text, Translation, and Discussion | editor1-last=Fortenbaugh | editor1-first=William Wall | editor2-last=White | editor2-first=Stephen Augustus | series=Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities | volume=XII | publisher=Transaction Publishers | date=2004 | page=161 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zdesXRC6ba8C&pg=PA161 | access-date=2014-02-09 | isbn=9781412827737 }}</ref>
 
[[File:Nicolas Poussin - Landscape with Diana and Orion - WGA18341.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|''Blind Orion Searching for the Rising Sun'', by [[Nicolas Poussin]], 1658, oil on canvas]]
[[File:The Fall of Icarus, fresco from Pompeii, 40-79 AD.png|thumb|230px|The Fall of Icarus, ancient fresco from Pompeii, ca 40-79 AD]]
 
Relating to his nature as the Sun, as well as his parentage, as the son of [[Theia]], the goddess of sight (ancient Greeks believed that eyes emitted light allowing humans to see),<ref name=":gender">Rea, Katherine A., ''The Neglected Heavens: Gender and the Cults of Helios, Selene, and Eos in Bronze Age and Historical Greece'', (2014). Classics: Student Scholarship & Creative Works. [[Augustana College (Illinois)|Augustana College]], [https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=classtudent PDF].</ref> Helios was presented as a god who could restore and also deprive of people's light as it was regarded that his light that made the faculty of sight and enabled visible things to be seen.<ref>John Peter Anton and George L. Kustas, ''Essays in Ancient Greek Philosophy II'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=7kq6jBE2rvEC&pg=PA236 236]</ref> According to Pindar, the solar eye was the "forefather" of all mortal eyes, and mortals owed both sight and blindness to Helios.<ref>Decharme, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=nU9msl7p2vMC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA241 241–242]</ref> After [[Orion (mythology)|Orion]] was blinded by King [[Oenopion]] for attacking his daughter [[Merope (daughter of Oenopion)|Merope]], he was given a guide, [[Cedalion]], from the god Hephaestus to guide him. Orion with Cedalion on his shoulders travelled to the east, where he met Helios. Helios then healed Orion's eyes, restoring his eyesight.<ref>Pseudo-[[Eratosthenes]], ''[[Catasterismi|Placings Among the Stars]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=0EoZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA162 Orion]; Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D3 1.4.3]; [[Hyginus]], ''De Astronomica'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.34.3 2.34.3]; [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on the [[Aeneid]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D10%3Acommline%3D763 10.763]</ref>
 
Meanwhile, in [[Phineus]]'s story, his blinding, as reported in Apollonius Rhodius's ''[[Argonautica]]'', was Zeus' punishment for Phineus revealing the future to mankind.<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/114/mode/2up 2.178–86]</ref> For this reason he was also tormented by the [[Harpy|Harpies]], who stole or defiled whatever food he had at hand. According, however, to one of the alternative versions, it was Helios who had deprived Phineus of his sight; Phineus, when asked by Zeus if he preferred to die or lose sight as punishment for having his sons killed by their stepmother, Phineus chose the latter, saying he would rather never see the Sun than die, and consequently the offended Helios blinded him and sent the Harpies against him.<ref>Scholia on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'' 12.69</ref> [[Pseudo-Oppian]] wrote that Helios' wrath was due to some obscure victory of the prophet; after [[Boreads|Calais and Zetes]] slew the Harpies tormenting Phineus, Helios then turned him into a [[mole (animal)|mole]], a blind creature.<ref>[[Pseudo-Oppian]], ''Cynegetica'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Oppian/Cynegetica/2*.html#612 2.615]</ref> In yet another version, he blinded Phineus at the request of his son Aeëtes, who asked him to do so because Phineus had offered his assistance to Aeëtes' enemies.<ref>Fowler, p. [https://books.google.com.au/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA222 222], vol. II; Gantz, pp [https://archive.org/details/early-greek-myth-a-guide-timothy-gantz/page/352/mode/2up?view=theater 352–353].</ref>
 
In another tale, in order to escape from Crete and its king Minos, the Athenian inventor [[Daedalus]] and his young son [[Icarus]] fashioned themselves wings made of birds' feathers glued together with wax and flew away.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D12 ''Epitome'' 1.12]</ref> According to scholia on Euripides, Icarus, being young and rashful, thought himself greater than Helios, forgetting his wings were only held together by wax. Angered, Helios hurled his blazing rays at him, melting the wax and plunging Icarus into the sea to drown. Later, it was Helios who decreed that said sea would be named after the unfortunate youth, the [[Icarian Sea]].{{sfn|Mastronarde|2017|page = [https://escholarship.org/content/qt5p2939zc/qt5p2939zc_noSplash_e32bfabd1126d088150b59583c6c9c38.pdf#page=183 150]}}<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D12 ''Epitome'' 1.12]–[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D13 13]</ref>
 
=== Oxen of the Sun ===
{{main article|Cattle of Helios}}
[[File:Budapest Széchenyi-Bad Eingangshalle Kuppel 4.JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Helios and chariot depicted on the dome of the entrance hall of the [[Széchenyi Bath]], [[Budapest]]]]
 
In his sacred island of [[Thrinacia]], Helios kept his sacred flocks and herds of sheep and cattle. He owned seven herds of cows and many sheep as well; each flock numbered fifty beasts in it, totaling 350 cows and 350 sheep—the number of days of the year in the early Ancient Greek calendar; the seven herds correspond to the [[week]], containing seven days.<ref>Chris Rorres, ''Archimedes' count of Homer's Cattle of the Sun'', 2008, Drexel University, [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312116822_Archimedes'_count_of_homer's_cattle_of_the_sun chapter 3]</ref> The cows did not breed (thus not increasing in number) or die (thus not decreasing in number).<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D12%3Acard%3D111 12.127&ndash;135]</ref> In the ''Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes'', after Hermes has been brought before Zeus by an angry Apollo for stealing Apollo's sacred cows, the young god excuses himself for his actions and says to his father that "I reverence Helios greatly and the other gods",<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] 4 to Hermes'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D4%3Acard%3D344 383]</ref> not unaware of Helios' special connection to cows.<ref>Kimberley Christine Patton, ''Religion of the Gods: Ritual, Paradox, and Reflexivity'' p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QwgTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA333 393]</ref> [[Augeas]], who in some versions is his son, safe-kept a herd of twelve bulls sacred to the god.<ref>[[Theocritus]], ''Idylls'' 28 Heracles the Lion-Slayer [https://allpoetry.com/Idyll-XXV.--Heracles-the-Lion-Slayer 28.129-130]</ref> Moreover, it was said that Augeas' enormous herd of cattle, as he owned more beasts than any other rich man or king could ever acquire in life, was a gift to him by his father; he made him the greatest master of flocks, and all he cattle to thrive and prosper unceasingly, with no end.<ref>[[Theocritus]], ''Idylls'' 28 Heracles the Lion-Slayer [https://allpoetry.com/Idyll-XXV.--Heracles-the-Lion-Slayer 28.118&ndash;121]</ref> Another place of their dwelling was named Erytheia, from where the Giant [[Alcyoneus]] stole them during the Gigantomachy, and it is mentioned he kept a herd of thick-fleeced sheep at [[Taenarum]],<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] 3 to Apollo'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3%3Acard%3D397 410&ndash;414]</ref> which was also a well known entrance to the Underworld, located on the tip of the [[Mani peninsula]], between the gulfs of [[Messenia]] and [[Laconia]].<ref name=":beau"/>
 
[[Apollonia (Illyria)|Apollonia]] in [[Illyria]] was another place where he kept a flock of his sheep; a man named [[Evenius|Peithenius]] had been put in charge of them, but the sheep were devoured by wolves. The other Apolloniates, thinking he had been neglectful, gouged out Peithenius' eyes. Angered over the man's treatment, Helios made the earth grow barren and ceased to bear fruit; the earth grew fruitful again only after the Apolloniates had propitiated Peithenius by craft, and by two suburbs and a house he picked out, pleasing the god.<ref>[[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]], ''Narrations'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_05bibliotheca.htm 40].</ref> This story, more or less the same, albeit in a more detailed manner, is also attested by Greek historian [[Herodotus]], who calls the man Evenius and records the story as a real historical event of the recent past, and not a mythological tale,<ref name=":hh993">[[Herodotus]], ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Hdt.+9.93&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126 9.93][http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D94 &ndash;94]</ref> but the anecdote attests to the divine introduction of prophecy, rather than a real biographical event.{{sfn|Ustinova|2009|page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=gUsiqGlSzegC&pg=PA170 170]}} Herodotus adds that Evenius meant to buy new sheep to replace the ones he had lost, but was discovered, that the Apolloniates consulted the [[Oracle of Delphi]], and were told that the god was angry at them because it was divine will for the sheep to be devoured. The Apolloniates asked Evenius what he wished in form of reparations, without mentioning the oracle, so Evenius asked for a moderate compensation.
 
[[File:Pellegrino Tibaldi 001.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|''The companions of Odysseus rob the cattle of Helios'', fresco by Palazzo Poggi, 1556.]]
 
During Odysseus' journey to get back home, he arrived at the island of Circe, who warned him not to touch Helios' sacred cows once he reached Thrinacia, the sun god's sacred island, where the cattle was kept, or the god would keep them from returning home:
 
{{blockquote|
You will now come to the [[Thrinacia]]n island, and here you will see many herds of cattle and flocks of sheep belonging to the sun-god. There will be seven herds of cattle and seven flocks of sheep, with fifty heads in each flock. They do not breed, nor do they become fewer in number, and they are tended by the goddesses [[Phaethusa]] and [[Lampetia]], who are children of the sun-god Hyperion by [[Neaera (consort of Helios)|Neaera]]. Their mother when she had borne them and had done suckling them sent them to the Thrinacian island, which was a long way off, to live there and look after their father's flocks and herds. If you leave these flocks unharmed, and think of nothing but homecoming [nostos], you may yet after much hardship reach [[Ithaca]]; but if you harm them, then I forewarn you of the destruction both of your ship and of your comrades; and even though you may yourself escape, you will return late, in bad plight, after losing all your men.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218%3Abook%3D12%3Acard%3D3 12.127&ndash;137].</ref>
}}
 
Though Odysseus warns his men, when supplies run short they impiously kill and eat some of the [[Oxen of the Sun|cattle of the Sun]]. The guardians of the island, Helios' daughters Phaethusa and Lampetia, tell their father about this. Helios then appeals to Zeus telling him to dispose of Odysseus' men, or he will go in the Underworld and shine among the dead instead, rejecting the crewmen's compensation of a new temple in Ithaca, and preferring a death-for-death one.<ref>Loney, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Y6ADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 92]</ref> Zeus promises Helios that he will deal with it, and destroys the ship with his lightning bolt, killing all the men except for Odysseus.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218%3Abook%3D12%3Acard%3D8 12.352&ndash;388]</ref><ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Epitome]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D7%3Asection%3D22 7.22]</ref>
 
This episode is symbolic; the cattle of the Sun are attended to by his daughters "Bright" and "Shining", born to him by "Younger", all epithets related to the Sun.<ref>W. Walter Merry, James Riddell, D. B. Monro, ''Commentary on the [[Odyssey]]'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=12.132&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0055 12.132]</ref> By convention, Hades is the place where Helios with his light cannot reach; dying meant no longer seeing the sunlight, as being alive was to live under it, so Helios' descent to the Underworld would destabilize the balance between the dead and the living.<ref>Loney, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=6Y6ADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA91 91]</ref> Relating to the number of cows found on the Sun's island, [[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]] wrote that each cow stood for a day in the year, thus the companions devouring the oxen of the Sun symbolizing them wasting ("eating up") their own days and life.<ref>[[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]] ad [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey|Odysseam]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0055%3Abook%3D12%3Acommline%3D129 12.481]</ref> [[H. J. Rose]] disagreed with the interpretation, writing that 350 is a sacred Oriental number that reached Greece and had nothing to do with the Sun.<ref name=":rose"/>
[[Aristotle]], who also connected the number of cattle to the number to days, suggested that the reason Helios did not see the companions stealing his cattle could be explained a number of ways, such as he sees everything but not at once, or that Lampetia being the messenger is symbolic for light being messenger of sight, or that her account is similar to oath-swearing on his name.<ref>Robert Mayhew, ''[https://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/16284/7284 Aristotle on Helios' 'Omniscience' in Iliad 3 and Odyssey 12: On Schol. B* Iliad 3.277]''</ref>
 
Although the proem of the ''Odyssey'' names Helios as the primary agent of retribution for the sacrilege, having "taken away the day of return" of the comrades, his role is actually limited; he resorts to threaten Zeus, and it is he who destroys the ship and the men (although in other myths, Helios is perfectly capable of exacting revenge on his own, without a middleman); by all means, Zeus should be considered the one responsible, and the attribution of their demise solely to Helios even seems biased.<ref name=":loney">Loney, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Y6ADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 90, also note 22]</ref> However it could be due to that Zeus is not the one acting out of personal animosity (Helios is), rather he is asked and inclined to serve justice.<ref name=":loney"/>
 
=== Other works ===
[[File:Clipeus_Helios_Terme.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Bust of Helios in a clipeus, detail from a strigillated lenos [[sarcophagus]], white marble, early 3rd century CE, Tomb D in Via Belluzzo, [[Rome]].]]
Helios is featured in several of [[Lucian]]'s works beyond his ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]''. In another work of Lucian's, ''Icaromenippus'', Selene the Moon complains to the [[Menippus|titular character]] about philosophers wanting to stir up strife and sour feelings between her and her brother with their theories about them—namely, that the moon steals her spurious light from the sun (compare the ''Phocylidea'', where it is stated that she is not envious that his rays are much stronger than her own<ref>''Phocylidea'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=ztE-NhsqrEYC&pg=PA133 68]</ref>), or calling the sun a red-hot lump.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''Icaromenippus'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:icaromenippus#section20 20]; Lucian is parodying here [[Anaxagoras]]' theory that the sun was a piece of blazing metal.</ref> Later he is seen feasting with the other gods on Olympus, and prompting Menippus to wonder how can night fall on the Heavens while he is there.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''Icaromenippus'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:icaromenippus#section28 28]</ref> In ''[[A True Story]]'', the Sun is an inhabited place, ruled by a king named Phaethon, referencing Helios's mythological son.<ref>[[Lucian]] of [[Samosata]], ''[[A True Story]]'' p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Mf9SHRRn6S0C&pg=PA23 23]</ref> The inhabitants of the Sun are at war with those of the Moon, ruled by King [[Endymion (mythology)|Endymion]] (Selene's lover), over [[colonization]] of the [[Venus|Morning Star]] (Aphrodite's planet).{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=vVSu4rPaN9oC&pg=PA100 pp 100–101]}}{{sfn|Casson|1962|p =18}}
 
[[File:The_music_of_the_spheres.jpg|thumb|left|The music of the spheres: the planetary spheres, among others, on an engraving from Renaissance Italy.]]
 
[[Diodorus Siculus]] recorded an unorthodox version of the myth, in which Basileia, who had succeeded her father [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] to his royal thrown, married her brother  Hyperion, and had two children, a son Helios and a daughter Selene, both admired for their beauty and their chastity. Because Basileia's other brothers envied these offspring, and feared that Hyperion would try to seize power for himself, conspired against him; they put Hyperion to the sword and drowned Helios in the river [[Eridanos (river of Hades)|Eridanus]], while Selene took her own life. After the massacre, Helios appeared in a dream to his grieving mother and assured her and their murderers would be punished, and that he and his sister would now be transformed into immortal, divine natures; what was known as [[Mene (goddess)|Mene]]<ref>Hard, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 46], another [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] word for the [[Moon]].</ref> would now be called Selene, and the "holy fire" in the heavens would bear his own name.<ref name=":dio">[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3D*.html#57.2 3.57.2&ndash;8]; Grimal, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00grim/page/72/mode/2up?view=theater Basileia]</ref><ref>Caldwell, p. [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/page/40/mode/2up?q=&view=theater 41, note on lines 207–210]</ref>
 
It was said that due to her burning passion for the mortal Endymion, his sister Selene would often abandon the night sky to be with him;<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-gods#section12 Aphrodite and Eros I]</ref> during those nights that she was too preoccupied, she would give her moon chariot to Helios to drive it; although unfamiliar at first, in time he learnt to drive it like his own.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]]'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3ATragedies_of_Seneca_(1907)_Miller.djvu/197 309&ndash;314]</ref>
 
[[Claudian]] wrote that in his infancy, Helios (along with Selene–their sister Eos is not mentioned with them) was nursed by his aunt the water goddess [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]], back in the old days when his light was not as strong and his rays had not grown yet.<ref>[[Claudian]], ''Rape of Persephone'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Claudian/De_Raptu_Proserpinae/2*.html#p323 Book II]</ref>
 
[[Arge]] was a huntress who, while hunting down a particularly fast stag, claimed that fast as the Sun as it was, she would eventually catch up to it. Helios, offended by the girl's words, turned her into a doe.<ref>[[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#205 205]</ref><ref>Alexander Stuart Murray and William H. Klapp, Handbook of World Mythology, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BOFzYThPlk8C&pg=PA288 288]</ref>
 
{{anchor|Titan (brother of Helios)}}Pausanias writes that the people of [[Titane (Sicyon)|Titane]] in [[Sicyon]] held that Titan was a brother of Helios, the first inhabitant of Titane after whom the town was named;<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Paus.+2.11.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.11.5]</ref> Titan however was generally identified as Helios himself, instead of being a separate figure.<ref>''Ugarit-Forschungen'', Volume 31,
Verlag Butzon & Bercker, 2000, p. 20</ref> Pausanias rationalizes this by suggesting that Titan was probably just a man who observed the seasons of the year when the sun ripens seeds and fruits, and was said to be Helios's brother (who otherwise is characterized as an only son) for this reason.{{sfn|Detienne|Vernant|1989|page=[https://books.google.gr/books?id=dwMNIZXCKg0C&pg=PA44 44]}}
 
In Sophocles's play ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'', [[Oedipus]] curses [[Creon of Thebes|Creon]], wishing that of all the gods may Helios, witnessing all that has happened, grant him an old age as wretched as his own.<ref>[[Sophocles]], ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0190%3Acard%3D848 865&ndash;8871]</ref>
 
In ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'' by [[Philostratus the Elder|Philostratus]], [[Palaestra (mythology)|Palaestra]] asks him to help her with her tanning, to redden her skin with his heat.<ref>[[Philostratus the Elder|Philostratus]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/225#2.32.2 2.32.1]</ref>
 
According to sixth century BC lyric poet [[Stesichorus]], with Helios in his palace lives his mother [[Theia]].<ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae|Scholars at Dinner]]'' [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus11b.html#469 11.38]; "Now the Sun, begotten of Hyperion, was descending into his golden cup, that he might traverse the Ocean and come to the depths of dark and awful night, even to his mother and wedded wife and beloved children."</ref>
 
In the myth of the dragon [[Python (mythology)|Python]]'s slaying by Apollo, the slain serpent's corpse is said to have rotten in the strength of the "shining Hyperion," as the god himself promises.<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] 3'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3%3Acard%3D349 363-369]</ref>
 
[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] wrote that the [[wolf]] is a beloved animal to Helios;<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'' [http://www.attalus.org/translate/animals10.html#26 10.26]</ref> the wolf is also Apollo's sacred animal, and the god was often known as [[Lyceus|Apollo Lyceus]], "wolf Apollo".<ref>Stoneman, p. [https://books.google.com/books?hl=el&id=EbkXQPaPqp8C&pg=PA28 28]</ref>
 
=== Consorts and children ===
[[File:Musée Cinquantenaire Helios.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|Limestone relief representing the god Helios, driving the celestial quadriga, [[Royal Museums of Art and History]], [[Brussels]], [[Belgium]].]]
 
The god Helios is the head of a large family, and the places that venerated him the most would also typically claim both mythological and genealogical descent from him;<ref name=":gender"/> the Cretans traced the ancestry of their king [[Idomeneus of Crete|Idomeneus]] to Helios through his daughter Pasiphaë.<ref name=":5259"/> Though Helios had several love affairs, they were far less numerous than those of other gods, especially Zeus, since, unsurprisingly, in a warm climate it would be more likely for the rain god rather than the sun god to be seen as the fertility god.<ref name=":rose">[[H. J. Rose]], p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DOmIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 25]</ref>
 
[[File:Medeia in Corinth by the underworld painter red figure apulian volute krater detail medea kills child on altar.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Helios, riding on a snake-drawn chariot, witnesses Medea killing her son on an altar, red-figure krater, detail, attributed to the [[Underworld Painter]], circa 330 - 310 BC, [[Staatliche Antikensammlung]], [[Munich]].]]
[[File:Terracotta lekythos (oil flask) MET DP225321.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Helios rising in his quadriga; above Nyx driving away to the left and Eos to the right, and Heracles offering sacrifice at altar. Sappho painter, Greek, Attic, black-figure, ca. 500 BC]]
 
Traditionally the Oceanid nymph [[Perse (mythology)|Perse]] was seen as the sun god's wife<ref>[[Hecataeus of Miletus]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA141 fr. 35A Fowler (p. 141)]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA44 p. 44].</ref> by whom he had various children (depending on the version), most notably the witch Circe from the ''Odyssey'', the king of [[Colchis]] Aeëtes, [[Minos]]' wife Pasiphaë, [[Perses of Colchis|Perses]] who usurped his brother Aeëtes's kingdom, and in some versions the Corinthian king [[Aloeus]]. It is unclear what caused Perse and Helios, who is the source of all light in the world, to be the parents of such dark and mysterious children.<ref>Bell, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/356/mode/2up?view=theater Perse]</ref> Helios distributed the land between Aloeus<ref>Bell, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/50/mode/2up?view=theater Antiope]</ref> and Aeëtes; the former received [[Sicyon]], the latter [[Corinth]], but Aeëtes not desiring the land, decided to make his kingdom in [[Colchis]].<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Pindar]]'s ''Olympian Odes'' [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001a.perseus-grc1:13.74/ 13.74]</ref>
 
Helios brought Aeëtes to Colchis, his eventual kingdom, on his chariot; in the same ride he transferred Circe to her own abode, Aeaea.<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/214/mode/2up?view=theater 3.309&ndash;313]</ref> At some point Helios warned his son of a prophecy that stated he would suffer treachery from one of his own offspring (which Aeëtes took to mean his daughter [[Chalciope]] and her children by [[Phrixus]]).<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/234/mode/2up?view=theater 3.597&ndash;600]</ref> Helios also bestowed several gifts on his son, such as a chariot with swift steeds,<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/308/mode/2up?view=theater 4.220&ndash;221]</ref> a golden helmet with four plates,<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/276/mode/2up?view=theater 3.1229]</ref> a giant's war armor,<ref>[[Philostratus the Younger|Philostratus]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/philostratus_younger-imagines_11_argo_aeetes/1931/pb_LCL256.343.xml 11]</ref> and robes and a necklace as a pledge of fatherhood.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Medea (Seneca)|Medea]]'' [https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/sen/sen.medea.shtml 570]</ref> When his daughter [[Medea]] betrays him and flees with [[Jason]] after stealing the [[golden fleece]], Aeëtes called upon his father and Zeus to witness their unlawful actions against him and his people.<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/308/mode/2up?view=theater 4.228&ndash;230]</ref>
 
As father of Aeëtes, Helios was also the grandfather of Medea and would play a significant role in Euripides' rendition of her fate in [[Corinth]]. When Medea offers Princess [[Creusa of Corinth|Glauce]] the poisoned robes and diadem, she says they were gifts to her from Helios.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0114%3Acard%3D941 956]</ref> Later, after Medea has caused the deaths of Glauce and Glauce's father King [[Creon of Corinth|Creon]], as well as her own children by [[Jason]], Helios helps her escape Corinth and her impious husband Jason by offering her a chariot pulled by flying dragons.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0114%3Acard%3D1293 1322]</ref> [[Pseudo-Apollodorus]] seems to follow this version as well.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D28 1.9.28]</ref> In [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]'s [[Medea (Seneca)|rendition]] of the story, a frustrated Medea criticizes the inaction of her grandfather, wondering why he has not darkened the sky at sight of such wickedness, and asks from him his fiery chariot so she can burn Corinth to the ground.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Medea (Seneca)|Medea]]'' [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46058/46058-h/46058-h.htm 32&ndash;41]</ref><ref>Boyle, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=W7icAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 98]</ref> As the charioteer of the day, he is the all-seeing eye of Zeus; but as a nocturnal sojourner, he becomes associated with the occult, which is what connects him to characters like Medea as her grandfather.<ref>Collier and Machemer, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OSBd8U_BySIC&pg=PA112 112]</ref>
 
However he is also stated to have married other women instead like Rhodos in the [[Rhodes|Rhodian]] tradition<ref>Fowler 2013, pp. 14, 591&ndash;592; Hard, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA43 43], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA105 105]; Grimal, p. 404 "Rhode", pp. 404&ndash;405 "Rhodus"; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DR%3Aentry+group%3D3%3Aentry%3Drhode-bio-1 "Rhode" ], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DR%3Aentry+group%3D3%3Aentry%3Drhodos-bio-1 "Rhodos"]; [[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Pind.%20O.%207&lang=original 7.71&ndash;74]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#55 5.55]</ref> by whom he had seven sons, the [[Heliadae]] ([[Ochimus]], [[Cercaphus]], [[Macareus of Rhodes|Macar]], [[Actis (mythology)|Actis]], [[Tenages]], [[Triopas]], [[Candalus]], and the girl [[Alectrona|Electryone]]), the first inhabitants of Rhodes, or even Clymene, the mother of Phaethon and the Heliades,<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft/page/100/mode/2up?view=theater 38.130]</ref> though their relationship is usually a liaison in other sources.
 
The mortal king of [[Elis]] [[Augeas]] was said to be Helios' son, but [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] states that his actual father was the mortal king [[Eleius|Eleios]]; the people of Elis claimed he was the son of the Sun because of the similarity of their names, and because they wanted to glorify the king.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D9 5.1.9]</ref>
 
In some rare versions, Helios is the father, rather than the brother, of his sisters Selene and Eos. A scholiast on Euripides explained that Selene was said to be his daughter since she partakes of the solar light, and changes her shape based on the position of the sun.<ref>Keightley, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lWAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA61 61]</ref>
 
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! Consort
! Children
|rowspan="26;"|
! Consort
! Children
|rowspan="25;"|
! Consort
! Children
|-
| [[Athena]]
| • The [[Korybantes|Corybantes]]<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.3.19 10.3.19].</ref>
|rowspan="11" | [[Rhodos]]<br />{{small|(a [[nymph]]<ref>Daughter of Poseidon and Aphrodite or Amphitrite.</ref>)}}
| • [[Heliadae|The Heliadae]]{{efn|Expert seafarers and astrologers from Rhodes island.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#56 5.56.3]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#14.36 14.44]</ref>}}
| Ephyra<br />{{nobr|{{small|(an [[Oceanid]]<ref>[[Epimenides]] in [[scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 3.242</ref>)}} }}
| • [[Aeëtes]]
|-
|rowspan="4"| [[Aegle (mythology)|Aegle]],<br />{{small|(a [[Naiad]]<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D35%3Asection%3D5 9.35.5] with a reference to [[Antimachus]].</ref><ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s. v. [https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/Γλώσσαι/Α ''Αἴγλης Χάριτες'']</ref>)}}
| • [[Charites|The Charites]]<ref>Otherwise called daughters of [[Eurynome]] with Zeus ([[Hesiod]] ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D901 907]) or of [[Aphrodite]] with [[Dionysus]] ([[Anacreontea]] fragment [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/anacreontea/1988/pb_LCL143.211.xml 38]).</ref>
| 1. [[Tenages]]
|rowspan="2"|Antiope<ref>[[Diophantus]] in [[scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 3.242</ref>
| • [[Aeëtes]]
|-
| 1. [[Aglaea]]<br />{{small|"splendor"}}
| 2. [[Macareus (son of Helios)|Macareus]]
| • [[Aloeus]]
|-
| 2. [[Euphrosyne (mythology)|Euphrosyne]]<br />{{small|"mirth"}}
| 3. [[Actis (mythology)|Actis]]
| [[Crete (mythology)|Crete]]<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#60.4 4.60.4]</ref><ref name="4.361">[[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades4.html 4.361]</ref>
| • [[Pasiphaë]]
|-
| 3. [[Thalia (Grace)|Thalia]]<br />{{small|"flourishing"}}
| 4. [[Triopas]]
|rowspan="2"|  [[Gaia]]
| • [[Bisaltes]]<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], ''Ethnica'' s.v. ''[https://topostext.org/work/241#B170.16 Bisaltia]''</ref>
|-
|rowspan="9"| [[Clymene (mother of Phaethon)|Clymene]]<br />{{small|(an [[Oceanid]])}}
| • [[Heliades|The Heliades]]<ref>Mostly represented as poplars mourning Phaethon's death beside the river [[Eridanus (mythology)|Eridanus]], weeping tears of amber in Ovid, ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph2.php#anchor_Toc64106114 2.340] & [[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#154 154]</ref>
| 5. [[Candalus]]
| • [[Achelous]]<ref>[[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecateus]] fragment [https://archive.org/details/fragmentahistori01mueluoft/page/n131/mode/2up?view=theater 378]</ref><ref>Grimal s. v. [https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00grim/page/4/mode/2up?view=theater Achelous]</ref>
|-
| 1. Aetheria
| 6. [[Ochimus]]
| [[Hyrmine]]<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 1.172</ref> or
|rowspan="3"| • [[Augeas]]
|-
| 2. Helia
| 7. [[Cercaphus]]
| [[Iphiboe]]<ref name="4.361"/> or
|-
| 3. Merope
| 8. Auges
| [[Nausidame]]<ref>Daughter of [[Amphidamas]] of [[Ancient Elis|Elis]] in [[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14.3 14.3] & [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/14/mode/2up 1.172]</ref>
|-
| 4. Phoebe
| 9. Thrinax
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • Cos<ref>[[Palaephatus]], ''On Unbelievable Things'' [https://topostext.org/work/808#30 30]</ref>
|-
| 5. Dioxippe
| • [[Electryone]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Aegiale (daughter of Helios)|Aegiale]]<ref>Possible mother to [[Alcyone]] by Aeolus.</ref>
|-
| • [[Phaethon]]<ref>The son who borrowed the chariot of Helios, but lost control and plunged into the river [[Eridanus (mythology)|Eridanus]].</ref>
|rowspan="6"| [[Perse (mythology)|Perse]]<br />{{nobr|{{small|(an [[Oceanid]]<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D938 956]; [[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#27 27]; Pseudo-[[Apollodorus of Athens|Apollodorus]], ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D1 1.9.1] and [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]] ad Lycophron, ''Alexandra'' [https://archive.org/details/hin-wel-all-00000373-002/page/n55/mode/2up?view=theater 174]</ref>)}} }}
| • [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • Aethon<ref>In Suidas "Aithon", he chopped Demeter's sacred grove and was forever famished for that (compare the myth of [[Erysichthon of Thessaly|Erysichthon]]).</ref>
|-
| • [[Astris]]<ref>In [[Nonnus]] ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#17.269 17.269], wife of the river-god [[Hydaspes]] in [[India]], mother of Deriades.</ref>
| • [[Aeëtes]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Aega (mythology)|Aix]]<ref>In [[Hyginus]] ''De Astronomica'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.13 2.13], a nymph with a beautiful body and a horrible face.</ref>
|-
| • [[Lampetia]]
| • [[Perses of Colchis|Perses]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Aloeus]]<ref>In [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1 2.1.1], ruler over [[Sicyon|Asopia]].</ref>
|-
| Rhode<br />{{small|(a [[Naiad]]<ref name=":pin"/>)}}
|rowspan="2"| • [[Phaethon]]
| • [[Circe]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • Camirus<ref>In [[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#275 275], founder of [[Camirus]], a city in Rhodes.</ref>
|-
|rowspan="2"| Prote<br />{{small|(a [[Nereid]]<ref>[[John Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades'' 4.363</ref>)}}
| • [[Pasiphaë]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Ichnaea]]<ref>[[Lycophron]], ''Alexandra'' [https://archive.org/details/callimachuslycop00calluoft/page/504/mode/2up?view=theater 128 (pp. 504, 505)].</ref>
|-
| • [[Heliades|The Heliades]]
| • [[Aloeus]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • Mausolus<ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'' 25</ref>
|-
|rowspan="2"| [[Neaera (consort of Helios)|Neaera]]<br />{{small|(perhaps an<br />[[Oceanid]]<ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s. v. [https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/Γλώσσαι/Ν {{mvar|Νέαιρα}}]</ref>)}}
| • [[Phaethusa]]
|rowspan="2"| [[Asterope (Greek myth)|Asterope]]<ref>''[[Argonautica Orphica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/549#1207 1217]</ref>
| • [[Aeëtes]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Phorbas]]<ref>Stephanus of Byzantium, ''Ethnica'' s.v. ''[https://topostext.org/work/241#A84.22 Ambrakia]''</ref>
|-
| • [[Lampetia]]<ref>Guardians of the cattle of [[Thrinacia]] ([[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' 12.128).</ref><ref>In [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph2.php#anchor_Toc64106114 2.340], these two are listed among the children of Clymene.</ref>
| • [[Circe]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Sterope]]<ref>[[John Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 886</ref><ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Pindar]], ''Pythian Odes'' [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001b.perseus-grc1:4.57/ 4.57], in which she is also described as "sister to Pasiphaë", perhaps implying they also share a mother as well, either [[Perse (mythology)|Perse]] or [[Crete (mythology)|Crete]].</ref>
|-
| [[Ocyrrhoe]]<br />{{nobr|{{small|(an [[Oceanid]]<ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'' 5.1</ref>)}} }}
| • [[Phasis (river)|Phasis]]
| [[Ceto (Oceanid)|Ceto]]<br />{{small|(an [[Oceanid]]<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#26.351 26.351], Nonnus calls her a [[Naiad]], but says that her father is [[Oceanus]].</ref>)}}
| • [[Astris]]<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#26.351 26.351], contradicting his previous statement that has Clymene as Astris' mother.</ref>
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Eos]]<ref>[[Mesomedes]], ''Hymn to the Sun'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=ULNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 1]. Eos, much like her sister Selene, is usually said to be Helios' sister instead in various other sources, rather than his daughter.</ref>
|-
| [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]]<ref>[[Ptolemaeus Chennus]], ''New History'' Book IV, as epitomized by [[Photius I of Constantinople|Patriarch Photius]] in ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Myriobiblon]]'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_05bibliotheca.htm 190]. Usually Helen is the daughter of [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]] by Zeus; in some versions her mother is [[Nemesis]], again by Zeus.</ref>
| • [[Helen of Troy|Helen]]
| [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]]<ref name=":1"/><ref>[[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14.4 14.4]. Either [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|this]] Leucothoe or [[Leucothea|another]] is the mother of Thersanon according to Hyginus.</ref> or
|rowspan="2"| • [[Thersanon]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Selene]]<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Phoen.+175&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0118 175 ff.]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/310/mode/2up 44.191]. Just like her sister Eos, she's more commonly said to be Helios' sister rather than his daughter.</ref>
|-
| [[Clytie (Oceanid)|Clytie]]<br />{{small|(an [[Oceanid]]<ref name=":1"/>)}}
| • {{small|''No known offspring''}}
| [[Leucothea]]<ref>[[Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14.4 14.4]. Either [[Leucothea|this]] Leucothoe or [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|another]] is the mother of Thersanon according to Hyginus.</ref>
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Hemera]]<ref>[[Pindar]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D2 O.2.32]; [[Scholia]] on [[Pindar]]'s ''Olympian Odes'' [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001a.perseus-grc1:2.58 2.58]; more often the daughter of Nyx and [[Erebus]].</ref>
|-
| [[Selene]]
| • The [[Horae]]<br />{{small|(possibly<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''Fall of Troy'' [http://mcllibrary.org/Troy/book10.html 10.337]</ref><ref>More commonly known as daughters of Zeus by [[Themis]].</ref>)}}
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Cronus]]<ref>Meisner, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ethjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 31]</ref><br />({{small|[[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]]}})
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Dirce]]<ref>Bell, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/168/mode/2up?view=theater Dirce (1)]</ref>
|-
|rowspan="2"| {{small|''unknown woman''}}<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4C*.html#45 4.45.1]</ref>
| •  [[Aeëtes]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Clymenus]]<ref name=":fb154"/>
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
|• [[Lelex (king of Sparta)|Lelex]]<ref>Beck, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HGvqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA59 59]</ref>
|-
| • [[Perses of Colchis|Perses]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Chrysus]]<ref>Scholia on Pindar's ''Odes'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=JsmGAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA92 I.5.3]; "The Sun came from Theia and Hyperion, and from the Sun came gold". Pindar himself described Chrysus/Gold as a son of Zeus.</ref>
|}
 
* [[Anaxibia]], an [[India]]n [[Naiad]], was lusted after by Helios according to [[Pseudo-Plutarch]].<ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'' 3.3. Pseudo-Plutarch attributes this story to Clitophon the Rhodian's ''Indica'', perhaps recording an Indian tale [[Interpretatio graeca|using the names of the Greek gods]].</ref>
 
== Worship ==
=== Cult ===
==== Archaic and Classical Athens ====
[[File:Helios LACMA M.88.91.106.jpg|thumb|250px|''Helios the Sun'', by Hendrik Goltzius (Holland, Mülbracht [now Bracht-am-Niederrhein], 1558-1617]]
 
Scholarly focus on the ancient Greek cults of Helios (as well as those of his two sisters) has generally been rather slim, partially due to how scarce both literary and archaeological sources are, and of the scattered throughout the ancient Greek world and handful cults the three siblings received, Helios was undoubtedly awarded the lion's share.<ref name=":gender"/> L.R. Farnell assumed "that sun-worship had once been prevalent and powerful among the [[Pelasgians|people of the pre-Hellenic culture]], but that very few of the communities of the later historic period retained it as a potent factor of the state religion".<ref>Farnell, L.R. (1909) ''The Cults of the Greek States'' (New York/London: Oxford University Press) vol.&nbsp;v, p&nbsp;419f.</ref> The largely Attic literary sources used by scholars present ancient Greek religion with an Athenian bias, and, according to J. Burnet, "no Athenian could be expected to worship Helios or Selene, but he might think them to be gods, since Helios was the great god of Rhodes and Selene was worshiped at Elis and elsewhere".<ref>J. Burnet, ''Plato: Euthyphro, Apology of Socrates, and Crito'' (New York/London: Oxford University Press) 1924, p.&nbsp;111.</ref> James A. Notopoulos considered Burnet's distinction to be artificial: "To believe in the existence of the gods involves acknowledgment through worship, as ''[[Laws (Plato)|Laws]]'' 87 D, E shows" (note, p.&nbsp;264).<ref>James A. Noutopolos, "Socrates and the Sun" ''The Classical Journal'' '''37'''.5 (February 1942), pp.&nbsp;260–274.</ref> [[Aristophanes]]' ''Peace'' (406–413) contrasts the worship of Helios and Selene with that of the more essentially Greek [[Twelve Olympians]], as the representative gods of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Persians]] (See also: [[Hvare-khshaeta]], [[Mah]]); all the evidence shows that Helios and Selene were minor gods to the Greeks.<ref>Notopoulos 1942:265.</ref>
 
[[File:Roman - Alexander Helios - Walters 542290.jpg|thumb|left|230px|Alexander the Great as Helios, Roman, cast bronze, 1st century, [[Walters Art Museum]].]]
 
One answer as to the reason why for that could be that the ancient Greeks envisioned their gods as very human-like, with the sun and the moon deemed too impersonal for the Greeks to relate and connect to, who would rather pray to gods like Hermes for help and protection, who could respond to concerns in a more human way; in contrast, Helios and Selene, the divine providers of heavenly light, were seen as unlikely to cease their daily routine of rising and setting in order to intervene in human affairs so they could help them.<ref name=":gender"/> Cults  of luminaries were somewhat anomalous, though not, as in Helios's case, rare.<ref name=":ogd"/> Helios, Eos and Selene, all [[Proto-Indo-European]] deities, were side-lined by non-PIE newcomers to the pantheon. Moreover, persisting on the sidelines seems to have been their primary function, namely to be the minor gods that the more important gods were not the same as; thus they helped keeping the Greek religion "Greek".<ref name=":ogd">Ogden, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yOQtHNJJU9UC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA205 205]</ref>
 
The tension between the mainstream traditional religious veneration of Helios, which had become enriched with ethical values and poetical symbolism in Pindar, Aeschylus and Sophocles,<ref>Notopoulos 1942 instances [[Aeschylus]]' ''[[Oresteia|Agamemnon]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0004%3Acard%3D488 508], ''[[Oresteia|Choephoroe]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0008%3Acard%3D973 993], ''[[The Suppliants (Aeschylus)|Suppliants]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0016%3Acard%3D207 213], and [[Sophocles]]' ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0192%3Acard%3D660 660] and [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0192%3Acard%3D1416 1425].</ref> and the Ionian proto-scientific examination of the sun, a phenomenon of the study Greeks termed ''meteora'', clashed in the trial of [[Anaxagoras]] c. 450 BC, in which Anaxagoras asserted that the Sun was in fact a gigantic red-hot ball of metal.<ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anaxagoras/ Anaxagoras biography]</ref> His trial was a forerunner of the culturally traumatic [[trial of Socrates]] for irreligion, in 399&nbsp;BC.
 
==== Hellenistic period ====
Helios was not worshipped in Athens until the [[Hellenistic period]], in post-classical times.<ref>Ogden, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yOQtHNJJU9UC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA200 200]</ref> His worship might be described as a product of the Hellenistic era, influenced perhaps by the general spread of cosmic and astral beliefs during the reign of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander III]].<ref name=":hoffie">Hoffmann, Herbert. "Helios." Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 2 (1963):  [https://doi.org/10.2307/40000976. 117–24.]</ref> A scholiast on Sophocles wrote that the Athenians did not offer [[wine]] as an offering to the Helios among other gods, making instead ''[[nephalia]]'', or ''wineless'', sober sacrifices;<ref>[[Scholia]] ad [[Sophocles|Sophocli]] ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=CflPAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA27 91]; Xenis p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3HBLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 72]</ref><ref>Robert E. Meagher, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vBDfKCyC2LMC&pg=PA142 142]</ref> Athenaeus also reported that those who sacrificed to him did not offer wine, but brought honey instead, to the altars reasoning that the god who held the cosmos in order should not succumb to drunkenness.<ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae|Scholars at Dinner]]'' [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus15c.html#693 25.48]</ref> Lysimachides in the first century BC or first century AD reported of a festival [[Skira]]:
 
<blockquote>
that the skiron is a large sunshade under which the priestess of Athena, the priest of Poseidon, and the priest of Helios walk as it is carried from the [[Acropolis of Athens|acropolis]] to a place called Skiron.<ref>Ogden, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yOQtHNJJU9UC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA200 200] [=FGrH 366 fr. 3].</ref>
</blockquote>
 
During the [[Thargelia]], a festival in honour of Apollo, the Athenians had cereal offerings for Helios and the [[Horae]].<ref>Farnell, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NQF-MSICWEC&pg=PA19 19], [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NQF-MSICWEC&pg=PA143 143]. vol. IV</ref> They were honoured with a procession, due to their clear connections and relevance to agriculture.<ref>Parker, p. [https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=ff51JeXhHXUC&pg=PA417 417]</ref><ref name=":harr">Harrison, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uucSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 79]; a scholiast says "At the Pyanepsia and the Thargelia the Athenians hold a feast to Helios and the Horae, and the boys carry about branches twined with wool,"</ref> A recently published decree mentions offerings to "Sun, Seasons and Apollo",<ref name=":park203">Parker, p. [https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=ff51JeXhHXUC&pg=PA203 203], note 52: "Deubner [...] and Σ. vet. Ar. Plut. 1054c treat the ''Thargelia'' (and ''Pyanopsia'') as festivals of the Sun and Seasons. Once could on that basis equally well link the Sun and Seasons processions with ''Pyanopsia'', but it is neater to identify it with the attested ''Thargelia'' procession and leave the ''Pyanopsia'' free for the boys' roamings with the ''eiresione''."</ref> showing how the three of them were associated during a festival that took place during the intense heats of the summer.<ref name=":park204">Parker, p. [https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=ff51JeXhHXUC&pg=PA204 204]</ref> The procession did not neglect cereal harvest, but also introduced non-cereal as well as animal foods, all dependent for ripening on Helios and the Seasons.<ref name=":park204"/><ref>Gardner and Jevons, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ifTOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA294 294]</ref> Helios and the Horae were also apparently worshipped during another Athenian festival held in honor of Apollo, the [[Pyanopsia]] with a feast;{{sfn|Konaris|2016|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PLbkCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA225 225]}}<ref name=":harr"/> an attested procession, independent from the one recorded at the [[Thargelia]], might have been in their honour.<ref name=":park203"/>
 
Side B of LSCG 21.B19 from the [[Piraeus]] Asclepium prescribe cake offerings to several gods, among them Helios and [[Mnemosyne]],<ref>Lupu, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ROx5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 64]</ref> two gods linked to incubation through dreams,<ref>Miles, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QBcuCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT112#v=onepage&q&f=false 112]</ref> who are offered a type of [[honey]] cake called ''arester'' and a honeycomb.<ref>''Mnemosyne at the Asklepieia'', Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll, Classical Philology, Vol. 109, No. 2 (April 2014), pp. 99-118; The [[University of Chicago Press]].</ref><ref>[http://cgrn.ulg.ac.be/file/54/ CGRN File 54]</ref> The cake was put on fire during the offering.<ref>Bekker, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=80td5BGBPVUC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA215 215], vol. I</ref> A type of cake called ''orthostates''<ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s. v. [https://archive.org/details/hesychiialexand00schmgoog/page/n613/mode/2up?view=theater {{lang|grc|{{math|ὀρθοστάτης}} }}]</ref><ref>[[Julius Pollux]] [https://books.google.gr/books?id=m2U-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA23&l#v=onepage&q&f=false 6.74]</ref> made of wheaten and [[barley]] flour was offered to him and the Hours.<ref>[[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], ''On Abstinence from Animal Food'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/porphyry_abstinence_02_book2.htm 2.7]</ref><ref name=":liknon">Allaire Brumfield, ''Cakes in the Liknon: Votives from the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on Acrocorinth'', Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens Vol. 66, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1997), pp. [https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/uploads/media/hesperia/148477.pdf 147-172], The [[American School of Classical Studies at Athens]].</ref> Phthois, another flat cake<ref>[[Photios I of Constantinople|Patriarch Photius]] s. v. [https://archive.org/details/photiipatriarcha02phot/page/262/mode/2up?view=theater {{lang|grc|{{math|Φθόις}} }}]</ref> made with [[cheese]], honey and [[wheat]] was also offered to him among many other gods.<ref name=":liknon"/>
 
In many places people kept herds of red and white cattle in his honour, and white animals of several kinds, but especially white horses, were considered to be sacred to him.<ref name=":seyf"/> Ovid writes that horses were sacrificed to him because no slow animal should be offered to the swift god.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'' [https://archive.org/details/ovidsfasti00oviduoft/page/28/mode/2up?view=theater 1.385–386]</ref>
 
In Plato's ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' Helios, the Sun, is the symbolic offspring of the idea of the Good.<ref>[[Plato]], ''[[Republic (Plato)|The Republic]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D7%3Asection%3D517b 7.517b]–[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D7%3Asection%3D517c 7.517c]</ref>
 
The ancient Greeks called [[Sunday]] "day of the Sun" (''{{lang|grc|{{math|ἡμέρα Ἡλίου}}}}'') after him.<ref>Martin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Go18BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA302 p. 302]; Olderr, [https://books.google.com/books?id=y5gZDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 p. 98]; Barnhart (1995:778).</ref> According to [[Philochorus]], Athenian historian and Atthidographer of the 3rd century BC, the first day of each month was sacred to Helios.<ref>[[Philochorus]] 181; Müller, [https://archive.org/details/fragmentahistori01mueluoft/page/526/mode/2up?view=theater s. v. ''Sol, Hyperionis'']</ref>
 
It was during the Roman period that Helios actually rose into an actual significant religious figure and was elevated in public cult.<ref>''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=bVWcAQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA655 s.v. Helios], "But it was not until the later Roman empire that Helios/*Sol grew into a figure of central importance in actual cult."</ref><ref name=":hoffie"/>
 
==== Rhodes ====
[[File:Colosse de Rhodes (Barclay).jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.05|[[Colossus of Rhodes]]]]
 
The island of [[Rhodes]] was an important [[Cult (religion)|cult]] center for Helios, one of the only places where he was worshipped as a major deity in ancient Greece.<ref>Burkert, p. 174</ref> The cult of the sun might had been brought to Rhodes by the Dorians from mainland Greece,<ref name=":largdn">Larson, Jennifer. "A Land Full of Gods: Nature Deities in Greek Religion". In Ogden, Daniel. ''A Companion to Greek Religion''. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, 56–70.</ref> although Farnell suggested that sun worship was pre-Greek in origin.<ref name=":lar07">Larson 2007, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=A01-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA158 158]</ref> Another theory is that his worship could had been imported to Rhodes from the [[Orient]].{{sfn|Nilsson|1950|page=355}} One of Pindar's most notable greatest odes is an abiding memorial of the devotion of the island of Rhodes to the cult and personality of Helios, and all evidence points that he was for the Rhodians what Olympian Zeus was for [[Elis]] or Athena for the Athenians; their local myths, especially those concerning the [[Heliadae]], suggest that Helios in Rhodes was revered as the founder of their race and their civilization, as a great personal god, anthropomorphically imagined.<ref>Farnell, p. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56576/page/n531/mode/2up?view=theater 418], vol. V</ref>
 
The worship of Helios at Rhodes included a ritual in which a [[quadriga]], or chariot drawn by four horses, was driven over a precipice into the sea, in reenactment to the myth of Phaethon. Athenaeus also mentions that the Rhodians celebrated a festival, the [[Halieia]], in his honour.<ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/218#13.12 13.12]</ref> Annual gymnastic tournaments were held in Helios' honor, and his festival that took place in summer included chariot-racing and contests of music and gymnastics;<ref name=":seyf">Seyffert s. v. [https://archive.org/details/b3135841x/page/274/mode/2up?view=theater Helios]</ref> according to [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] (s. v. [[October Horse|October Equus]]) during the Halia each year the Rhodians would also throw quadrigas dedicated to him into the sea.<ref>Parker, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=e_ytDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA138 138]</ref><ref>Farnell, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NQF-MSICWEC&pg=PA20 20], vol. IV</ref><ref>Gardner and Jevons, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ifTOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA247 247]</ref> A team of four horses was also sacrificed to him by throwing it into the sea; horse sacrifice was offered to him in many places, but only in Rhodes in teams of four; a team of four horses was also sacrificed to Poseidon in [[Illyricum (Roman province)|Illyricum]], and the sea god was also worshipped in Lindos under the epithet Hippios denoting perhaps a blending of the cults.<ref name=":riat73"/> It was believed that if one sacrificed to the rising Sun with their day's work ahead of them, it would be proper to offer a fresh, bright white horse.<ref>Harrison, Jane E. "Helios-Hades." The Classical Review, vol. 22, no. 1, Classical Association, [[Cambridge University Press]], 1908, pp. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/694587 12–16]</ref> This festival was celebrated yearly, in the month of September,<ref name=":riat73">''Rhodes in Ancient Times'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cdA5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA73 73]</ref> and great athletes from abroad considered it worthwhile to compete; during the glorious days of the island, neighbouring independent states and the kings of [[Pergamos]] would send envoys to the festival, which was still flourishing many centuries later.<ref name=":riat74">''Rhodes in Ancient Times'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cdA5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA74 74]</ref> The [[Colossus of Rhodes]] was dedicated to him. In [[Xenophon of Ephesus]]' work of fiction, ''[[Ephesian Tale|Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes]]'', the protagonist Anthia cuts and dedicates some of her hair to Helios during his festival at Rhodes.<ref>[[Xenophon of Ephesus]], ''[[Ephesian Tale]]'' pp. [https://www.elfinspell.com/ClassicalTexts/Rooke/XenophonsEphesianHistory/Ephesiaca-Book5.html 107-108]; Dillon 2002, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=A4YyVL0sygAC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA216 216]</ref> The Rhodians called shrine of Helios, Haleion ({{lang-grc|{{math|Ἄλειον}} }}).<ref>[https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/alpha/1155 Suda, alpha, 1155]</ref> A colossal statue of the god, known as the Colossus of Rhodes and named as one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]], was erected in his honour and adorned the port of the city of Rhodes,  like the modern [[Statue of Liberty]] that stands in the harbour of [[New York City]], to which it was comparable in both size and stature.<ref>Hemingway, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=n1I_EAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA36 36]</ref>
 
<blockquote>
The best of these are, first, the Colossus of Helius, of which the author of the iambic verse says, "seven times ten cubits in height, the work of [[Chares of Lindos|Chares the Lindian]]"; but it now lies on the ground, having been thrown down by an earthquake and broken at the knees. In accordance with a certain oracle, the people did not raise it again.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geography]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/14B*.html#p269 14.2.5]</ref>
</blockquote>
 
According to most contemporary descriptions, the Colossus stood approximately 70 [[cubit]]s, or {{convert|33|m|ft|abbr=off}} high – approximately the height of the modern [[Statue of Liberty]] from feet to crown – making it the tallest statue in the [[ancient world]].<ref>Higgins, Reynold (1988) "The Colossus of Rhodes" [https://books.google.com/books?id=vGhbJzigPBwC&pg=PA130 p. 130], in ''The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World'', Peter A. Clayton and Martin Jessop Price (eds.). Psychology Press, {{ISBN|9780415050364}}.</ref> It collapsed after an earthquake that hit Rhodes in [[226 BC Rhodes earthquake|226 BC]], and the Rhodians did not build it again, in accordance with an oracle.
 
In Rhodes, Helios seems to have absorbed the worship and cult of the island's local hero and mythical founder [[Tlepolemus]].<ref name=":ekr1"/> In ancient Greek city foundation, the use of the ''archegetes'' in its double sense of both founder and progenitor of a political order, or a polis, can be seen with Rhodes; real prominence was transferred from the local hero Tlepolemus, onto the god, Helios, with an appropriate myth explaining his relative insignificance; thus games originally celebrated for Tlepolemus were now given to Helios, who was seen as both ancestor and founder of the polis.<ref>Malkin, p. [https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=A-0UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA245 245]</ref> For the Rhodian people, Tlepolemus was an ''archegetes'' and not a god, but he was offered sacrifices as if he were one; the rituals performed in his honour were of the kind commonly performed for a god.<ref name=":ekr1">Ekroth, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=i54VCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA210 210]</ref> A sanctuary of Helios and the nymphs stood in Loryma near [[Lindos]].<ref>Larson 2001, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1ww3m1vSRtsC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA207 207]</ref>
 
The priesthood of Helios was, at some point, appointed by lot, though in the great city a man and his two sons held the office of priesthood for the sun god in succession.<ref>''Rhodes in Ancient Times'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cdA5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA83 83]</ref>
 
==== Peloponnese ====
The Dorians also seem to have revered Helios, and to have hosted His primary cult on the mainland. The scattering of cults of the sun god in [[Sicyon]], [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], [[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]], [[Epidaurus]] and [[Laconia]], and his holy livestock flocks at [[Taenarum]], seem to suggest that the deity was considerably important in Dorian religion, compared to other parts of ancient Greece. Additionally, it may have been the Dorians who brought his worship to Rhodes, as stated above.<ref name=":largdn"/>
 
[[File:DSC00400 - Tempio C di Selinunte - Quadriga di Helios - Sec. VI a.C. - Foto G. Dall'Orto.jpg|thumb|right|240px|''Quadriga of the Sun'', sixth century BC, Temple C, [[Selinunte]].]]
 
Helios was an important god in [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] and the greater [[Corinthia]] region. A reconstruction of Corinth's calendar from those used by its colonies reveals a summer month called "Of the [festival of the ?] Solstice", or Haliotropios in [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] (''tropai'' = "solstice");<ref name=":ogd4">Ogden, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yOQtHNJJU9UC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA204 204]</ref>  Each city in [[Ancient Greece]] had its own lunar-solar calendar organized around the annual solar cycle of [[solstice]]s and [[equinox]]es.<ref name=":ogd4"/> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] in his ''Description of Greece'' describes how Helios and Poseidon vied over the city, with Poseidon getting the [[isthmus of Corinth]] and Helios being awarded with the [[Acrocorinth]].<ref name=":p215"/> Helios' prominence in Corinth might go as back as [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] times, and predate Poseidon's arrival<ref name=":farn19">Farnell, p. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56576/page/n533/mode/2up?view=theater 419], vol. V</ref> or it might be due to Oriental immigration; it is hard to determine.{{sfn|Harrison|1991|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uucSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA609 609]}} At [[Sicyon]], Helios had an altar behind Hera's sanctuary.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.11.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.11.1]</ref> It would seem that for the Corinthians, Helios was notable enough to even have control over thunder, which is otherwise the domain of the sky god Zeus.<ref name=":gender"/>
 
Helios had a cult in [[Laconia]] as well. Taletos, a peak of Mt. [[Taygetus]] rising over [[Bryseae]], was sacred to Helios and often horses were sacrificed in his name, similar to [[Persia]]n cult traditions.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.20.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 3.20.4]</ref><ref>Nagy, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GOO5Z7wqZS0C&pg=PA100 100 n. 70]</ref> This sort of ritual was otherwise rare in Greece, but present in Rhodes as well.<ref name=":farn19"/> At [[Thalamae (Laconia)|Thalamae]], nor far from Bryseae, Helios together with his daughter Pasiphaë were revered in an oracle, where the goddess revealed to the people consulting her what they needed to know  in their dreams.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.26.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 3.26.1]</ref><ref name=":farn19"/> While the predominance of Helios in [[Sparta]] is currently unclear, it seems [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] was the local solar deity.<ref>Euripides, Robert E. Meagher, ''Helen,'' Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1986</ref> Helios (and Selene's) worship in [[Gytheio|Gytheum]], near Sparta, is attested by an inscription (''C.I.G. 1392'').<ref>''The Classical Review'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LQgOi5LWx5QC&pg=PA77 77], vol. 7</ref>
 
In [[Argolis]], an altar was dedicated to Helios near [[Mycenae]],<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.18.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.18.3]</ref> and another in [[Troezen]], where he was worshipped as the God of Freedom, seeing how the Troezenians had escaped slavery at the hands of [[Xerxes I]].<ref name=":2315"/> Over at [[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]] stood a temple of his.<ref name=":farn19"/><ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.34.10&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.34.10]</ref><ref>Vermaseren, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=peh5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150 150]; [https://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/28227?&bookid=6&location=1690 CIG Pel. I = IG IV, 1<sup>2</sup>, 700].</ref> He appears to have also been venerated in [[Epidaurus]].<ref>Vermaseren, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=peh5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA149 149]</ref>
 
In [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]], he had a cult in [[Megalopolis, Greece|Megalopolis]] as the Saviour, and an altar near [[Mantineia]].<ref>Farnell, p. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56576/page/n533/mode/2up?view=theater 420], Vol. V; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.9.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 8.9.4]</ref>
 
==== Elsewhere ====
Traces of Helios's worship can also be found in [[Crete]], dimly recalling the solar name of his daughter Pasiphaë, possibly [[Minoan]] in origin, though but a shadow of a great elemental god survives. In the earliest period Rhodes stood in close relations with Crete, and it is relatively safe to suggest that the name "Taletos", another worship center of Helios, is associated with the [[Eteocretan]] word for the sun "[[Talos]]", surviving in Zeus' epithet Tallaios,<ref name=":farn19"/> a solar aspect of the thunder god in Crete.<ref name=":kk"/><ref name=":hest"/> Helios was also invoked in an oath of alliance between [[Knossos]] and [[Dreros]].<ref>Farnell, note [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56576/page/n565/mode/2up?view=theater 40], vol. V</ref>
 
In his little-attested cults in [[Asia Minor]] it seems his identification with Apollo was the strongest, based on evidence drawn from inscriptions or coins from [[Smyrna]], [[Thyatira]], [[Patara (Lycia)|Patara]], [[Tralles]] and [[Phrygia]] (mostly dating from late Roman period and none from the Hellenistic).<ref>Farnell, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NQF-MSICWEC&pg=PA138 138], vol. IV</ref>
 
Archaeological evidence has proven the existence of a shrine to Helios and [[Hemera]], the goddess of the [[day]] and daylight, at the island of [[Kos]]<ref name=":farn19"/> and excavations have revealed traces of his cult at [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]], [[Pozzuoli]], [[Ostia Antica|Ostia]] and elsewhere.<ref name=":hoffie"/>
 
Helios also had a cult in the region of [[Thessaly]], attested in antiquity several times, such as in a dedication from Krannon, and a fragmentary inscription from [[Pherae]].<ref name=":miller"/> Plato in his ''[[Laws (Plato)|Laws]]'' mentions the state of the [[Magnetes]] making a joint offering to Helios and Apollo, indicating a close relationship between the cults of those two gods,<ref>[[Plato]], ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0166%3Abook%3D12%3Asection%3D946b 12.946b]-[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0166%3Abook%3D12%3Asection%3D946e e]</ref> but it is clear that they were nevertheless distinct deities in Thessaly.<ref name=":miller"/> Further north, he was one of the several gods worshipped at [[Philippi]], in [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]].<ref>Roisman and Worthington, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lkYFVJ3U-BIC&pg=PA271 271]</ref>
 
Helios is also depicted on first century BC coins found at [[Halicarnassus]],<ref>''British Museum Catalogue 'Caria'.'' pp 106-107</ref> [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] in [[Sicily]]<ref>''British Museum Catalogue 'Sicily'.'' p 229</ref> and at [[Zakynthos|Zacynthus]].<ref>''British Museum Catalogue 'Peloponnese'.'' p 101</ref> From [[Pergamon]] originates a hymn to Helios in the style of Euripides<ref>Farnell, note [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56576/page/n565/mode/2up?view=theater 44], vol. V</ref> and it is known that he had a small altar there at the sanctuary of Demeter, along with several other gods,<ref>Patton, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QwgTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA410 410]</ref> possibly in connection with the Orphic mysteries.<ref>Ridgeway, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6Jj6rcIup4C&pg=PA55 55]</ref>
 
In [[Apollonia, Illyria|Apollonia]] of [[Illyria]] (in modern day [[Albania]]) he was also venerated, as evidenced from [[Herodotus]]' account where a man named Evenius was harshly punished by his fellow citizens for allowing wolves to devour the flock of sheep sacred to the god out of negligence.<ref name=":hh993"/>
 
The inference suggested by his cult is that sun worship was once been prevalent and powerful among early Greek peoples and pre-Greeks, but very few communities kept those cults as a potent factor of their state-religion as time passed. The fact that he was not seen as a 'high god' in most poleis may reflect an aversion to worship of palpable objects, like with the cults of Gaia the earth, as worship of non-visible, non-material deities such as Zeus, Apollo and Athena was more in line with the Hellenic idea of godhood.<ref name=":frp">Farnell, pp [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56576/page/n533/mode/2up?view=theater 419-420], vol. V</ref> However, during later period of Greco-Roman paganism one can discern a shift in this religious bias; a wave of Oriental influence brought certain back to the sun-god, leading to the rising of [[Sol Invictus]] in [[Rome]].<ref name=":frp"/> It is often impossible to determine how many of Helios' cults are the result of this later force/boost, as seen with his cult in Mantineia.<ref name=":frp"/>
 
A passage from the Orphic ''Lithica'' mentions a ritual performed to Helios and Gaia by three young men who sacrifice a [[snake]] and then feast on it.<ref>Ekroth, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=i54VCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA315 315]</ref>
 
The ''[[Alexander Romance]]'' names a temple of Helios in the city of [[Alexandria]].<ref>Nawotka, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=MtMuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 109]</ref>
 
=== Other functions ===
==== In oath-keeping ====
[[File:Magical sphere helios from theater of dionysus acropolis museum athens greece.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|Magical sphere with Helios and magical symbols from the theatre of Dionysus, [[Acropolis Museum]], [[Athens]].]]
 
Helios is a god who both sees and hears everything, who can spy among gods and mortal men alike.<ref>Toorn et al., [https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA396 s.v. Helios p. 396]</ref> Gods were often called upon by the Greeks when an oath was sworn; Helios is among the three deities (the other two being Zeus and Gaia) to be invoked in the ''Iliad'' to witness the truce between Greeks and [[Troy|Trojans]].<ref>Warrior, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KRH2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 10]</ref> Due to his job as sun in the sky, he was in the position of witnessing everything on earth with his infallible eye, and it is thus fitting that he was widely invoked, along with Zeus, in oath-taking, making sure there was no escape if the oath was violated. For example, both are invoked in an oath at [[Eresos]] and in one by [[Eumenes I]] of [[Pergamon]]; a chthonic aspect of the god is apparent in the cases where he is invoked in oaths alongside subterranean gods and goddesses such as Hades, Gaia, Hecate and the [[Erinyes|Furies]].<ref name=":lalo">Lalonde, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=sO8E8Bik1a4C&pg=PA83 83]</ref> Helios together with Zeus represent the [[sky]], as Gaia and Demeter the earth.<ref name=":lalo"/><ref>Mikalson, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ML-iAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA84 84]</ref>
 
The invocation of gods such as [[Earth goddess|Earth]] and [[Solar deity|Sun]] is a very standard feature of such gods, and goes back to loyalty oaths originating from the [[Near East]].<ref>Fletcher, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=q1W2CPsG_5IC&pg=PA186 186]</ref> He is also often appealed to in [[Ancient Greek tragedy|ancient drama]] to witness the unfolding events or take action, such as in Sophocles's ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' and Euripides's ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' (the later also appeals to their kinship, being his granddaughter through his son Aeëtes).<ref>Fletcher, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=q1W2CPsG_5IC&pg=PA116 116] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=q1W2CPsG_5IC&pg=PA186 186]</ref> The notion of Helios as witness to oaths and vows also led to a view of Helios as a witness of wrong-doings, as when [[Prometheus]] calls upon him to see what he is suffering at the hands of other gods,<ref>[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0010%3Acard%3D88 88&ndash;94]</ref> or like in [[Aeschylus]]'s play ''[[Oresteia#Agamemnon|Agamemnon]]'', where [[Agamemnon]]'s son [[Orestes]] demands that the death robe be spread out so that Helios can see Orestes' mother [[Clytemnestra]]'s impious actions,<ref>Smith Helaine, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=g7PfF3C-z_QC&pg=PA42 42]</ref> and even specialized to unadmitted love, as evidenced in a [[scholia|scholium]] on a black-figure vase from [[Aegina]].<ref>van der Toorn et al, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA396 s.v. Helios, p. 396]</ref> He was thus seen as an emblem and guarantor of cosmic order, who can witness and avenge injustice happening under the sunlight.<ref>Toorn et al, [https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA397 s.v. Helios p. 397]</ref>
 
[[File:Emperor caracalla helios statue roman north carolina museum of art.jpg|thumb|right|270px|Statue of [[Caracalla]]-Helios with Alexander features, marble, Roman, ca. 2nd-3rd century AD, [[North Carolina Museum of Art]].]]
 
Helios was invoked as a witness, among several other gods besides Zeus such as Ares, Athena and Poseidon, to several alliances such as the one between [[Athens]] and [[Cetriporis]] of [[Thrace]], [[Lycceius|Lyppeus]] of [[Paeonia (kingdom)|Paeonia]] and [[Grabos II|Grabus]] of [[Illyria]], in 357 BC, the one between [[Philip II of Macedon]] and [[Chalkidiki|Chalcidice]] in 357/6 BC, and the oaths of the [[League of Corinth]].<ref name=":sombay">Sommerstein, Bayliss, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ap_uINEOCZsC&pg=PA162 162]</ref> In a treaty between the cities of [[Smyrna]] and [[Magnesia ad Sipylum|Magnesia]], the Magnesians swore their oath by Helios among others.<ref>Gardner and Jevons, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ifTOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA232 232]; ''A treaty between Smyrna and Magnesia-by-Sipylos'' [http://www.attalus.org/docs/ogis/s229.html ''OGIS:'' 229]</ref> The combination of Zeus, Gaia and Helios in oath-swearing is also found among the non-Greek 'Royal Gods' in an agreement between Maussollus and Phaselis (360s BC) and in the [[Hellenistic period]] with the degree of [[Chremonides]]' announcing the alliance of Athens and [[Sparta]] invoking, along with these three, Athena, Ares, Demeter, and Poseidon.<ref name=":sombay"/>
 
==== In magic ====
He also had a role in necromancy magic. The [[Greek Magical Papyri]] contain several recipes for such, for example one which involves invoking the Sun over the skull-cup of a man who suffered a violent death; after the described ritual, Helios will then send the man's ghost to the practitioner to tell them everything they wish to know.<ref>Ogden 2001, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=93y-DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA211 211]</ref> Helios is also associated with Hecate in cursing magic.<ref name=":queen"/> In some parts of [[Asia Minor]] Helios along with several other gods, and most commonly his counterpart Selene, were adjured not to permit any violation of the grave in tomb inscriptions and to warn potential violators not to desecrate the tomb, like one example from Elaeussa-Sebaste in [[Cilicia]]:
 
<blockquote>
We adjure you by the heavenly god [Zeus] and Helios and Selene and the gods of the underworld, who receive us, that no one [. . .] will throw another corpse upon our bones.<ref name="farob">Faraone and Obbink, p. 35</ref>
</blockquote>
 
Helios was also often invoked in funeral imprecations, ranking third in terms of frequency, after chthonic and lunar gods, and usually in the company of another lunar deity.<ref name=":fnimp">Faraone and Obbink, p. [https://eclass.uoa.gr/modules/document/file.php/ARCH310/Readings%20for%2022%20Dec%20and%2012%20Jan/Faraone%20and%20Obink%20Magika%20Hiera%20Ebook.pdf 46]</ref> Helios might have been chosen for this sort of magic because as an all-seeing god he could see everything on earth, even hidden crimes, and thus he was a very popular god to invoke in prayers for vengeance.<ref name=":fnimp"/> Additionally, in ancient magic evil-averting aid and apotropaic defense were credited to Helios.<ref>Collins, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_wq7PgIy8RgC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA128 128]</ref> Some magic rituals were associated with the engraving of images and stones, as with one such spell which asks Helios to consecrate the stone and fill with luck, honour, success and strength, thus giving the user incredible power.<ref>HALUSZKA, ADRIA. "SACRED SIGNIFIED: THE SEMIOTICS OF STATUES IN THE 'GREEK MAGICAL PAPYRI.'" Arethusa, vol. 41, no. 3, The [[Johns Hopkins University Press]], 2008, pp. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/44578289 479–94]</ref>
 
Helios was also associated with love magic, much like Aphrodite, as there seems to have been another but rather poorly documented tradition of people asking him for help in such love matters,<ref>Faraone, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Aq-Yg6B51NsC&pg=PA139 139]</ref> including homoerotic love<ref>Faraone, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=Aq-Yg6B51NsC&pg=PA141 141]</ref> and magical recipes invoking him for affection spells.<ref>Faraone, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Aq-Yg6B51NsC&pg=PA10 105]</ref> Accordingly, a [[scholia|scholium]] on [[Theocritus]] claims that Pindar wrote that lovesick young men would pray to Helios for help as lovesick young women would pray to his sister Selene.<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Theocritus]]' ''Idylls'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgUd8TCc6UYC&pg=PA38 2 the Spell]</ref>
 
==== In dreams ====
It has been suggested that in Ancient Greece people would reveal their dreams to Helios and the sky or the air in order to avert any evil foretold or presaged in them as [[Clytemnestra]] does in Sophocles's ''[[Electra (Sophocles)|Electra]]''<ref>[[Sophocles]], ''[[Electra (Sophocles)|Electra]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0188%3Acard%3D415 425]; "Such was the tale that [[Chrysothemis|I]] heard told by one who was present when [[Clytemnestra|she]] revealed her dream to the Sun-god."</ref> and the titular [[Iphigenia]] in Euripides' ''[[Iphigenia in Tauris|Iphigenia Among the Taurians]]'',<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Iphigenia in Tauris|Iphigenia Among the Taurians]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0112%3Acard%3D42 42–45]: But the strange visions which the night brought with it, [[Iphigenia|I]] will tell to the [[Aether (mythology)|air]], if that is any relief. I dreamed that I had left this land to live in [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]],</ref><ref>Cropp, p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=jlbwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 176]</ref> however Harrison notes that not all examples from ancient texts supporting the claim are entirely convincing.<ref>Juliette Harrison, ''Dreams and Dreaming in the Roman Empire: Cultural Memory and Imagination'' p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FlJ5Fid3hG8C&pg=PT114 114]</ref>
 
According to [[Artemidorus]]' ''[[Oneirocritica]]'', the rich dreaming of transforming into a god was an auspicious sign, as long as the transformation had no deficiencies, citing the example of a man who dreamt he was Helios but wore a sun crown of just eleven rays.<ref name=":thon"/> He wrote that the sun god was also an auspicious sign for the poor.<ref>Thonemann, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KS3JDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 146]</ref> In dreams, Helios could either appear in 'sensible' form (the orb of the sun) or his 'intelligible' form (the humanoid god).<ref>Thonemann, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KS3JDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 151]</ref>
 
=== Late antiquity ===
[[File:Follis-Constantine-lyons RIC VI 309.jpg|thumb|280x280px|Coin of Roman Emperor [[Constantine I]] depicting [[Sol Invictus]]/Apollo with the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, c.&nbsp;315&nbsp;AD.]]
 
By [[Late Antiquity]], Helios had accumulated a number of religious, mythological, and literary elements from other deities, particularly Apollo and the Roman sun god [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]]. In 274 AD, on December 25, the Roman Emperor [[Aurelian]] instituted an official state cult to Sol Invictus (or ''Helios Megistos'', "Great Helios"). This new cult drew together imagery not only associated with Helios and Sol, but also a number of [[syncretism|syncretic]] elements from other deities formerly recognized as distinct. Other syncretic materials from this period include an Orphic ''Hymn to Helios''; the so-called [[Mithras]] Liturgy, where Helios is said to rule the elements; spells and incantations invoking Helios among the [[Greek Magical Papyri]]; a ''Hymn to Helios'' by [[Proclus]]; [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]]'s ''Oration to Helios'', the last stand of official paganism; and an episode in [[Nonnus]]' ''[[Dionysiaca]]''.<ref>Wilhelm Fauth, ''Helios Megistos: zur synkretistischen Theologie der Spätantike'' (Leiden:Brill) 1995.</ref> Helios in these works is frequently equated not only with deities such as [[Mithras]] and [[Harpocrates]], but even with the monotheistic Judaeo-Christian god.<ref>Pachoumi, Eleni, "The Religious and Philosophical Assimilations of Helios in the Greek Magical Papyri", in ''Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies'', vol. 55, pp. 391–413. [http://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/15325/6623 PDF].</ref>
 
[[File:Patera di Parabiago - MI - Museo archeologico - Apollo - Sole - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 25-7-2003.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Horse-drawn quadriga of Sol on the [[Parabiago plate]] (ca. 2nd–5th centuries AD)]]
 
The last pagan emperor of Rome, [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]], made Helios the primary deity of his revived pagan religion, which combined elements of [[Mithraism]] with [[Neoplatonism]]. For Julian, Helios was a [[Triple deity|triunity]]: [[Form of the Good|The One]], which governs the highest realm containing Plato's [[Theory of forms|Forms]], or intelligible gods; Helios-Mithras, the supreme god of the Intellectual realm; and the Sun, the physical manifestation of Helios in the Encosmic, or visible realm. Because the primary location of Helios in this scheme was the "middle" realm, Julian considered him to be a mediator and unifier not just of the three realms of being, but of all things (which was a concept likely imported from Mithraism, and also may have been influenced by the Christian idea of the [[Logos (Christianity)|Logos]]).<ref name=julian_works>[[Wilmer Cave Wright|Wright, Wilmer Cave]]. 1913. [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48664 The works of Emperor Julian, volume 1].</ref> Julian's theological conception of Helios has been described as "practically monotheistic", in contrast to earlier Neoplatonists like Iamblichus,<ref name=julian_works/> though he also included the other traditional gods worshiped around the ancient Mediterranean as both distinct entities and also certain principles or manifestations that emanate from Helios.<ref name=julian_works/>
 
A mosaic found in the [[Vatican Necropolis]] (mausoleum&nbsp;M) depicts a figure very similar in style to Sol / Helios, crowned with solar rays and driving a solar chariot. Some scholars have interpreted this as a depiction of [[Christ]], noting that [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote of Christ driving his chariot across the sky.<ref>{{cite book |first=Matilda |last=Webb |title=The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-90221058-2 |page=18}}</ref> Some scholars doubt the Christian associations,<ref>{{cite book |first=Martin |last=Kemp |title=The Oxford History of Western Art |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-19860012-1 |page=70}}</ref> or suggest that the figure is merely a non-religious representation of the sun.{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|p=567&ndash;578}}
 
=== In the Greek Magical Papyri ===
[[File:Apollo1.JPG|thumb|250px|left|Solar Apollo with the radiant [[Halo (religious iconography)|halo]] of Helios in a Roman floor mosaic, [[El Djem]], Tunisia, late 2nd&nbsp;century]]
 
Helios figured prominently in the [[Greek Magical Papyri]], a collection of hymns, rituals, and magic spells used from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD all around the Greco-Roman world. In these mostly fragmentary texts, Helios is credited with a broad domain, being regarded as the creator of life, the lord of the heavens and the cosmos, and the god of the sea. He is said to take the form of 12 animals representing each hour of the day, a motif also connected with the 12 signs of the [[zodiac]].<ref name=Pachoumi>Pachoumi, Eleni. 2015. "[http://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/15325/6623 The Religious and Philosophical Assimilations of Helios in the Greek Magical Papyri]." ''Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies'', '''55''': 391&ndash;413.</ref>
 
The Papyri often syncretize Helios with a variety of related deities. He is described as "seated on a lotus, decorated with rays", in the manner of [[Harpocrates]], who was often depicted seated on a [[lotus flower]], representing the rising sun. According to the Neoplatonist philosopher [[Iamblichus]], "sitting on a lotus implies pre-eminence over the mud, without ever touching the mud, and also displays intellectual and empyrean leadership."<ref>''On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians'' 7.2, 251&ndash;252.</ref><ref name=Pachoumi/>
 
Helios is also assimilated with [[Mithras]] in some of the Papyri, as he was by Emperor Julian. The [[Mithras Liturgy]] combines them as Helios-Mithras, who is said to have revealed the secrets of immortality to the magician who wrote the text. Some of the texts describe Helios Mithras navigating the Sun's path not in a chariot but in a boat, an apparent identification with the [[Ancient Egyptian religion|Egyptian]] sun god [[Ra]]. Helios is also described as "restraining the serpent", likely a reference to [[Apep|Apophis]], the serpent god who, in Egyptian myth, is said to attack Ra's ship during his nightly journey through the underworld.<ref name=Pachoumi/>
 
In many of the Papyri, Helios is also strongly identified with Iao, a name derived from that of the Hebrew god [[Yahweh]], and shares several of his titles including Sabaoth and Adonai.<ref name=Pachoumi/> He is also assimilated as the [[Agathodaemon|Agathos Daemon]] (called "the Agathodaimon, the god of the gods"), who is also identified elsewhere in the texts as "the greatest god, lord Horus Harpokrates".<ref name=Pachoumi/>
 
The Neoplatonist philosophers [[Proclus]] and [[Iamblichus]] attempted to interpret many of the syntheses found in the Greek Magical Papyri and other writings that regarded Helios as all-encompassing, with the attributes of many other divine entities. Proclus described Helios as a cosmic god consisting of many forms and traits. These are "coiled up" within his being, and are variously distributed to all that "participate in his nature", including [[angel]]s, [[Daemon (classical mythology)|daemon]]s, souls, animals, herbs, and stones. All of these things were important to the Neoplatonic practice of [[theurgy]], magical rituals intended to invoke the gods in order to ultimately achieve union with them. Iamblichus noted that theurgy often involved the use of "stones, plants, animals, aromatic substances, and other such things holy and perfect and godlike."<ref>(''Myst.'' 5.23, 233)</ref> For theurgists, the elemental power of these items sacred to particular gods utilizes a kind of [[sympathetic magic]].<ref name=Pachoumi/>
 
=== Epithets ===
[[File:0 Alexander-Helios Capitolini (1).JPG|thumb|right|Bust of [[Alexander the Great]] as an [[eidolon]] of Helios (''[[Musei Capitolini]]'').]]
 
The Greek sun god had various bynames or epithets, which over time in some cases came to be considered separate deities associated with the Sun. Among these are:
 
'''Acamas''' ({{IPAc-en|ɑː|ˈ|k|ɑː|m|ɑː|s|}}; {{respell|ah|KAH|mahss}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Άκάμας}} }}, "Akàmas"), meaning "tireless, unwearying", as he repeats his never-ending routine day after day without cease.
 
'''[[Apollo]]''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|p|ɒ|l|ə|ʊ|}}; {{respell|ə|POL|oh}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἀπόλλων}} }}, "Apóllōn") here understood to mean "destroyer", the sun as a more destructive force.<ref name=":frag" />
 
'''Callilampetes''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˌ|l|iː|l|æ|m|ˈ|p|ɛ|t|iː|z}}; {{respell|kə|LEE|lam|PET|eez}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Καλλιλαμπέτης}} }}, "Kallilampétēs"), "he who glows lovely".<ref>Roscher, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OmvXAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA927 927]</ref>
 
'''Elasippus''' ({{IPAc-en|ɛ|l|ˈ|æ|s|ɪ|p|ə|s}}; {{respell|el|AH|sip|əss}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἐλάσιππος}} }}, "Elásippos"), meaning "horse-driving".<ref>''[[A Greek-English Lexicon]]'' s.v. [https://www.lsj.gr/wiki/ελάσιππος {{math|ἐλάσιππος}}]</ref>
 
'''Elector''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|l|ɛ|k|t|ər}}; {{respell|ə|LEK|tər}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἠλέκτωρ}} }}, "Ēléktōr") of uncertain derivation (compare ''[[Electra]]''), often translated as "beaming" or "radiant", especially in the combination ''Ēlektōr Hyperiōn''.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/2#19.395 19.398]</ref>
 
'''Eleutherius''' ({{IPAc-en|iː|ˈ|lj|uː|θ|ər|i|ə|s}}; {{respell|ee|LOO|thər|ee|əs}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἐλευθέριος}} }}, "Eleuthérios) "the liberator", epithet under which he was worshipped in [[Troezen]] in [[Argolis]],<ref name=":2315">[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.31.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.31.5]</ref> also shared with [[Dionysus]] and [[Eros]].
 
'''Hagnus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|æ|g|n|ə|s}}; {{respell|HAG|nəs}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἁγνός}} }}, Hagnós), meaning "pure", "sacred" or "purifying."<ref name=":pin7"/>
 
'''Hecatus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɛ|k|ə|t|ə|s|}}; {{respell|HEK|ə|təs}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἕκατος}} }}, "Hékatos"), "from afar," also '''Hecatebolus''' ({{IPAc-en|h|ɛ|k|ə|ˈ|t|ɛ|b|ə|ʊ|l|ə|s|}}; {{respell|hek|ə|TEB|əʊ|ləs}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἑκατήβολος}} }}, "Hekatḗbolos")  "the far-shooter", i.e. the sun's rays considered as arrows.<ref>Usener, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=kUI1Et8ehfAC&pg=PA261 261]</ref>
 
'''Horotrophus''' ({{IPAc-en|h|ɔːr|ˈ|ɔː|t|r|ɔː|f|ə|s|}}; {{respell|hor|OT|roff|əss}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Ὡροτρόφος}}}}, "Hо̄rotróphos"), "nurturer of the Seasons/Hours", in combination with ''[[kouros]]'', "youth".<ref>''[[A Greek-English Lexicon]]'' s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*w%3Aentry+group%3D8%3Aentry%3Dw%28rotro%2Ffos ὡροτρόφος]</ref>
 
'''[[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]]''' ({{IPAc-en|h|aɪ|ˈ|p|ɪər|i|ə|n}}; {{respell|hy|PEER|ree|ən}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Ὑπερίων}} }}, "Hyperíōn") and '''Hyperionides''' ({{IPAc-en|h|aɪ|ˌ|p|ɪər|i|ə|ˈ|n|aɪ|d|iː|z|}}; {{respell|hy|PEER|ee|ə|NY|deez}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Ὑπεριονίδης}} }}, "Hyperionídēs"), "superus, high up" and "son of Hyperion" respectively, the sun as the one who is above,<ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s. v. [https://archive.org/details/hesychiialexand00schmgoog/page/n807/mode/2up?view=theater {{mvar|ὑπερίων}}]</ref> and also the name of his father.
 
'''Isodaetes''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|aɪ|s|ə|ˈ|d|eɪ|t|iː|z|}}; {{respell|EYE|sə|DAY|teez}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Ἰσοδαίτης}} }}, "Isodaítēs"), literally "he that distributes equal portions", cult epithet also shared with Dionysus.<ref>Versnel, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=1el5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA119 119], especially note 93.</ref>
 
'''[[Paean (god)|Paean]]''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|iː|ə|n}} {{respell|PEE|ən}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Παιάν}} }}, ''Paiān''), physician, healer, a healing god and an epithet of Apollo and [[Asclepius]].<ref>See [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*paia%2Fn παιών ] in [[LSJ]]</ref>
 
'''Panoptes''' ({{IPAc-en|p|æ|ˈ|n|ɒ|p|t|iː|s|}}; {{respell|pan|OP|tees}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Πανόπτης}} }}, "Panóptēs") "all-seeing" and '''Pantepoptes''' ({{IPAc-en|p|æ|n|t|ɛ|ˈ|p|ɒ|p|t|iː|s|}}; {{respell|pan|tep|OP|tees}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Παντεπόπτης}} }}, "Pantepóptēs") "all-supervising", as the one who witnessed everything that happened on earth.
 
'''Pasiphaes''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ə|ˈ|s|ɪ|f|i|iː|s}}; {{respell|pah|SIF|ee|eess}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Πασιφαής}} }}, "Pasiphaḗs"), "all-shining", also the name of one of his daughters.<ref name=":walt">Walton, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wc8NAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA34 34]</ref>
 
'''Patrius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|æ|t|r|i|ə|s}}; {{respell|PAT|ree|əs}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Πάτριος}} }}, "Pátrios") "of the fathers, ancestral", related to his role as primogenitor of royal lines in several places.<ref name="farob"/>
 
'''[[Phaethon]]''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|eɪ|θ|ən}}; {{respell|FAY|thən}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Φαέθων}} }}, "Phaéthōn") "the radiant", "the shining", also the name of his son and [[Phaethusa|daughter]].
 
'''Phasimbrotus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|f|æ|s|ɪ|m|ˈ|b|r|ɒ|t|ə|s}}; {{respell|FASS|im|BROT|əs}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Φασίμβροτος}} }}, "Phasímbrotos") "he who sheds light to the mortals", the sun.
 
'''Philonamatus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|f|ɪ|l|oʊ|ˈ|n|æ|m|ə|t|ə|s|}}; {{respell|FIL|oh|NAM|ə|təs}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Φιλονάματος}} }}, "Philonámatos") "water-loving", a reference to him rising from and setting in the ocean.<ref>''[[Orphism (religion)|Orphic Hymn]] 8 to the Sun'' [https://books.google.com/books?hl=el&id=iaEIvzlc41QC&pg=PA8 16]</ref>
 
'''Phoebus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|iː|b|ə|s}} {{respell|FEE|bəs}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Φοῖβος}} }}, ''Phoîbos''), literally "bright", several Roman authors applied Apollo's byname to their sun god Sol.
 
'''Sirius''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|r|ɪ|ə|s}}; {{respell|SEE|ree|əss}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Σείριος}} }}, "Seírios") literally meaning "scorching", and also the name of the [[Sirius|Dog Star]].<ref>[[Archilochus]] [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.233244/page/128/mode/2up?view=theater 61.3]; [[Scholia]] on [[Euripides]]' ''[[Hecuba (play)|Hecuba]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=6wU-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA484 1103]</ref><ref name=":dig138">Diggle p. [https://archive.org/details/euripidesphaetho0000digg/page/138/mode/2up?view=theater 138]</ref>
 
'''[[Soter]]''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|oʊ|t|ər}}; {{respell|SOH|tər}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Σωτὴρ}} }}, "Sōtḗr") "the saviour", epithet under which he was worshipped in [[Megalopolis, Greece|Megalopolis]], [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.31.7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 8.31.7]</ref>
 
'''[[Terpsimbrotos|Terpsimbrotus]]''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|t|ɜːr|p|s|ɪ|m|ˈ|b|r|ɒ|t|ə|s}}; {{respell|TURP|sim|BROT|əs}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Τερψίμβροτος}} }}, "Terpsímbrotos") "he who gladdens mortals", with his warm, life-giving beams.
 
'''Titan''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|aɪ|t|ən}}; {{respell|TY|tən}}; {{lang|grc|{{math|Τιτάν}} }}, "Titán"), possibly connected to ''τιτώ'' meaning "day"<ref>See [https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CF%84%CE%B9%CF%84%CF%8E τιτώ] and [https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CE%A4%CE%B9%CF%84%CE%AC%CE%BD#Greek_Monolingual Τιτάν] in [[A Greek–English Lexicon|LSJ]]</ref> and thus "god of the day".
 
Whether Apollo's epithets ''Aegletes'' and ''Asgelatas'' in the island of [[Anafi|Anaphe]], both connected to light, were borrowed from epithets of Helios either directly or indirectly is hard to say.<ref name=":walt"/>
 
== Identification with other gods ==
=== Apollo ===
[[File:Mengs, Helios als Personifikation des Mittages.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|''Helios as the personification of midday'', [[renaissance]] painting by [[Anton Raphael Mengs]] ({{circa|1765}}) showing [[apollo]]nian traits, such as the lack of a chariot, that were absent in mythology and Hellenic art.]]
 
Helios is sometimes identified with [[Apollo]]: "Different names may refer to the same being," Walter Burkert argues, "or else they may be consciously equated, as in the case of Apollo and Helios."<ref>Walter Burkert, ''Greek Religion'', p.&nbsp;120.</ref> Apollo was associated with the Sun as early as the fifth century BC, though widespread conflation between him and the Sun god was a later phaenomenon.<ref name=":lar07"/>
 
In Homeric literature, Apollo was clearly identified as a different god, a plague-dealer with a silver bow, rather than a golden one and no solar features. The earliest certain reference to Apollo being identified with Helios appears in the surviving fragments of Euripides' play ''Phaethon'' in a speech near the end<ref name=":frag">[[Euripides]], ''[[Phaethon (play)|Phaethon]]'' fragment fr 781&nbsp;N<sup>2</sup></ref> – Clymene, Phaethon's mother, laments that Helios has destroyed her child, that Helios whom men rightly call Apollo (the name ''Apollo'' is here understood to mean ''Apollon'' "Destroyer").
 
By [[Hellenistic]] times Apollo had become closely connected with the Sun in [[Cult (religion)|cult]] and [[Phoebus]] (Greek Φοῖβος, "bright"), the epithet most commonly given to Apollo, was later applied by [[Latin]] poets to the Sun-god Sol.
 
The identification became a commonplace in philosophic texts and appears in the writing of [[Parmenides]], [[Empedocles]], [[Plutarch]] and [[Crates of Thebes]] among others, as well as appearing in some Orphic texts. [[Pseudo-Eratosthenes]] writes about [[Orpheus]] in ''[[Catasterismi|Placings Among the Stars]]'', section&nbsp;24:
 
:But having gone down into Hades because of his wife and seeing what sort of things were there, he did not continue to worship Dionysus, because of whom he was famous, but he thought Helios to be the greatest of the gods, Helios whom he also addressed as Apollo. Rousing himself each night toward dawn and climbing the mountain called Pangaion, he would await the Sun's rising, so that he might see it first. Therefore, Dionysus, being angry with him, sent the [[Bassarids|Bassarides]], as [[Aeschylus]] the tragedian says; they tore him apart and scattered the limbs.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Iliad of Homer | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BT0uAQAAIAAJ | publisher=Ashmead | author=Homer, William Cullen Bryant | year=1809 }}</ref>
 
Dionysus and Asclepius are sometimes also identified with this Apollo Helios.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=oE8vW4BX9kwC&dq G. Lancellotti, ''Attis, Between Myth and History: King, Priest, and God'', BRILL, 2002]</ref><ref>Guthrie, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-C6wNyrxUO8C&pg=PA43 43], says "The Orphics never had the power to bring it about, but it was their purpose to foster it, and in their syncretistic literature they identified the two gods [i.e. Apollo and Dionysus] by giving out that both alike were Helios, the Sun. Helios = supreme god = Dionysus = Apollo (cp. Kern, ''Orpheus'', 7). So at least the later writers say. [[Olympiodorus the Younger|Olympiodoros]] (''O.F''. 212) speaks of 'Helios, who according to Orpheus has much in common with Dionysos through the medium of Apollo', and according to [[Proclus|Proklos]] (''O.F''. 172) 'Orpheus makes Helios very much the same as Apollo, and worship the fellowship of these gods'. Helios and Dionysos are identified in Orphic lines (''O.F''. 236, 239)."</ref>
 
[[File:INC-3011-r Ауреус. Адриан. Ок. 117 г. (реверс).png|thumb|left|180px|Helios on a golden coin from 117 AD.]]
 
[[Strabo]] wrote that [[Artemis]] and Apollo were associated with Selene and Helios respectively due to the changes those two celestial bodies caused in the temperature of the air, as the twins were gods of pestilential diseases and sudden deaths.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+14.1.6&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239 14.1.6]</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] also linked Apollo's association with Helios as a result of his profession as a healing god, and father to Asclepius.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+7.23.8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 7.23.8]</ref>  The two gods' close association with each other might have originated from the fact that both were supposed to know everything, one from his position in the sky above the earth, the other as god of [[prophecy]].<ref name=":mayr">Mayerson, p. [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000maye_g5u7/page/146/mode/2up?view=theater 146]</ref> The light that comes from the Sun is physical and at the same time metaphorical, signifying mental enlightenment; in that respect, the mental and physical [[phenomena]] are made distinct from each other, a distinction which placed the two gods on opposing sides: thus Apollo is the metaphorical light, the oracular god who sheds light into the dark ways of the future, the god of music and song (which are heard where light and security reigns), while Helios on the other hand represents the physical light, the orb of the Sun that creates [[summer]] and [[winter]], who brings dark secrets to the light, as demonstrated in the story of Aphrodite and Hephaestus, when he rises and sets in the sky.<ref>Alexander Stuart Murray and William H. Klapp, ''Handbook of World Mythology'' pg [https://books.google.com/books?id=BOFzYThPlk8C&pg=PA104 104]</ref> In the ''[[Orphism (religion)|Orphic Hymns]]'', Helios is addressed as [[Paean]] ("healer") and holding a golden lyre,<ref name=":oh8">''[[Orphism (religion)|Orphic Hymn]] 8 to the Sun'' [https://books.google.com/books?hl=el&id=iaEIvzlc41QC&pg=PA8 9–15] (Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. 11).</ref><ref name=":barry"/> both common descriptions for Apollo; similarly Apollo in his own hymn is described as Titan and shedding light to the mortals, both common epithets of Helios.<ref>''[[Orphism (religion)|Orphic Hymn]] 34 to [[Apollo]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA30 3 and 8] (Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp 30&ndash;31).</ref>
 
According to Athenaeus, sixth century BC [[Lyric poetry|lyric poet]] [[Telesilla]] wrote that the song sung in honour of Apollo is called the "Sun-loving song" ({{lang|grc|{{math|φιληλιάς}} }}, ''philhēliás''),<ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae|Scholars at Dinner]]'' [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus14a.html#619 14.10]</ref>  that is, a song meant to make the Sun come forth from the clouds, sung by children in bad weather; but [[Julius Pollux]] (who came much later than her) describing a ''philhelias'' in greater detail makes no mention of Apollo, only Helios.<ref name=":farn137">Farnell, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NQF-MSICWEC&pg=PA137 137], vol. IV</ref> [[:el:Σκυθίνος|Scythinus]] of [[Teos]] wrote that Apollo uses the bright light of the Sun (''{{lang|grc|λαμπρὸν πλῆκτρον ἡλίου φάος}}'') as his harp-quill<ref>[[:el:Σκυθίνος|Scythinus]] fragment [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/scythinus-fragment/1999/pb_LCL259.523.xml here] in [[Plutarch]]'s ''[[Moralia|De Pythiae Oraculis]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0248%3Asection%3D16 16.402a]</ref> and in a fragment of [[Timotheus of Miletus|Timotheus]]' lyric, Helios is invoked as an archer with the invocation ''{{lang|grc|{{math|Ἰὲ Παιάν}} }}'' (a common way of addressing the two medicine gods), though it most likely was part of esoteric doctrine, rather than a popular and widespread belief.<ref name=":farn137"/> [[Scholia]] on Homer's ''Iliad'' report that during the [[Theomachy]] in song 21, where Poseidon fights Apollo, Apollo here represents the partial fire, that is the Sun, against the full of water (the whole of fire versus the partial water is represented by Hephaestus fighting the [[Scamander]] river).<ref>[[Scholia]] on the ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiagraecainh02homeuoft/page/194/mode/2up?view=theater 20.67] ; Hansen, p. [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/10/mode/2up?view=theater&q= 10]</ref><ref>''Anecdota græca e codd. manuscriptis Bibliothecæ regiæ parisiensis'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=extPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA120 120]</ref> [[Aeschylus]] in his ''[[Seven Against Thebes]]'' writes that Apollo never walks in the Underworld, and calls the place Sunless ({{lang|grc|ἀνάλιον}}, ''análion'' "sunless").<ref>[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Seven Against Thebes]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0014%3Acard%3D848 855&ndash;858]</ref> Similarly, Helios never steps foot on the Underworld either:
 
[[File:Karl Bryullov - Phoebus Driving his chariot.jpg|thumb|right|240px|''Phoebus Driving his Chariot'' by [[Karl Bryullov]], [[oil on canvas]], 19th century.]]
 
<blockquote>
[[Hypnos|Sleep]] and [[Thanatos|Death]], awful gods. The glowing Sun never looks upon them with his beams, neither as he goes up into heaven, nor as he comes down from heaven.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D729 760]</ref>
</blockquote>
 
During the time of [[Callimachus]], an ancient Greek poet who lived in the 4th century BC, some people would distinguish between Apollo and Helios, for which thing the poet censured them.<ref>Smith, s. v. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D31%3Aentry%3Dapollo-bio-1 Apollo].</ref> Classical Latin poets also used Phoebus as a byname for the Sun-god, whence come common references in later European poetry to Phoebus and his chariot as a metaphor for the Sun but, in particular instances in myth, Apollo and Helios are distinct. The Sun-god, the son of Hyperion, with his Sun chariot, though often called [[Phoebus]] ("shining") is not called Apollo except in purposeful non-traditional identifications.<ref>{{cite book | title=Petrarch's genius: pentimento and prophecy | publisher=University of California press | author=O'Rourke Boyle Marjorie | year=1991 | isbn=978-0-520-07293-0}}</ref> Ancient Roman authors who used "Phoebus" for Sol as well as Apollo include Ovid,<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/141#7.357 7.367]</ref> [[Virgil]],<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/245#4.1 4.6]</ref> [[Statius]],<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/StatiusThebaidVIII.php#anchor_Toc342643147 8.271]</ref> and [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]].<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Hercules (Seneca)|Hercules Furens]]'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3ATragedies_of_Seneca_(1907)_Miller.djvu/137 25]</ref> Representations of Apollo with solar rays around his head in art also belong to the time of the [[Roman Empire]], particularly under Emperor [[Elagabalus]] in 218-222 AD.<ref name=":mayr"/>
 
Ovid is largely responsible for the prevalence of the idea of Apollo being the Sun god in modern times, however he himself did not identify Apollo with Sol in his works.<ref name=":aatsgio">[[Joseph Fontenrose|Fontenrose, Joseph E]]. "Apollo and the Sun-God in Ovid." The American Journal of Philology 61, no. 4 (1940): [https://doi.org/10.2307/291381 429–44.]</ref> Apollo, has far as Ovid is concerned, does not seem to have any solar characteristics.<ref name="20–38"/> Ovid gives Apollo attributes such as bow, arrows and lyre, but never Sun-chariot, and has the oracular god often seen busy during the daytime, such as in the story where he plays a game with [[Hyacinth (mythology)|Hyacinthus]], where the Sun is mentioned as separate from him, which would have been impossible to do if he had to drive the chariot.<ref name=":aatsgio"/> In Ovid, Sol appears in significantly fewer stories than Apollo, but when he does he is distinct from him. He is called the son of Hyperion, the brother of [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]], the father of Circe and Pasiphaë, and the only epithet he shares with Apollo is "Phoebus", which [[Karl Otfried Müller|Otfried Müller]] and [[Lewis Richard Farnell|Farnell]] argued it is not related to the Sun, but was applied to him because it made for a fitting epithet; and besides, [[Joseph Fontenrose|Fontenrose]] argues, Ovid is unlikely to have thought [[Latona]], Circe, [[Pyrrha]] and [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] as the same figure simply because he uses "Titania" for all four.<ref name=":aatsgio"/> The one time they seem to be thought of as the same is a passage in the story of [[Callisto (mythology)|Callisto]]:
 
{{Blockquote|
Nine crescent moons had since grown full<br>
when the goddess [Diana] faint from the chase in her brother's hot sunlight<br>
found a cool grove out of which a murmuring stream ran,<br>
winding over fine sand.
|title=[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph2.htm#476707506 2.453–456]}}
 
The brother is no doubt the Sun, Ovid apparently at first glance naming Diana as the Sun's sister; but in the very same passage, the Moon/Luna is mentioned, which may be the reason Ovid would use the word "brother" seemingly in relation to Diana in what is a verse about Sol.<ref name=":aatsgio"/>
 
=== Usil ===
[[File:M-Nymphenburg-SteinernerSaal03.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|Helios in the Sun chariot accompanied by Phosphorus and Hermes, fresco at Nymphenburg Palace, [[Munich]].]]
 
The Etruscan god of the Sun, equivalent to Helios, was [[Usil]]. His name appears on the bronze [[liver of Piacenza]], next to ''Tiur'', the Moon.<ref>Larissa Bonfante and Judith Swaddling, ''Etruscan Myths'' (Series The Legendary Past, British Museum/University of Texas) 2006:77.</ref> He appears, rising out of the sea, with a fireball in either outstretched hand, on an engraved Etruscan [[bronze mirror]] in late Archaic style, formerly on the Roman antiquities market.<ref>Noted by {{cite journal |first=J.D. |last=Beazley |title=The world of the Etruscan mirror |journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies |volume=69 |year=1949 |pages=1–17, esp. p.&nbsp;3, fig.&nbsp;1|doi=10.2307/629458 |jstor=629458 }}</ref> On Etruscan mirrors in Classical style, he appears with a [[Halo (religious iconography)|halo]]. In ancient artwork, [[Usil]] is shown in close association with [[Thesan]], the goddess of the dawn, something almost never seen with Helios and Eos,<ref>{{cite book |first1=Nancy Thomson |last1=de Grummond |first2=Erika |last2=Simon |title=The Religion of the Etruscans |publisher=University of Texas Press |date=2009-04-20}}</ref> however in the area between [[Cetona]] and [[Chiusi]] a stone [[obelisk]] is found (kept since 1622 in the monastery of San Francesco at [[Città della Pieve]]), whose relief decorations seem to have been interpreted as referring to a solar sanctuary: what appears to be a Sun boat, the heads of Helios and Thesan, and a [[rooster|cock]], likewise referring to the Sunrise.<ref>Fischer-Hansen and Poulsen, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2garBSREfywC&pg=PA281 281]</ref>
 
=== Zeus ===
[[File:Serapis.JPG|thumb|250px|left|Serapis with Moon and Sun, oil lamp, Roman [[terracotta]], [[British Museum]].]]
 
Helios is also sometimes conflated in classical literature with the highest Olympian god, Zeus. An attested cult epithet of Zeus is ''Aleios Zeus'', or "Zeus the Sun," from the Doric form of Helios' name.<ref>[https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/alpha/1155 "Aleion."] [[Suda]] On Line. Trans. Jennifer Benedict on 17 April 2000.</ref> The inscribed base of Mammia's dedication to Helios and Zeus Meilichios, dating from the fourth or third century BC, is a fairly and unusually early evidence of the conjoint worship of Helios and Zeus;<ref>Lalonde, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=EodSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 82]</ref> Helios was identified with Zeus as the absolute master of the universe, who could even hold power over the [[Moirai]], the goddesses of fate.<ref name=":berg45"/> According to [[Plutarch]]'s ''Quaestiones Romanae'' section from his ''[[Moralia]]'', Helios is Zeus in his material form that one can interact with, and that's why Zeus owns the year (accordingly, his sister Selene is Queen Hera in her material form, and owns the months),<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''[[Moralia|Quaestiones Romanae]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Roman_Questions*/D.html#77 Why do they believe that the year belongs to Jupiter, but the months to Juno?]</ref> while the [[Greek chorus|chorus]] in Euripides' ''Medea'' also link him to Zeus when they refer to Helios as "light born from Zeus"<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0114%3Acard%3D1251 1258]; ''The Play of Texts and Fragments: Essays in Honour of Martin Cropp'' by J. Robert C. Cousland, James, 2009, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=hcW-i_nrpWEC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA161 161]</ref> and in his now lost tragedy ''Mysians'', Euripides described Zeus as "Sun-eyed", while Helios is said elsewhere to be "the brilliant eye of Zeus, giver of life".<ref>Cook, p. [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/196/mode/2up?view=theater 196]</ref> In his Orphic hymn, Helios is addressed as "immortal Zeus".<ref name=":oh8"/> In [[Crete]], the cult of Zeus [[Talos|Tallaios]] had incorporated several solar elements into his worship; "Talos" was the local equivalent of Helios.<ref name=":kk">Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks 1951:110.</ref> [[Hesychius of Alexandria]] wrote that "Talos" was another word for the Sun.<ref name=":hest">[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s. v. [https://archive.org/details/hesychiialexand00schmgoog/page/n767/mode/2up?view=theater {{mvar|Τάλως}}]</ref> Helios is referred either directly as Zeus' eye,<ref>Sick, David H. (2004) "Mit(h)ra(s) and the myths of the Sun", ''Numen'', 51 (4): 432–467, {{JSTOR|3270454}}</ref> or clearly implied to be. For instance, Hesiod effectively describes Zeus's eye as the Sun.<ref>Bortolani, Ljuba Merlina (2016-10-13) ''Magical Hymns from Roman Egypt: A study of Greek and Egyptian traditions of divinity'', Cambridge University Press.</ref> This perception is possibly derived from earlier [[Proto-Indo-European religion]], in which the Sun is believed to have been envisioned as the eye of [[Dyeus|*''Dyḗus Pḥ<sub>a</sub>tḗr'']] (see [[Hvare-khshaeta]]). An [[Orphic]] saying, supposedly given by an oracle of Apollo, goes:
 
[[File:Wall painting - Dionysos with Helios and Aphrodite - Pompeii (VII 2 16) - Napoli MAN 9449 - 01.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Dionysus with long torch sitting on a throne, with Helios, Aphrodite and other gods. Antique fresco from [[Pompeii]].]]
 
: "Zeus, Hades, Helios-Dionysus, three gods in one godhead!"
 
Although the connection of Helios to Zeus does not seem to have basis in early Greek cult and writings, nevertheless there are many examples of direct identification in later times.<ref>Cook, pp [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/186/mode/2up?view=theater 186–187]</ref> The Hellenistic period gave birth to Serapis, a Greco-Egyptian deity conceived by the Greeks as a chthonic aspect of Zeus, whose solar nature is indicated by the Sun crown and rays the Greeks depicted him with.<ref name=":co188">Cook, pp [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/188/mode/2up?view=theater 188–189]</ref> Several Greek deities contributed to Serapis' "godhood" in addition to those two, like Asclepius, Dionysus and Hades; from Zeus and Helios Serapis draws his aspects of sovereignty and sun god.{{sfn|Hart|2005|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0L83uBijeZwC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA140 140]}} Frequent joint dedications to "Zeus-Serapis-Helios" have been found all over the Mediterranean,<ref name=":co188"/> for example, the Anastasy papyrus (now housed in the [[British Museum]]) equates Helios to not just Zeus and Serapis but also Mithras,<ref>Cook, p. [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/190/mode/2up?view=theater 190]</ref> and a series of inscriptions from [[Lajat|Trachonitis]] give evidence of the cult of "Zeus the Unconquered Sun".<ref>Cook, p. [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/192/mode/2up?view=theater 193]</ref> There is evidence of Zeus being worshipped as a solar god in the Aegean island of [[Amorgos]], based  on a lacunose inscription ''{{lang|grc|Ζεὺς Ἥλ[ιο]ς}}'' ("Zeus the Sun"), which, if correct, could mean that Sun elements in Zeus' worship could be as early as the fifth century BC.<ref>Cook, p. [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/194/mode/2up?view=theater 194]</ref>
 
An offering made to Zeus-Helios, who had an established cult in Anatolia, was found in a votive inscription east of ancient Sinope,<ref>Manoledakis, Manolis. "A Proposal Relating to a Votive Inscription to Zeus Helios from Pontus." Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 173 (2010): [http://www.jstor.org/stable/20756841. 116–18.]</ref> and in [[Ostia Antica|Ostia]], Serapis was depicted on a disc sporting a corona radiata, in the manner of Helios.<ref>Squarciapino, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=VioVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA35 35]</ref> A joint dedication to "Zeus Helios Megas Serapis" was found on a ''gazophylakion'' in a street market in Alexandria. The subject of the inscription, in side A of the block, is a dedication of a gazophylakion and several objects to those gods made by Publius Iulius Pius, a centurio cohortis of a Liburnian ship.<ref>Elmaghrabi, Mohamed G. "A Dedication to Zeus Helios Megas Sarapis on a 'Gazophylakion' from Alexandria." Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 200 (2016):  [http://www.jstor.org/stable/26603880. 219–28.]</ref>
 
When quoting this in his ''Hymn to King Helios'', [[Julian (emperor)|Emperor Julian]] replaced the compound name Helios-Dionysus with [[Serapis]], whose native Egyptian counterpart [[Osiris]] was identified with Dionysus. On the basis of this oracle, Julian concluded that "among the intellectual gods, Helios and Zeus have a joint or rather a single sovereignty."<ref name=Julian_hymn>[[Julian (emperor)|Julian]], ''[[s:Hymn to King Helios|Hymn to King Helios]]''</ref> The common identity of the two gods is apparent in several of the emperor's works, for example his ''Against the Galileans'' where Zeus and Helios are jointly the parents of Asclepius, the god of medicine;<ref>[[Julian (emperor)|Emperor Julian]], ''Against the Galileans'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/julian_apostate_galileans_1_text.htm 200a]</ref> in ''To The Mother of the Gods'' Zeus and Helios are interchangeably named as the consort and co-ruler of the Anatolian mother goddess [[Cybele]]; and in ''Against Heracleios'', when Julian asks Zeus which is the way leading to him, Zeus simply appoints Helios.<ref>Lecerf, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=K2JIDKvYgo8C&pg=PA184 184]</ref> Julian also observed that in the ''Odyssey'', when Helios threatened Zeus to shine among the dead in the Underworld should his wishes not be heard after his sacred cows had been devoured, Zeus gave in straight away, and did not boast of his strength and superior power as he did when he confronted the other Olympian gods in the ''Iliad'', and instead tells Helios to continue shedding his light to the world.<ref name=":berg45"/>
 
In Orphic theology, Zeus is equated with Helios (among several other gods and concepts) in order to highlight Zeus' universality.<ref>''The Living Age'', vol. 3, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0K02AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA229 229], the [[University of Chicago Library]], 1879.</ref>
 
=== Hades ===
Helios seems to have been connected to some degree with Hades, the god of the Underworld. A dedicatory inscription from [[Smyrna]] (modern day [[İzmir]] in [[Turkey]]) describes a 1st–2nd century sanctuary to "God Himself" as the most exalted of a group of six deities, including clothed statues of ''Plouton Helios'' and ''Koure Selene'', or in other words "[[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]] the Sun" and "[[Persephone|Kore]] the Moon".<ref>Thompson, "ISmyrna 753," pp. 101ff</ref> As for the other gods and goddesses, those include ''Helios Apollon'', who is paired with his twin sister Artemis;<ref>Thompson, "ISmyrna 753," pp. 106.</ref> Zeus, who is subordinated to "God Himself"; and [[Men (god)|Men]], an [[Anatolia]]n [[Lunar deity|Moon deity]] (a god often identified with Selene<ref>Kerenyi, pp. 196–197</ref><ref>Frede and Laks, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=35Mc3pL2pBoC&pg=PA200 200]</ref>); Men is also sometimes identified with another Anatolian import, [[Attis]] (the consort of the mother goddess [[Cybele]]), who had a table before him for ceremonial dining.<ref>Thompson, "ISmyrna 753," pp. 106, 109.</ref> ''Plouton Helios'' is mentioned in other literary sources as well; he is associated with ''Koure Selene'' and ''Helios Apollon''; the Sun on its nighttime course, while coming back from the west, was sometimes envisioned as travelling through the Underworld on its return to the east for the next day. Roman poet [[Apuleius]] describes a rite in which the Sun appears at midnight to the initiate at the gates of [[Proserpina]]; the suggestion here is that this midnight Sun could be ''Plouton Helios''.<ref>Thompson, "ISmyrna 753," pp. 111.</ref> Evidence comes from Smyrna, where the father of a great priest of Helios Apollo donated statues of this god, Artemis and Men, as many artefacts, altars and temples with images of Pluto-Helios and Koure-Selene, and a key carried in the procession; Pluto-Helios seems to reflect the Egyptian idea of the nocturnal Sun that penetrated the realm of the dead.<ref>Nilsson 1906, p. [https://archive.org/details/griechischefest01nilsgoog/page/428/mode/2up?view=theater 428]</ref>
 
An old oracle from [[Claros]] said that the names of Zeus, Hades, Helios, Dionysus and ''Jao'' all represented the Sun at different seasons.<ref>Inman, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HIEBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA29 29]</ref> [[Macrobius]] wrote that Iao/Jao is "Hades in winter, Zeus in spring, Helios in summer, and Iao in autumn."<ref>[[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Macrobius/Saturnalia/1*.html#18.19 1.18.19]; Dillon, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UAcqDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA343 343]</ref>
 
Diodorus Siculus reported that the Chaldeans called Cronus ([[Saturn (mythology)|Saturnus]]) by the name Helios, or the Sun, and he explained that this was because [[Saturn]] was the "most conspicuous" of the planets.<ref>"epiphanestaton" – "most conspicuous" noted in [[Diodorus Siculus]] II. 30. 3–4. See also Franz Boll (1919) Kronos-Helios, ''Archiv für Religionswissenschaft'' XIX, p.&nbsp;344.</ref>
 
== Iconography ==
=== Depiction and symbols ===
[[File:British_Museum,_London_(2014)_-_08.JPG|thumb|250x250px|Helios (far left, head missing) marble from the east pediment of the [[Parthenon]], [[British Museum]]]]
 
Helios often appears in ancient pottery and coins. The earliest depictions of Helios in a humanoid form date from the late sixth and early fifth centuries BC in [[Attica|Attic]] black-figure vases, and typically show him frontally as a bearded man on his chariot with a sun disk. A red-figure on a polychrome bobbin by a follower of the Brygos painter already signifies a shift in the god's depiction, painting him as a youthful, beardless figure, while an Attic column krater now kept in the [[Detroit Institute of Arts]] is among the earliest examples of a shift in Helios' depiction from frontal to profile, though it did keep the bearded man imagery.<ref name=":mad">Madigan, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=9moee6JH6FAC&pg=PA48 48&ndash;49]</ref> Likewise a late sixth century or early fifth century BC [[lekythos]] attributed to the [[Sappho Painter]] shows him as a bearded male, his long hair bound up in a ''krobylos'', holding a goad and wearing a finely pleated long linen tunic of a charioteer.<ref name=":coh">Cohen, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=SCA2AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA206 206-208]</ref> In later art, he is consistently drawn as beardless and young. In it, he is typically depicted with a radiant crown;<ref>Platt, p .[https://books.google.com/books?id=L-OBDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA387 387]</ref> a radiate god, with the right hand often raised, a gesture of power (which came to be a definitional feature of solar iconography), the left hand usually holding a whip or a globe.<ref name=":kraem">Kraemer, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SSbnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA165 165]</ref> By the middle of the fifth century BC Helios has lost his beard, as his identification with the youthful, fair Apollo has begun.<ref name=":gender"/> In Rhodian coins, he was shown as beardless god, with thick and flowing hair, surrounded by beams.<ref>Collignon, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=srufAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA178 178]</ref> He was also presented as a young man clad in tunic, with curling hair and wearing buskins.<ref>''Classical Manual'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qqdfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA572 572]</ref> While early depictions of Helios would show him holding a whip and reins of the quadriga, later ones supplant the whip and reins for a globe on the left hand and a raised right hand.<ref name=":kraem"/> Just like Selene, who is sometimes depicted with a lunar disk rather than a crescent, Helios too has his own solar one instead of a sun crown in some depictions, which radiates, unlike Selene's own which does not.<ref>Savignoni, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=q0EaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA270 270]</ref> It is likely that Helios' later image as a warrior-charioteer might be traced back to the Mycenaean period;<ref>Paipetis, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=FdJGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA365 365]</ref> the symbol of the disc of the sun is displayed in scenes of rituals from both Mycenae and [[Tiryns]], and large amounts of chariots used by the Mycenaeans are recorded in Linear B tablets.<ref>Paipetis, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=FdJGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA357 357]</ref>
 
[[File:Academy of athens a facade detail far left.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|Helios witnessing the birth of Athena, detail from the pediment (far-left) of the [[Academy of Athens (modern)|Academy of Athens]], by [[Leonidas Drosis]], [[Greece]].]]
 
In archaic art, Helios rising in his chariot was a type of motive.<ref>Savignoni, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=q0EaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA271&redir_esc=y 267]</ref> Helios in ancient pottery is usually depicted rising from the sea in his four-horse chariot, either as a single figure or connecting to some myth, indicating that it takes place at dawn; often he is accompanied by Selene (Moon), Eos (Dawn), Hemera (Day) and the Stars. He is often present at the abduction of Persephone, the [[Judgement of Paris]], and Heracles shooting arrows at him.<ref>Walters, p. [https://archive.org/details/historyofancient02walt/page/78/mode/2up?view=theater 78]</ref> In an [[Attica|Attic]] black-figure vase, now kept at the [[National Archaeological Museum of Taranto]] in [[Italy]], attributed to the [[Theseus Painter]], shows Heracles sitting on the shores of the Ocean river, while next to him a pair of arrows protrude from Helios, crowned with a solar disk and driving his chariot.<ref>See the vase [https://www.theoi.com/Gallery/T17.4.html here].</ref>
 
Helios adorned the east pediment of the [[Parthenon]]; he along with Selene framed the scene of the birth of Athena, he, with only his head and arms shown, driving his quadriga on the left as he rises from the ocean, while she in her [[biga (chariot)|biga]] descending into the sea on the far right.<ref>Neils, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=gA81kINAI9cC&pg=236 236&ndash;237]</ref><ref>Palagia, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=GFNuxcVKLIkC&pg=PA18 18&ndash;19]</ref> Helios (again with Selene) also framed the birth of Aphrodite on the base of the [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia]],<ref>Robertson, Martin 1981, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=BoUsvD1_VNQC&pg=PA96 96]</ref><ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+5.11.8 5.11.8]</ref> the [[Judgement of Paris]],<ref>Robertson 1992, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BmmW1h7Qk7MC&pg=PA255 255]</ref> and possibly the birth of [[Pandora]] on the base of the [[Athena Parthenos]] statue.<ref>Morris, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fnJvha8jzzQC&pg=PA87 87]</ref> They were also featured in the pedimental group of the [[Temple of Apollo (Delphi)|temple]] at [[Delphi]].<ref>''The Nineteenth Century'' Vol. 17, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YDMAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA671 671]</ref> In the Pergamon Altar, depicting the [[Giants (Greek mythology)|Gigantomachy]], the charioteer with the fluttering robes guiding his four-horse chariot while swinging a flaming torch at his enemy is doubtlessly Helios.<ref>Mitchell, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=72EJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA92 92]</ref> In dynamic [[Hellenistic]] art, Helios along with other luminary deities and Rhea-[[Cybele]], representing reason, battle the Giants (who represent irrationality).<ref>Roberts, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=rMeJDwmr_hcC&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA215 215]</ref>
 
[[File:0 Arc de Constantin - Côté oriental.JPG|thumb|right|320px|Sol in the east side of the [[Arch of Constantine]], [[Rome]].]]
 
The ancient sculptor [[Lysippus]], teacher of Chares of Lindos (who built the Colossus of Rhodes) was celebrated for many his statues, more particularly for his ''Chariot with the Sun'', another large statue of the god which stood in Rhodes.<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plin.+Nat.+34.19&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137 34.19]</ref><ref>de Grummond, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=sKT6M2rdN9gC&pg=PA96 96]</ref> In [[Elis]] near the market place he was depicted with rays coming out of his head in an image made of wood with gilded clothing and marble head, hands and feet.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D24%3Asection%3D6 6.24.6]</ref> Outside the market of the city of [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]], along the road to Lechaeum, stood a gateway on which stood two gilded chariots; one carrying Helios' son Phaethon, the other Helios himself.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.3.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.3.2]</ref>
 
Helios appears infrequently in gold jewelry before Roman times; extant examples include a gold medallion with its bust from the Gulf of Elaia in [[Anatolia]], where he's depicted frontally with a head of unruly hair, and a golden medallion of the [[Pelinna]] necklace.<ref name=":miller">Miller, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=-wsxBUMzY3YC&pg=PA33 33–35]</ref> The most famous representations of Helios, namely his statue in the east pediment of the Parthenon, Lysippus' chariot statue for the Rhodians and the Colossus of Rhodes were sources of inspiration for various other artworks of Helios in antiquity; the Pelinna medallion may also be following that same tradition.<ref name=":miller"/>
 
The association of Alexander's features with solar iconography are maybe set around the time of Lysippus' ''Chariot with the Sun'' and Chares' Colossus; Alexander-like facial features can be traced on the fourth century-onward Rhodian coins depicting Helios' sun-crowned head; many Hellenistic and Roman images of Helios and then [[Mithra]]s derive their facial features from Alexander.<ref>''The Alexander Romance in Persia and Greece'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=gDPgh3IQumAC&pg=PA392 392]</ref> His iconography, used by the [[Ptolemies]] after representations of [[Alexander the Great]] as Alexander-Helios, came to symbolize power and epiphany, and was borrowed by several Egyptian deities in the Roman period.<ref>Riggs, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOLuaRusoCgC&pg=PA449 449]</ref> Other rulers who had their portraits done with solar features include [[Ptolemy III Euergetes]], one of the [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemaic kings]] of [[Egypt]], of whom a bust with holes in the fillet for the sunrays and gold coins depicting him with a radiant halo on his head like Helios and holding the [[aegis]] exist.<ref>[[British Museum]], ''A Guide to the Principal Coins of the Greeks 60'', no. 24, pl. 34</ref><ref>C. Vermeule and D. von Bothmer, "Notes on a New Edition of Michaelis: Ancient Marbles in Great Britain." ''[[American Journal of Archaeology]]'' vol. 63, no. 2 (1959): p. [https://archive.org/details/sim_american-journal-of-archaeology_1959_63/page/146/mode/2up?q=&view=theater 146]</ref>
 
=== Late Roman era ===
[[File:Beit Alpha.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Helios surrounded by the [[zodiac]] in a mosaic pavement of a 6th-century synagogue at [[Beth Alpha]], [[Israel]].]]
 
Helios was also frequently depicted in mosaics, usually surrounded by the twelve [[zodiac signs]] and accompanied by Selene. From the third and fourth centuries CE onwards, the sun god was seen as an official imperial Roman god and thus appeared in various forms in monumental artworks, portrayed wearing a radiant crown signifying the sun's rays and driving a quadriga. The cult of Helios/Sol had a notable function in [[Land of Israel|Eretz Israel]]; since the Emperor was regarded as the ruler of the world, he figure's right-handed greeting was recognized as a symbol of power; Helios was [[Constantine the Great]]'s patron, and so that ruler came to be identified with Helios.<ref name=":steiny">Steinberg, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=g_MPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA144 144]</ref> In his new capital city, [[Constantinople]], Constantine recycled a statue of Helios to represent himself in his portrait, as [[Nero]] had done with Sol, which was not an uncommon practice among pagans,<ref>Long, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3dUUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA314 314]</ref> and the position of the emperors in the [[Arch of Galerius and Rotunda|Arch of Galerius]] is comparable to the position of Helios/Sol on the Dieberg plaque,<ref>Long, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3dUUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA316 316]</ref> and also in coinage.<ref>Toorn et al, [https://books.google.com/books?redir_esc=y&hl=el&id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA398 s.v. Helios p. 398-399]</ref> A considerable portion if not the majority of Jewish Helios material dates from the 3rd through the 6th centuries CE, including numerous mosaics of the god in Jewish synagogues and invocation in papyri.<ref>Kraemer, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SSbnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA158 158]</ref>
 
[[File:Hamat-Tiberias-132.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Helios in the Hammat Tiberias mosaic, [[Israel]].]]
 
The sun god was depicted in mosaics in three places of the Land of Israel; at the synagogues of [[Hammat Tiberias]], [[Beth Alpha]] and [[Naaran]]. In the mosaic of the Hammat Tiberias, Helios is wrapped in a partially gilded tunic fastened with a fibula and sporting a seven-rayed halo<ref name=":steiny"/> with his right hand uplifted, while his left holds a globe and a whip; his chariot is drawn as a frontal box with two large wheels pulled by four horses.<ref name=":hak">Ḥaḵlîlî, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=Jxk0v1rWL1EC&pg=PA195 195-196]</ref> At the Beth Alpha synagogue, Helios is at the centre of the circle of the zodiac mosaic, together with the [[Torah shrine]] between ''[[menorahs]]'', other ritual objects, and a pair of [[lions]], while the [[Horae|Seasons]] are in spandrels. The frontal head of Helios emerges from the chariot box, with two wheels in side view beneath, and the four heads of the horses, likewise frontal, surmounting an array of legs.<ref>Dunbabin, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=U7Uu_Dq8oY4C&pg=PA191 191-192]</ref><ref name=":steiny"/> In the synagogue of Naaran, the god is dressed in a white tunic embellished with gemstones on the upper body; over the tunic is a ''[[paludamentum]]'' pinned with a fibula or bulla and decorated with a star motif, as he holds in his hand a scarf, the distinctive symbol of a ruler from the fourth century onward, and much like all other mosaics he's seated in his four-horse chariot. Temporary writings record "the sun has three letters of [God's] name written at its heart and the angels lead it" and "[t]he sun is riding on a chariot and rises decorated like a bridegroom".<ref name=":steiny"/> Both at Naaran and Beth Alpha the image of the sun is presented in a bust in frontal position, and a crown with nimbus and rays on his head.<ref name=":hak"/> Helios at both Hammath Tiberias and Beth Alpha is depicted with seven rays emanating from his head, it has been argued that those two are significantly different; the Helios of Hammath Tiberias possesses all the attributes of Sol Invictus and thus the Roman emperors, those being the rayed crown, the raised right hand and the globe, all common Helios-Sol iconography of the late third and early fourth centuries AD.<ref name=":kraem"/>
 
Helios and Selene were also personified in the mosaic of the Monastery of Lady Mary at [[Beit She'an]], where he is crowned with a seven-rayed halo while she wears a crescent upon her head, both holding flaming torches, surrounded by the personifications of the twelve months. His, on the left representing the day, is the bust portraying a bearded male wearing a tunic and a [[chlamys]].<ref name=":hak"/> Here he is not shown as Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun, but rather as a celestial body; he is the guardian of creation and changing of the seasons, his red hair symbolizing the sun.<ref name=":steiny"/>
 
== In post-antiquity art ==
=== In painting ===
[[File:Le_chateau_de_versailles_le_jardin_35.JPG|thumb|left|upright=1.35|Apollo fountain in the [[Palace of Versailles]], [[France]].]]
 
Helios/Sol had little independent identity and presence during the [[Renaissance]],  where the main solar gods were Apollo, [[Bacchus]] and [[Hercules]];<ref name=":bull">Bull, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=aOGwFFb3PIcC&pg=PT330 330]</ref> the identification between Helios and Apollo had started since antiquity, and though the two were not necessarily identical,<ref name=":bull"/> distinguishing between Apollo-Diana and their heavenly counterparts Sol and Luna became too confusing for most people during the Renaissance.<ref>Bull, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=aOGwFFb3PIcC&pg=PT352 352]</ref> In post-antiquity art, Apollo assimilates features and attributes of both classical Apollo and Helios, so that Apollo, along with his own iconography, is many times depicted as driving the four-horse chariot, representing both of them.<ref name=":imp23">Impelluso, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9eFjTRNwrwQC&pg=PA23 23]</ref> In baroque painting, Apollo is often depicted with his prancing horses, surrounded by sunlight, driving Diana, representing the moon goddess and identified with Helios' sister Selene, away from the sky and into darkness; otherwise, Apollo might be seated on a cloud, with his lyre and Diana next to him.<ref name=":hall">Hall, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=oR-yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 27]</ref> In medieval tradition, each of the four horses had its own distinctive colour; in the Renaissance however, all four are shown as white, similar to those used to pull the Roman triumphal four-horse chariots.<ref name=":imp23"/><ref>Hall, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=oR-yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66 66]</ref> In [[Versailles]], in the great [[Bassin d'Apollo|fountain of Apollo]], a gilded statue of him depicts Apollo as the god of the sun, driving his quadriga as he sinks in the ocean;<ref>Cosgrove, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=drW-Q7_RxcIC&pg=PA168 168]</ref> Apollo in this regard represents the king of [[France]], ''le roi-soleil'', "the Sun King".<ref name=":hall"/>
 
[[File:Diego Velázquez 013.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|right|''[[Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan]]'', by [[Diego de Velázquez]], oil on canvas.]]
 
In the same vein, Apollo is sometimes depicted with Eos/Aurora, the goddess of the dawn and the other one of Helios' sisters other than Selene; in a drawing by Italian painter [[Lelio Orsi]] from circa 1544–1545, the god Apollo leads his quadriga, loosely holding onto the reins of the chariot with a bow and quiver slung over his left shoulder; Aurora, buoyed on a pillow of cloud, precedes the chariot, as she announced his arrival, strewing flowers in Apollo's path, as behind them emerges the semicircle of the rising sun, its rays illuminating the horses as well as the forms of Apollo and Aurora.<ref>''Gray Collection: Pure Drawing'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=b6LQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 24]</ref> The ceiling fresco ''[[Aurora (Reni)|L'Aurora]]'' by Italian painter [[Guido Reni]], painted in 1614, is another example of a Baroque painting where Eos/Aurora is seen leading Apollo, who is surrounded by the Hours and a luminous halo.<ref>[https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/baroque-art1/baroque-italy/a/reni-aurora Essay on Aurora fresco], by Shannon Pritchard.</ref>
 
[[File:Guido Reni - L'Aurora di Guido Reni nelle arti decorative.jpg|thumb|left|350px|''Aurora'', by Guido Reni, 1613-14, ceiling fresco ([[Casino dell'Aurora]], [[Rome]]).]]
 
Additionally to the chariot, Apollo is often drawn with a solar halo around his head and depicted in scenes of Helios' mythology, like informing [[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]] of [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]]'s affair with [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]],<ref>Impelluso, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9eFjTRNwrwQC&pg=PA24 24]</ref><ref name=":hall"/> seducing Leucothoe or refusing to look at Clytie as she looks longingly upon him, or being accompanied by Aurora, the goddess of the dawn who opens the gates for him to pass through each morning. Accordingly, in depictions of Phaethon meeting his father and asking him the privilege of driving the sun chariot, artists gave to Phaethon's father the appearance and attributes of Apollo, despite his genealogy; thus Apollo the sun god is shown sitting on a throne of clouds, with a lyre ever by his side.<ref>Hall, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=oR-yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA252 252]</ref> [[Giovanni Battista Tiepolo|Giambattista Tiepolo]], an Italian artist, painted oil on canvas the psychological moment when Phaethon made his daring wish, where Apollo, as the father, bathed in an aureole of light, vainly attempts to dissuade his son while the boy gestures at his father's horses, as described by Ovid; his golden chariot and horses are there too, as he is attended by the winged [[Horae]], the goddesses of the seasons, and [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]], here the god of time.<ref>Seydle, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=_h82AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 33]</ref>
 
=== In literature ===
[[File:Greek postage stamp, 1947, unification of Dodecanese with Greece.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Helios in one of the many stamps issued in 1947-53, celebrating the unification of the [[Dodecanese]] with [[Greece]]]]
[[File:Odysseus' men eat the sacred oxen of the sun as his daughter informs him engraving.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Odysseus' men eat the oxen, as a woman informs Helios, mounted on his chariot, engraving by [[Theodoor van Thulden]], 1632–1633, [[Rijksmuseum]], [[Netherlands]].]]
 
A love affair between the Sun god and the [[Nereid]] Amphitrite is introduced by French playwright Monléon's ''L'Amphytrite'' (1630); in the denouement, the Sun, scorned by the nymph, sets the land and sea ablaze, before the king of gods [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] intervenes and restores peace.<ref name=":powell"/> In Jean-Gilbert Durval's ''Le Travaux d'Ulysse'' (1631), whose primary sources were not the ''Odyssey'', but a series of well-known paintings of the titular [[Odysseus]]' adventures, after his men dine on the sacred sheep, the Sun appears in 'a chariot of light', accompanied by Jupiter  on his throne of glory; like in the myth, Jupiter kills Odysseus' crewmen with his lightning bolts when they put to sea again.<ref name=":powell">Powell, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=cm4NKuoIaBkC&pg=PA236 236–237]</ref>
 
French composer [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]] wrote in 1683 a ''[[tragédie en musique]]'' in five acts inspired by Ovid's handling of the tale of Helios' son, ''[[Phaëton (Lully)|Phaëton]]'', in which Phaëton obtains from his father the sun chariot in order to prove his divine origins to his rival [[Epaphus]], but loses control and is instead struck and killed by Jupiter.<ref>[[Jean-Baptiste Lully]], ''[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1521111c/f1.image Phaëton]''</ref> The role of the father, le Soleil (the Sun) was played by a [[tenor]] (haute-contre).<ref>Parvopassu, pp [http://www.operamanager.com/cgi-bin/process.cgi?azione=ricerca&tipo=OP&id=10760 1015–1016] (in Italian).</ref> In the fourth act, the Sun, surrounded by the Horae, warmly receives his son, and after the festivities, he rashly accepts to give Phaeton a sign of fatherhood, only to quickly foresee the consequences once the boy expresses his wish, but is unable to go back on his word.<ref>Harris-Warrick, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HcwiDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 70]</ref> The luxury of the Sun and his palace was no doubt meant to connect to the Sun King, [[Louis XIV]], who used the sun for his emblem;<ref>Miller and Newlands, p. [https://books.google.gr/books?id=7fijBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA377 377]</ref> the play was an indirect reference to the fate of [[Nicolas Fouquet]], whose ambition to imitate Louis XIV brought about his downfall. This Apollo-Sun was frequently used to represent Louis XIV's reign; in [[Pierre Corneille]]'s ''[[Andromède (Corneille)|Andromède]]'' (1650), the [[Muse]] [[Melpomene]] stops the Sun to make him shine in the theatre, embellished with the finest art of [[France]] and [[Italy]], and he predicts that King Louis XIV will achieve greater glory than [[Pompey]], [[Alexander the Great]] and [[Julius Caesar]].<ref>Powell, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cm4NKuoIaBkC&pg=PA266 266]</ref>
 
[[Gerhart Hauptmann]] wrote a long poem ''Helios und Phaethon'', which, unlike other retellings of the myth, omits entirely the cosmic disaster Phaethon caused in order to focus on the relationship between the divine father and his mortal son, as Phaethon tries to convince his father he is well-suited for his five steeds, while Helios tries to dissuade his ambitious child, but eventually consents and gives him his reins and steeds to drive for a single day.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8IRJEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT59 Helios und Phaethon]''.</ref> In [[James Joyce]]'s book ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'', episode 14 is titled ''Oxen of the Sun'', after the story of Odysseus' men and the cattle of Helios in book twelve of the ''Odyssey''. The episode takes place in late morning at the Holles Street Maternity Hospital, and its symbolism is perhaps the most challenging in the book; the young men that gathered in the maternity hospital, due to their indecent behavior, feel like they committed a sacrilege against the women in labour that were giving birth to new life in the hospital; those mothers were held as sacred, akin to symbols of fertility, not unlike the sacred cattle of Helios whom the mortal crew so impiously slew and ate.<ref>[https://www.ulyssesguide.com/14-oxen-of-the-sun Ulysses Guide: 14. Oxen of the Sun]</ref>
 
== Namesakes ==
=== In astronomy ===
Helios is the Greek proper name for the [[Sun]] for both [[Ancient Greek|Ancient]] and [[Modern Greek]],<ref>{{Lexico|Helios}}</ref> and additionally [[List of geological features on Hyperion#Craters|Helios]], one of the craters of [[Hyperion (moon)|Hyperion]], a [[Natural satellite|moon]] of [[Saturn]] which bears Helios' father's name, is named after this Greek god. Several words relating to the Sun derive from "helios", including the rare adjective heliac (meaning "solar"),<ref>{{OED|heliac}}</ref> [[heliosphere]], [[Apsis#Perihelion and aphelion|perihelion and aphelion]] among others.
 
=== In science ===
The [[chemical element]] [[Helium]], a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, [[Inert gas|inert]], [[monatomic]] [[gas]], first in the [[noble gas]] group in the [[periodic table]], was named after Helios by [[Norman Lockyer]] and [[Edward Frankland]], as it was first observed in the [[Emission spectrum|spectrum]] of the [[chromosphere]] of the Sun.<ref>{{OEtymD|helium}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomson |first=William |date=August 3, 1871 |volume=4 |pages=261–278 [268] |doi=10.1038/004261a0 |title=Inaugural Address of Sir William Thomson |journal=Nature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IogCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA268 |quote=Frankland and Lockyer find the yellow prominences to give a very decided bright line not far from D, but hitherto not identified with any terrestrial flame. It seems to indicate a new substance, which they propose to call Helium |bibcode=1871Natur...4..261. |issue=92 |pmc=2070380 |access-date=February 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202011154/https://books.google.com/books?id=IogCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA268 |archive-date=December 2, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> Helium makes up for about 25% of the Sun's [[mass]].
 
=== In taxonomy ===
[[Helius (fly)|Helius]] is a [[genus]] of [[crane fly]] in the family [[Limoniidae]] that shares its name with the god.
 
=== In spaceflight ===
A pair of [[Space probe|probes]] that were launched into heliocentric orbit by [[NASA]] to study solar processes were called [[Helios (spacecraft)|Helios A and Helios B]] after this god. They were launched from [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]], [[Florida]], on December 10, 1974, and January 15, 1976, respectively. Those probes are no longer functional yet remain in their elliptical orbits around the Sun.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.n2yo.com/database/?m=12&d=10&y=1974|title=Search Satellite Database: HELIOS 1|website=www.n2yo.com}}; {{Cite web|url=https://www.n2yo.com/database/?m=01&d=15&y=1976|title=Search Satellite Database: HELIOS 2|website=www.n2yo.com}}</ref><ref>[https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1974-097A NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive] and [https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1976-003A NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive] Note that there is no "Epoch end" date given, which is NASA's way of saying it is still in orbit.</ref>
 
=== In wine-making ===
Orinos Helios ("mountainous sun") is the name of a brand of [[wine]] in [[Greece]], produced in Domaine Helios in [[Nemea]].<ref>Lazarakis Konstantinos, ''The Wines of Greece'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=VHeQ76VMvk8C&pg=PT284 284], 2005, {{ISBN|978-1-845-33620-2}}; Hugh Johnson, ''Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TYgDDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 127], 2017</ref>
 
== Genealogy ==
 
{{chart top|Helios's family tree, according to Hesiod's ''Theogony''<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+132 132&ndash;138], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337 337&ndash;411], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+453 453&ndash;520], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+901 901&ndash;906, 915&ndash;920]; Caldwell, pp. 8&ndash;11, tables 11&ndash;14.</ref>|collapsed=no}}
{{chart/start}}
{{chart|}}
{{chart| | | | | | | | | | | |URA |y|GAI |~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|y|PON|URA=[[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]]|GAI=[[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]|PON=[[Pontus (mythology)|Pontus]]}}
{{chart|,|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| | | |!}}
{{chart|!|OCE |y|TET | | | |HYP |y|THE | | | | |CRI |y|EUR|OCE=[[Oceanus]]|TET=[[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]|HYP=[[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]]|THE=[[Theia]]|CRI=[[Crius]]|EUR=[[Eurybia (mythology)|Eurybia]]}}
{{chart|!| |,|-|^|-|.| | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.| | | |,|-|-|^|v|-|-|-|.}}
{{chart|!|RIV | |OCE | |HEL | |SEL | |EOS | |AST | |PAL | |PER |RIV=<small>The&nbsp;[[Potamoi|Rivers]]</small>|OCE=<small>The&nbsp;[[Oceanids]]</small>|HEL='''HELIOS'''|SEL=[[Selene]]<ref>Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+371 371&ndash;374], in the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]] to Hermes'' (4), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+4+99&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138 99&ndash;100], Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.</ref>|EOS=[[Eos]]|AST=[[Astraeus]]|PAL=[[Pallas (Titan)|Pallas]]|PER=[[Perses (Titan)|Perses]]}}
{{chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{chart|)|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | |}}
{{chart|!| | | | |CRO |y|RHE | | | | | | | |COE |y|PHO | | |COE=[[Coeus]]|PHO=[[Phoebe (mythology)|Phoebe]]|CRO=[[Cronus]]|RHE=[[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]}}
{{chart|!| |,|-|v|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|v|-|.| | | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | }}
{{chart|!|HES |!|HER | |HAD |!|ZEU | | | |LET | |AST | |HES=[[Hestia]]|HER=[[Hera]]|HAD=[[Hades]]|ZEU=[[Zeus]]|LET=[[Leto]]|AST=[[Asteria (Titaness)|Asteria]]}}
{{chart|!| | | |!| | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{chart|!| | |DEM | | | | | |POS | | | | | | | | | | | | | |DEM=[[Demeter]]|POS=[[Poseidon]]}}
{{chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{chart|`|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.}}
{{chart| | | | |IAP |y|CLY | | | | | |MNE |~|y|~|ZEU |~|y|~|THE |IAP=[[Iapetus (mythology)|Iapetus]]|CLY=[[Clymene (wife of Iapetus)|Clymene]]&nbsp;(or&nbsp;[[Asia (mythology)|Asia]])<ref>According to [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+507 507&ndash;511], Clymene, one of the [[Oceanids]], the daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]], at [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351 351], was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while according to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D3 1.2.3], another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.</ref>|MNE=[[Mnemosyne]]|ZEU=(Zeus)|THE=[[Themis]]}}
{{chart| |,|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | | | | |!| | | | | |!}}
{{chart|ATL | |MEN | |PRO | |EPI | | | | |MUS | | | |HOR |ATL=[[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]]<ref>According to [[Plato]], ''[[Critias (dialogue)|Critias]]'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg032.perseus-eng1:113d 113d&ndash;114a], Atlas was the son of [[Poseidon]] and the mortal [[Cleito]].</ref>|MEN=[[Menoetius (Greek mythology)|Menoetius]]|PRO=[[Prometheus]]<ref>In [[Aeschylus]], ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.445.xml 444&ndash;445 n. 2], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.467.xml 446&ndash;447 n. 24], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.539.xml 538&ndash;539 n. 113]) Prometheus is made to be the son of [[Themis]].</ref>|EPI=[[Epimetheus (mythology)|Epimetheus]]|MUS=<small>The&nbsp;[[Muses]]</small>|HOR=<small>The&nbsp;[[Horae]]</small>}}
{{chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}
 
== See also ==
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Myths|Religion}}
* [[Ah! Sun-flower]]
* [[Amaterasu]]
* [[Amshuman]]
* [[Five Suns]] (mythology)
* [[Guaraci]]
* [[Heliopolis (disambiguation)|Heliopolis]], particularly
** [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis in Egypt]]
** [[Heliopolis (Syria)|Heliopolis in Lebanon]]
* [[Piltzintecuhtli]] (mythology)
* [[List of solar deities]]
 
== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
 
== References ==
{{Reflist|22em}}
 
== Bibliography ==
=== Primary sources ===
{{refbegin|22em}}
* [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals, Volume II: Books 6-11'', translated by A. F. Scholfield, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 450, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1959. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL449/1959/volume.xml  Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals, Volume III: Books 12-17'', translated by A. F. Scholfield, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 449, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1959. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL449/1959/volume.xml  Online version at Harvard University Press]. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99494-2}}.
* [[Aeschylus]], ''Fragments.'' Edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. [[Loeb Classical Library]] 505. Cambridge, MA: [[Harvard University Press]], 2009. {{ISBN|978-0674996298}}.
* [[Aeschylus]], ''[[The Persians|Persians]]. [[Seven Against Thebes]]. [[The Suppliants (Aeschylus)|Suppliants]]. [[Prometheus Bound]].'' Edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 145. Cambridge, MA: [[Harvard University Press]], 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99627-4}}. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL145/2009/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Aesop]], ''[[Aesop's Fables]]. A new translation by Laura Gibbs.'' Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002. [http://www.mythfolklore.net/aesopica/oxford/index.htm Full text and index available at mythfolklore.net].
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=C431BA809CA4DEA22A15DA9C666F3400?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0022%3atext%3dLibrary Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Apollonius of Rhodes]],  ''[[Argonautica]]''; with an English translation by R. C. Seaton. William Heinemann, 1912.
* [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''The [[Argonautica]] of Apollonius Rhodius: Book III'', edited with introduction and commentary by Marshall M. Gillies, [[Cambridge University Press]], 1928.
* [[Archilochus]] in ''Elegy and Iambus. with an English Translation by. J. M. Edmonds''. Cambridge, MA. [[Harvard University Press]]. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1931. 2. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0480%3Avolume%3D2%3Atext%3D1%3Asection%3D1 Online text available at Perseus Online Library].
* [[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Clouds|Clouds]]. The Comedies of Aristophanes''. William James Hickie. London. Bohn. 1853?.
* [[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae|The Learned Banqueters]], Volume V: Books 10.420e-11. Edited and translated by S. Douglas Olson.'' [[Loeb Classical Library]] 274. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
* [[Callimachus]]. ''Hymns'', translated by Alexander William Mair (1875–1928). London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. [https://topostext.org/work/120 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Claudian]], ''Rape of Persephone'' in ''Claudian: Volume II. Translated by Platnauer, Maurice.'' [[Loeb Classical Library]] Volume 136. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1922.
* [[Diodorus Siculus]], ''Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2''. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0540 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Julian (emperor)|Emperor Julian the Apostate]], ''Against the Galileans: remains of the 3 books, excerpted from Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Julianum'', (1923) pp.&nbsp;319–433, translated by Wilmer Cave Wright, PH.D.
* [[Euripides]], ''Fragments: Oedipus-Chrysippus. Other Fragments. Edited and translated by Christopher Collard, Martin Cropp.'' [[Loeb Classical Library]] 506. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009.
* [[Euripides]], ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' translated by Michael Collier and Georgia Machemer, [[Oxford University Press]], 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-19-514566-3}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OSBd8U_BySIC&printsec=frontcover&hl=el&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad Google books].
* [[Euripides]], ''The Complete Greek Drama', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. .1''. ''Iphigenia in Tauris'', translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938.
* [[Euripides]], ''The Complete Greek Drama', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2''. ''The Phoenissae'', translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.
* [[Herodotus]], ''Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley.'' Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126 Online version available at The Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Hesychius of Alexandria]], ''[http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/CSAD/Hesychius/Hansen.html Alphabetical Collection of All Words]'': [https://books.google.com/books?id=iIsGTizqAvsC Vol. III (pi through sigma)], [https://books.google.com/books?id=hylHHyFb6CkC Vol. IV (tau through omega)]
* ''Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter'' in ''The [[Homeric Hymns]] and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White''. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus%3Acorpus%3Aperseus%2Cauthor%2CHomeric%20Hymns Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* ''Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo'' in ''The [[Homeric Hymns]] and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White''. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus%3Acorpus%3Aperseus%2Cauthor%2CHomeric%20Hymns Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* ''Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes'' in ''The [[Homeric Hymns]] and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White''. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus%3Acorpus%3Aperseus%2Cauthor%2CHomeric%20Hymns Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* ''Homeric Hymn 28 to Athena'' in ''The [[Homeric Hymns]] and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White''. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus%3Acorpus%3Aperseus%2Cauthor%2CHomeric%20Hymns Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* ''Homeric Hymn 31 to Helios'' in ''The [[Homeric Hymns]] and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White''. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus%3Acorpus%3Aperseus%2Cauthor%2CHomeric%20Hymns Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* [[Homer]], ''The [[Iliad]] with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes''. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Homer]]; ''The [[Odyssey]] with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], ''Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/207 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html ''The Myths of Hyginus'']. Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.
* ''Isthmian odes of Pindar'', edited with introduction and commentary by J. B. Bury, M.A., London, Macmillan and Co., 1892.
* [[Lactantius Placidus]], ''Argumenta'' in ''Lateinische Mythographen: Lactantius Placidus, Argumente der Metamorphosen Ovids'', erstes heft, Dr. B. Bunte, [[Bremen]], 1852, J. Kühtmann & Comp.
* [[Libanius]], ''Libanius's Progymnasmata: Model Exercises in Greek Prose Composition and Rhetoric. With a translation and notes by Craig A. Gibson.'' Society of Biblical Literature, [[Atalanta]]. 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-58983-360-9}}
* [[Longinus]], ''On the Sublime'', translated into English by H. L. Havell, with an introduction by Andrew Lang, [[Macmillan Publishers]], [[London]], 1890. [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17957/17957-h/17957-h.htm Online text available here.]
* [[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]''; translated by Fowler, H W and F G. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1905.
* [[Lucian]], ''Dialogues of the Dead. Dialogues of the Sea-Gods. [[Dialogues of the Gods]]. Dialogues of the Courtesans'', translated by M. D. MacLeod, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 431, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1961. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99475-1}}. [https://www-loebclassics-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/view/LCL431/1961/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. [https://archive.org/details/lucianvolviiloeb00luci/page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* [[Lucian]], ''Icaromenippus'' in ''The Downward Journey or The Tyrant. Zeus Catechized. Zeus Rants. The Dream or The Cock. Prometheus. Icaromenippus or The Sky-man. Timon or The Misanthrope. Charon or The Inspectors. Philosophies for Sale. Translated by A. M. Harmon.'' [[Loeb Classical Library]] 54. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915.
* [[Lucian]], ''Lucian's [[A True Story]]: an Intermediate Greek reader,'' Greek text with running vocabulary and commentary, Evan Hayes, Stephen A. Nimis, 2011. {{ISBN|0983222800}}
* [[Lucian]], ''The Dream or the Cock'' in ''The Downward Journey or The Tyrant. Zeus Catechized. Zeus Rants. The Dream or The Cock. Prometheus. Icaromenippus or The Sky-man. Timon or The Misanthrope. Charon or The Inspectors. Philosophies for Sale. Translated by A. M. Harmon.'' [[Loeb Classical Library]] 54. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915.
* [[Lycophron]], ''Alexandra'' (or ''Cassandra'') in ''Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair ; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair'', London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921 . [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* [[Maurus Servius Honoratus]], ''In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii;'' recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0053 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Mesomedes]] in ''Lyra Græca: Specimens of the Greek Lyric Poets, from Callinus to Soutsos.'' Edited, with critical Notes, and a biographical Introduction, by James Donaldson (Edinburgh & London, 1854) p.&nbsp;96f.
* [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]''; translated by [[W. H. D. Rouse|Rouse, W H D]], I Books I-XV. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/n7/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]''; translated by [[W. H. D. Rouse|Rouse, W H D]], II Books XVI-XXXV. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/n7/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]''; translated by [[W. H. D. Rouse|Rouse, W H D]], III Books XXXVI&ndash;XLVIII. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* ''[[Orphic Argonautica]] with a translation by Jason Calavito.'' Published by Jason Calavito, Albany, New York, 2011. [http://www.argonauts-book.com/orphic-argonautica.html Full text available online at argonauts-book.com.]
* [[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]: With an English translation by Sir James George Frazer'', London: W. Heinemann LTD; Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1959. [https://archive.org/stream/ovidsfasti00oviduoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* [[Ovid]]. ''[[Metamorphoses]], Volume I: Books 1-8''. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 42. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1977, first published 1916. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99046-3}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL042/1916/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Palaephatus]] in ''Early Greek Philosophy, Volume I: Introductory and Reference Materials. Edited and translated by André Laks, Glenn W. Most.'' [[Loeb Classical Library]] 524. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016.
* Paradoxographoe, by Anton Westermann, [[Harvard College]] Library, 1839, London.
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Philostratus the Elder|Philostratus]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'', translated by A. Fairbanks, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No, 256. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1931. {{ISBN|978-0674992825}}. [https://archive.org/stream/imagines00philuoft#page/n9/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* [[Pindar]], ''Odes'', Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Pindar]], ''The Odes of Pindar'' including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0161%3Abook%3DN. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Plato]], ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'' in ''Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 10 & 11 translated by R.G. Bury''. Cambridge, MA, [[Harvard University Press]]; [[London]], William Heinemann Ltd. 1967 & 1968. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=plat.+laws+1.624a Online text available at Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Plato]], ''Plato's statesman: A translation of The Politicus of Plato, with introductory essays and footnotes., & Skemp, J. B.'' (1952) New Haven: Yale University Press.
* [[Pliny the Elder]], ''Pliny – Natural History, 10 volumes.'' Translated by Rackham, H.; Jones, W. H. S.; Eichholz, D. E. Loeb Classical Library. 1938–1962.
* [[Plutarch]], ''[[Moralia]]''. 16 vols. (vol. 13: 13.1 & 13.2, vol. 16: index), transl. by Frank Cole Babbitt (vol. 1–5) et al., series: "[[Loeb Classical Library]]" (LCL, vols. 197–499). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press et al., 1927–2004.
* [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], ''On Abstinence From Animal Food'' in ''Select works of Porphyry: Containing his four books On abstinence from animal food; his treatise On the Homeric cave of the nymphs; and his Auxiliaries to the perception of intelligible natures''. Translated by Thomas Taylor (1823). Several reprints; Prometheus Trust (1994).
* [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy'', translated by A.S. Way, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1913. [https://archive.org/stream/falloftroy00quin#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* ''Scholia Aristophanica; being such comments adscript to the text of Aristophanes as have been preserved in the Codex Ravennas'', arr., emended, and translated by Rutherford, William Gunion, 1853-1907, ed. and tr; Biblioteca comunale classense ([[Ravenna]], Italy).
* [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Tragedies'', translated by Miller, Frank Justus. [[Loeb Classical Library]] Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1917.
* [[Sophocles]], ''The [[Ajax (play)|Ajax]] of Sophocles''. Edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. [[Cambridge University Press]], 1893.
* [[Sophocles]], ''The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles: [[Oedipus Rex|Oedipus the King]], [[Oedipus at Colonus|Oedipus at Colonos]], [[Antigone (Sophocles play)|Antigone]],'' with a translation by Paul Roche. New York: Plume, 2004.
* [[Statius]], [[Thebaid (Latin poem)|''Thebaid'']]. Translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928.
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* [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes, John]], ''Book of Histories,'' Book II-IV translated by Gary Berkowitz from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826. [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades4.html Online version available at Theoi.com.]
* [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes, John]], ''[[Chiliades]]'', editor Gottlieb Kiessling, F.C.G. Vogel, 1826. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dG0GAAAAQAAJ Google Books]. (English translation: Book I by Ana Untila; Books II&ndash;IV, by Gary Berkowitz; Books V&ndash;VI by Konstantino Ramiotis; Books VII&ndash;VIII by Vasiliki Dogani; Books IX&ndash;X by Jonathan Alexander; Books XII&ndash;XIII by Nikolaos Giallousis. [https://archive.org/stream/TzetzesCHILIADES/Chiliades#page/n0/mode/1up Internet Archive]).
* [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valerius Flaccus]], ''Argonautica'' translated by Mozley, J H. [[Loeb Classical Library]] Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. [http://www.theoi.com/Text/ValeriusFlaccus1.html Online version at Theoi.com.]
* [[Virgil|Vergil]], ''[[Aeneid]].'' Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* [[Xenophon of Ephesus|Xenophon]]'s ''Ephesian History: or the Love-Adventures of Abrocomas and Anthia, in Five Books''''. Translated from the Greek by Mr. Rooke [the Second Edition], London: Printed for J. Millan at Locke's Head in Shug-Lane; 1727, pp.&nbsp;87–112.
{{refend}}
 
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* Dillon, Matthew, ''Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion'', [[Routledge]], 2002, {{ISBN|0-415-20272-8}}.
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* Dunbabin, Katherine M. D., ''Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World'', [[Cambridge University Press]], [[Edinburgh]], 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-521-00230-1}}.
* Ekroth, Gunnel, ''The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period'', Presses universitaires de Liège, 2013, {{ISBN|9782821829008}}.
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{{refend}}
 
== Further reading ==
* [[Kurt Weitzmann|Weitzmann, Kurt]], ed., ''[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/156533 Age of spirituality : late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century]'', no.&nbsp;59, 1979, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York, {{ISBN|978-0-87099-179-0}}; full text available online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries.
* [https://www.amazon.com/Euripides-Phaethon-Translation-reconstruction-ebook/dp/B0085IVQ3Y/ref=cm_cmu_up_thanks_hdr The translation and reconstruction of Euripides' "Phaethon" made by Vlanes is now available as ebook on Amazon.]
 
== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wiktionary|Ἥλιος}}
* [http://www.theoi.com/Titan/Helios.html HELIOS on The Theoi Project]
* [http://www.maicar.com/GML/Helius.html HELIOS on Greek Mythology Link]
* [https://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Helios/helios.html HELIOS in greekmythology.com]
* [https://mythopedia.com/topics/helios HELIOS from Mythopedia]
* [https://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanTitan.html TITAN from The Theoi Project]
 
{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
{{Characters in the Odyssey}}
 
{{Authority control}}
 
[[Category:Helios| ]]
[[Category:Greek gods]]
[[Category:Solar gods]]
[[Category:Sol Invictus]]
[[Category:Deities in the Iliad]]
[[Category:Characters in the Odyssey]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Rape of Persephone]]
[[Category:Titans (mythology)]]
[[Category:Characters in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Cattle in religion]]
[[Category:Horses in religion]]
[[Category:Characters in the Argonautica]]
[[Category:Solar chariot]]
[[Category:Light gods]]
[[Category:Deities in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Rhodian mythology]]
[[Category:Oaths]]
[[Category:Consorts of Selene]]
[[Category:Consorts of Gaia]]
[[Category:Mythology of Heracles]]
[[Category:Love and lust gods]]
[[Category:Magic gods]]
[[Category:Greek love and lust deities]]
[[Category:Dreams in religion]]
[[Category:Deeds of Aphrodite]]

Latest revision as of 13:03, 27 September 2022

Not to be confused with Helloi.

Helios (Ancient Greek: Ἥλιος, Hēlios; Ἠέλιος in Homeric Greek) is the god of the Sun in Greek mythology. He is often thought to be the personification of the Sun itself. He is the son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. He is the brother of Selene, goddess of the Moon, and Eos, goddess of the dawn. During the Hellenistic period, particularly the 3rd Century BCE, he became more and more identified with Apollo, the god of light, music and prophecy. Helios' equivalent in Roman mythology was Sol.



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