Product Code Database
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification the Sun. His name is also as Helius, and he is often given the Hyperion ("the one above") and Phaethon ("the shining"). 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. The Roman Emperor Julian made Helios the central divinity of his short-lived revival of 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 Titans Hyperion and Theia and brother of the goddesses Selene (the Moon) and Eos (the Dawn). Helios's most notable role in Greek mythology is the story of his mortal son Phaethon.March, s.v. Helios In the , his most notable role is the one he plays in the Odyssey, where Odysseus's men despite his warnings impiously kill and eat Helios's sacred cattle that 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 Odysseus himself, the only one who had not harmed the cattle and was allowed to live.Homer, Odyssey, XII.262, 348, 363.
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 centres were the island of Rhodes, of which he was the patron god, Ancient 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.
The author of the Suda lexicon tried to etymologically connect ἥλιος to the word ἀολλίζεσθαι, aollízesthai, "coming together" during the daytime, or perhaps from ἀλεαίνειν, aleaínein, "warming". Plato in his dialogue Cratylus suggested several etymologies for the word, proposing among others a connection, via the Doric form of the word halios, to the words ἁλίζειν, halízein, meaning collecting men when he rises, or from the phrase ἀεὶ εἱλεῖν, aeí heileín, "ever turning" because he always turns the earth in his course.
Doric Greek retained Proto-Greek long *ā as Alpha, while Attic changed it in most cases, including in this word, to Eta. Cratylus and the etymologies Plato gives are contradicted by modern scholarship. From helios comes the modern prefix used in many european languages, meaning "pertaining to the Sun", used in compounds word such as heliocentrism, aphelion, heliotropium, heliophobia (fear of the sun) and heliolatry ("sun-worship").
Helen of Troy's name is thought to share the same etymology as Helios,Euripides, Robert E. Meagher, Helen, Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1986O'Brien, Steven. "Dioscuric Elements in Celtic and Germanic Mythology". Journal of Indo-European Studies 10:1 & 2 (Spring–Summer, 1982), 117–136.Skutsch, Otto. "Helen, her Name and Nature". Journal of Hellenic Studies 107 (1987), 188–193. and she may express an early alternate personification of the sun among Hellenic peoples. 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 Proto-Indo-European Sun Maiden; in surviving Greek tradition however Helen is never said to be Helios's daughter, instead being the daughter of Zeus.
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 sea-god Melicertes/Palaemon, who also had a significant cult in the isthmus of Corinth.
Helios's journey on a chariot during the day and travel with a boat in the ocean at night possibly reflects the sun god Ra sailing across the skies in a Solar barque to be reborn at dawn each morning anew; additionally, both gods, being associated with the sun, were seen as the "Eye of Heaven".
Helios is usually depicted as a handsome young man crowned with the shining Aureola of the Sun, which traditionally had twelve rays, symbolising the twelve months of the year. Beyond his Homeric Hymn, not many texts describe his physical appearance; Euripides describes him as ρυσωπός (khrysōpós) meaning "golden-eyed/faced" or "beaming like gold", Mesomedes of Crete writes that he has golden hair, and Apollonius Rhodius that he has light-emitting, golden eyes. According to Augustan poetry Ovid, he dressed in tyrian purple robes and sat on a throne of bright . In ancient artefacts (such as coins, vases, or reliefs) he is presented as a beautiful, full-faced youth with wavy hair, wearing a crown adorned with the sun's rays.
Helios is said to drive a golden chariot drawn by four horses: Pyrois ("The Fiery One", not to be confused with Pyroeis, one of the planetae known to ancient Greek and Roman astronomers), Aeos ("He of the Dawn"), Aethon ("Blazing"), and Phlegon ("Burning").Gordon MacDonald Kirkwood, A Short Guide to Classical Mythology, p. 88 In a Mithraic invocation, Helios's appearance is given as thus:
A god is then summoned. He is described as "a youth, fair to behold, with fiery hair, clothed in a white tunic and a scarlet cloak and wearing a fiery crown." He is named as "Helios, lord of heaven and earth, god of gods."
As mentioned above, the imagery surrounding a chariot-driving solar deity is likely Indo-European in origin and is common to both early Greek and Near Eastern religions.Burkert, W. Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical. Cambridge Mass., 1985, p. 175.
Helios is seen as both a personification of the Sun and the fundamental creative power behind it, and as a result is often worshiped as a god of life and creation. His literal "light" is often assorted with a metaphorical vitality, and other ancient texts give him the epithet "gracious" (ἱλαρός). The comic playwright Aristophanes describes Helios as "the horse-guider, who fills the plain of the earth with exceeding bright beams, a mighty deity among gods and mortals." 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." He is said to have helped create animals out of primeval mud.
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,Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 11.39 as attested in the Titanomachy in the 8th century BCE. Aeschylus describes the sunset as such:
Athenaeus adds that "Helios gained a portion of toil for all his days", as there is no rest for either him or his horses.: For 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."
Although the chariot is usually said to be the work of Hephaestus,Aeschylus in his lost play Heliades writes: "Where, in the west, is the bowl wrought by Hephaestus, the bowl of Phaethon sire, speeding wherein he crosseth the mighty, swelling stream that girdleth earth, fleeing the gloom of holy night of sable steeds." Hyginus states that it was Helios himself who built it. His chariot is described as golden, or occasionally "rosy", and pulled by four white horses.Keightley, p. 56, 62 The Horae, goddesses of the seasons, are part of his retinue and help him yoke his chariot. His sister Eos is said to have not only opened the gates for Helios, but would often accompany him as well.Bell, s. v. Eos In the extreme east and west were said to be people who tended to his horses, for whom summer was perpetual and fruitful.
In the Iliad, Hera who supports the Greeks, makes him set earlier than usual against his will during battle,Homer, Iliad 18.239–240 and later still during the same war, after his sister Eos's son 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.Philostratus of Lemnos, Imagines 1.7.2
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,Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis 181–182Powell Barry, p. 182 and sometimes he is late to rise because he lingers with his consort.Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods Aphrodite and Eros If the other gods wish so, Helios can be hastened on his daily course when they wish it to be night.Fairbanks, p. 39
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.Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library 2.4.8; Seneca, Hercules Furens 24; Argonautica Orphica 113. Satirical author Lucian of Samosata dramatized this myth in one of his Dialogues of the Gods.Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods Hermes and the Sun
While Heracles was travelling 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 wrote that Heracles stretched his arrow at him menacingly, but Helios ordered him to stop, and Heracles in fear desisted); 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's actions immensely bold. In the versions delivered by Apollodorus and Pherecydes, Heracles was only about to shoot Helios, but according to Panyassis, he did shoot and wounded the god.Matthews, p. 52
www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_2003_num_147_3_22628
www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_2005_edc_854_1
Hyginus writes that according to Homer, the horses' names are Abraxas and Therbeeo; but Homer makes no mention of horses or chariot.
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.Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 7.294C
Traditionally, Phaethon was Helios's son by the Oceanid nymph Clymene,Ovid, Metamorphoses; Euripides, Phaethon; Nonnus, Dionysiaca; Hyginus, Fabulae 152A or alternatively RhodeScholia on Homer, Odyssey 17.208 or the otherwise unknown Prote.John Tzetzes, Chiliades 4.127 In one version of the story, Phaethon is Helios's grandson, rather than son, through the boy's father Clymenus. In this version, Phaethon's mother is an Oceanid nymph named Merope.Hyginus, Fabulae 154
In Euripides's lost play Phaethon, surviving only in twelve fragments, Phaethon is the product of an illicit liaison between his mother Clymene (who is now married to Merops, the king of Aethiopia) and Helios, though she claimed that her lawful husband was the father of her all her children.Gantz, pp 31–32 Diggle, pp 7–8 Clymene reveals the truth to her son, and urges him 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. Although reluctant at first, Phaethon is convinced and sets on to find his birth father.Cod. Claromont. - Pap. Berl. 9771, Euripides fragment 773 Nauck 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, as someone, perhaps a paedagogi informs Clymene of Phaethon's fate, who is probably accompanied by slave women:
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.Diggle, pp 42–43 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's role in her son's death, saying he destroyed him and her both. 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.Collard and Cropp, p. 202 A number of deities have been proposed for the identity of this possible deus ex machina, with Helios among them.
In Ovid's account, Zeus's 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. Helios 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's chariot for a single day. Although Helios warns his son of how dangerous and disastrous this would be, he is nevertheless unable to change Phaethon's mind or revoke his promise. Phaethon takes the reins, and the earth burns when he travels too low, and freezes when he takes the chariot too high. Zeus strikes Phaethon with lightning, killing him. Helios refuses to resume his job, but he returns to his task and duty at the appeal of the other gods, as well as Zeus's threats. He then takes his anger out on his four horses, whipping them in fury for causing his son's death.Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.747– 2.400
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, and the two soon got married with her father's blessing. 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. But under pressure of Phaethon and Clymene's begging both, he eventually gives in. As per all other versions of the myth, Phaethon's ride is catastrophic and ends in his death.Nonnus, Dionysiaca 38.142– 435
Hyginus wrote that Phaethon secretly mounted his father's car without said father's knowledge and leave, but with the aid of his sisters the Heliades who yoked the horses.Gantz, p. 33
In all retellings, Helios recovers the reins in time, thus saving the earth.Bell, s. v. Phaethon Another consistent detail across versions are that Phaethon's sisters the Heliades mourn him by the 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.Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 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." In one version of the myth, Helios conveyed his dead son to the stars, as a constellation (the Auriga).Hyginus, De astronomia 2.42.2
In Ovid's Fasti, Demeter asks the stars first about Persephone's whereabouts, and it is Helice who advises her to go ask Helios. 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".Ovid, Fasti 4.575
Much later versions add a young man to the story, a warrior named Alectryon, tasked by Ares to stand guard should anyone approach. But Alectryon fell asleep, allowing Helios to discover the two lovers and inform Hephaestus. For this, Aphrodite hated Helios and his race for all time.Seneca, Phaedra 124 In some versions, she cursed his daughter Pasiphaë to fall in love with the Cretan Bull as revenge against him.Scholia on Euripides's Hippolytus 47Libanius, Progymnasmata 2.21 Pasiphaë's daughter Phaedra's passion for her step-son Hippolytus was also said to have been inflicted on her by Aphrodite for this same reason.
However, Clytie informs Leucothoe's father Orchamus of this affair, and he buries Leucothoe alive in the earth. Helios comes too late to rescue her, so instead he pours nectar into the earth, and turns the dead Leucothoe into a Boswellia sacra. Clytie, spurned by Helios for her role in his lover's death, strips herself naked, accepting no food or drink, and sits on a rock for nine days, pining after him, until eventually turning into a purple, sun-gazing flower, the Heliotropium.Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.167– 273; Lactantius Placidus, Argumenta 4.5; Paradoxographers anonymous, p. 222Hard, p. 45; Gantz, p. 34; Berens, p. 63; Grimal, s. v. Clytia This myth, it has been theorized, might have been used to explain the use of frankincense resin in Helios's worship. 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. At first the stories of Leucothoe and Clytie might have been two distinct myths concerning Helios which 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.Fontenrose, Joseph. The Gods Invoked in Epic Oaths: Aeneid, XII, 175-215. The American Journal of Philology 89, no. 1 (1968): pp 20–38.
He also takes part in the Giant wars; it was said by Pseudo-Apollodorus that during the battle of the Giants against the gods, the giant Alcyoneus stole Helios's cattle from Erytheia where the god kept them,Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library 1.6.1 or alternatively, that it was Alcyoneus's very theft of the cattle that started the war.Scholia on Pindar, Isthmian Odes 6.47bGantz, pp. 419, 448–449 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, denying Gaia the opportunity to make the Giants immortal, while Athena summoned the mortal Heracles to fight by their side.Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library 1.6.1; Hansen, p. 178; Gantz, 449
At some point during the battle of gods and giants in Phlegra,Aeschylus, Oresteia 294; Euripides, Heracles Gone Mad 1192–1194; Ion 987–997; Aristophanes, The Birds 824; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 3.232–234 (pp. 210–211), 3.1225–7 (pp. 276–277). See also Hesiod fragment 43a.65 MW (Most 2007, p. 143, Gantz, p. 446) Helios takes up an exhausted Hephaestus on his chariot.Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.220–234 After the war ends, one of the giants, Picolous, flees to Aeaea, where Helios's daughter, Circe, lived. He attempted to chase Circe away from the island, only to be killed by Helios.Eustathius, Ad Odysseam 10.305; translation by Zucker and Le Feuvre p. 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 μῶλος or the battle in which the Giant aforementioned was killed." The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius: Book III, p. 89 note 845Le Comte, p. 75 From the blood of the slain giant that dripped on the earth a new plant was sprang, the herb moly, named thus from the battle ("malos" in Ancient Greek).Knight, p. 180
Helios is depicted in the Pergamon Altar, waging war against Giants next to Eos, Selene, and Theia in the southern frieze.Picón and Hemingway, p. 47 LIMC 617 (Helios) .Faita, pp 202–203Now housed in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and can be seen here.
Aelian wrote that Nerites was the son of the sea god Nereus and the Oceanid Doris. In the version where Nerites became the lover of Poseidon, it is said that Helios turned him into a shellfish, for reasons unknown. 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.Aelian, On Animals 14.28
In an Aesop fable, Helios and the north wind god Boreas 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.Aesop, Fables 183
In Phineus's story, his blinding, as reported in Apollonius Rhodius's Argonautica, was Zeus's punishment for Phineus revealing the future to mankind.Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.178–86 According, however, to one of the alternative versions, it was Helios who had deprived Phineus of his sight.Scholia on Homer's Odyssey 12.69 Pseudo-Oppian wrote that Helios's wrath was due to some obscure victory of the prophet; after Boreads slew the Harpies tormenting Phineus, Helios then turned him into a mole, a blind creature.Pseudo-Oppian, Cynegetica 2.615 In yet another version, he blinded Phineus at the request of his son Aeëtes.Fowler, p. 222, vol. II; Gantz, pp 352–353.
In another tale, the Athenian inventor Daedalus and his young son Icarus fashioned themselves wings made of birds' feathers glued together with wax and flew away.Apollodorus, Epitome 1.12 According to scholia on Euripides, Icarus, being young and rashful, thought himself greater than Helios. Angered, Helios hurled his 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.Apollodorus, Epitome 1.12– 13
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, changed her shape into that of a doe.Hyginus, Fabulae 205Alexander Stuart Murray and William H. Klapp, Handbook of World Mythology, p. 288
In one rare version of Myrrha's tale, it was an angry Helios who cursed her to fall in love with her own father Cinyras because of some unspecified offence the girl committed against him; in the vast majority of other versions however, the culprit behind Smyrna's curse is the goddess of love Aphrodite.Servius Commentary on Virgil's Eclogues 10.18
Augeas, who in some versions is his son, safe-keeps a herd of twelve bulls sacred to the god.Theocritus, Idylls 28 Heracles the Lion-Slayer 28.129-130 Moreover, it was said that Augeas's enormous herd of cattle was a gift to him by his father.Theocritus, Idylls 28 Heracles the Lion-Slayer 28.118–121
Apollonia in Illyria was another place where he kept a flock of his sheep; a man named Evenius 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's 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.Conon, Narrations 40. This story is also attested by Greek historian Herodotus, who calls the man Evenius.Herodotus, Histories 9.93 –94
Diodorus Siculus recorded an unorthodox version of the myth, in which Basileia, who had succeeded her father Uranus to his royal throne, married her brother Hyperion, and had two children, a son Helios and a daughter Selene. Because Basileia's other brothers envied these offspring, they put Hyperion to the sword and drowned Helios in the river 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 MeneHard, p. 46, another Ancient Greek word for the Moon. would now be called Selene, and the "holy fire" in the heavens would bear his own name.Diodorus Siculus, Historic Library 3.57.2–8; Grimal, s. v. BasileiaCaldwell, p. 41, note on lines 207–210
It was said that Selene, when preoccupied with her passion for the mortal Endymion,Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods Aphrodite and Eros I would give her moon chariot to Helios to drive it.Seneca, Phaedra 309–314
Claudian wrote that in his infancy, Helios was nursed by his aunt Tethys.Claudian, Rape of Persephone Book II
Pausanias writes that the people of Titane held that Titan was a brother of Helios, the first inhabitant of Titane after whom the town was named;Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.11.5 Titan however was generally identified as Helios himself, instead of being a separate figure. Ugarit-Forschungen, Volume 31, Verlag Butzon & Bercker, 2000, p. 20
According to sixth century BC lyric poet Stesichorus, with Helios in his palace lives his mother Theia.Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 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."
In the myth of the dragon Python's slaying by Apollo, the slain serpent's corpse is said to have rotten in the strength of the "shining Hyperion". Homeric Hymn 3 363-369
Traditionally the Oceanid nymph Perse was seen as the sun god's wifeHecataeus of Miletus, fr. 35A Fowler (p. 141); Hard, p. 44. by whom he had various children, most notably Circe, Aeëtes, Minos's wife Pasiphaë, Perses, and in some versions the Corinthian king Aloeus.Bell, s. v. Perse John Tzetzes adds Calypso, otherwise the daughter of Atlas, to the list of children Helios had by Perse, perhaps due to the similarities of the roles and personalities she and Circe display in the Odyssey as hosts of Odysseus.Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 174 (Gk text)
At some point Helios warned Aeëtes 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).Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.597–600Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.309–313 Helios also bestowed several gifts on his son, such as a chariot with swift steeds,Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.220–221 a golden helmet with four plates,Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1229 a giant's war armor,Philostratus, Imagines 11 and robes and a necklace as a pledge of fatherhood.Seneca, Medea 570 When his daughter Medea betrays him and flees with Jason after stealing the golden fleece, Aeëtes calls upon his father and Zeus to witness their unlawful actions against him and his people.Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.228–230
As father of Aeëtes, Helios was also the grandfather of Medea and would play a significant role in Euripides's rendition of her fate in Corinth. When Medea offers Princess Glauce the poisoned robes and diadem, she says they were gifts to her from Helios.Euripides, Medea 956 Later, after Medea has caused the deaths of Glauce and King Creon, as well as her own children, Helios helps her escape Corinth and her husband.Euripides, Medea 1322Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.9.28 In Seneca's 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.Seneca, Medea 32–41Boyle, p. 98
However, he is also stated to have married other women instead like Rhodos in the Rhodes tradition,Fowler 2013, pp. 14, 591–592; Hard, pp. 43, 105; Grimal, p. 404 "Rhode", pp. 404–405 "Rhodus"; Smith, "Rhode" , "Rhodos"; Pindar, Olympian Odes 7.71–74; Diodorus Siculus, 5.55 by whom he had seven sons, the Heliadae (Ochimus, Cercaphus, Macar, Actis, Tenages, Triopas, Candalus), and the girl Alectrona.
In Nonnus's account from the Dionysiaca, Helios and the nymph Clymene met and fell in love with each other in the mythical island of Kerne and got married.Nonnus, Dionysiaca 38.110-141, with a translation by William Henry Denham Rouse. Soon Clymene fell pregnant with Phaetheon. Her and Helios raised their child together, until the ill-fated day the boy asked his father for his chariot.Nonnus, Dionysiaca 38.142-217 A passage from Greek anthology mentions Helios visiting Clymene in her room.Greek anthology Macedonius the Consul 5.223
The mortal king of Elis Augeas was said to be Helios's son, but Pausanias states that his actual father was the mortal king Eleius.Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.1.9
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.Keightley, p. 61
The tension between the mainstream traditional religious veneration of Helios, which had become enriched with ethical values, poetical symbolism,Notopoulos 1942 instances Aeschylus' Oresteia 508, Oresteia 993, Suppliants 213, and Sophocles' Oedipus Rex 660 and 1425. and the Ionian proto-scientific examination of the sun, 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. Anaxagoras biography
Lysimachides in the first century BC or first century AD reported of a festival Skira:
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 to a place called Skiron.Ogden, p. 200 =FGrH.
During the Thargelia, a festival in honour of Apollo, the Athenians had cereal offerings for Helios and the Horae.Farnell, p. 19, 143. vol. IV They were honoured with a procession, due to their clear connections and relevance to agriculture.Parker, p. 417Harrison, p. 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,"Parker, p. 204Gardner and Jevons, p. 294 Helios and the Horae were also apparently worshipped during another Athenian festival held in honor of Apollo, the Pyanopsia, with a feast; an attested procession, independent from the one recorded at the Thargelia, might have been in their honour.Parker, p. 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."
Side B of LSCG 21.B19 from the Piraeus Asclepium prescribe cake offerings to several gods, among them Helios and Mnemosyne,Lupu, p. 64 two gods linked to incubation through dreams,Miles, p. 112 who are offered a type of honey cake called arester and a honeycomb. Mnemosyne at the Asklepieia, Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll, Classical Philology, Vol. 109, No. 2 (April 2014), pp. 99-118; The University of Chicago Press. CGRN File 54 The cake was put on fire during the offering.Bekker, p. 215, vol. I A type of cake called orthostatesHesychius of Alexandria s. v. ὀρθοστάτηςJulius Pollux 6.74 made of wheaten and barley flour was offered to him and the Hours.Porphyry, On Abstinence from Animal Food 2.7Allaire 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. 147-172, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Phthois, another flat cakePatriarch Photius s. v. Φθόις made with cheese, honey and wheat was also offered to him among many other gods.
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. Ovid writes that horses were sacrificed to him because no slow animal should be offered to the swift god.Ovid, Fasti 1.385–386
In Plato's Republic Helios, the Sun, is the symbolic offspring of the idea of the Good.Plato, The Republic 7.517b– 7.517c
The ancient Greeks called Sunday "day of the Sun" (ἡμέρα Ἡλίου) after him.Martin, p. 302; Olderr, p. 98; Barnhart (1995:778). According to Philochorus, Athenian historian and Atthidographer of the 3rd century BC, the first day of each month was sacred to Helios.Philochorus 181; Müller, s. v. Sol, Hyperionis
It was during the Roman period that Helios actually rose into an actual significant religious figure and was elevated in public cult. Oxford Classical Dictionary 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."
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. Annual gymnastic tournaments were held in Helios's honor; according to Festus (s. v. October Horse) during the Halia each year the Rhodians would also throw quadrigas dedicated to him into the sea.Parker, p. 138Farnell, p. 20, vol. IVGardner and Jevons, p. 247 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, and the sea god was also worshipped in Lindos under the epithet Hippios, denoting perhaps a blending of the cults. Rhodes in Ancient Times, p. 73
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.Harrison, Jane E. "Helios-Hades." The Classical Review, vol. 22, no. 1, Classical Association, Cambridge University Press, 1908, pp. 12–16
The Colossus of Rhodes was dedicated to him. In Xenophon of Ephesus's work of fiction, Ephesian Tale, the protagonist Anthia cuts and dedicates some of her hair to Helios during his festival at Rhodes.Xenophon of Ephesus, Ephesian Tale pp. 107-108; Dillon 2002, p. 216 The Rhodians called shrine of Helios, Haleion (). Suda, alpha, 1155
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.Hemingway, p. 36
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 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.Strabo, Geography 14.2.5
According to most contemporary descriptions, the Colossus stood approximately 70 , or high – approximately the height of the modern Statue of Liberty from feet to crown – making it the tallest statue in the ancient world.Higgins, Reynold (1988) "The Colossus of Rhodes" p. 130, in The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Peter A. Clayton and Martin Jessop Price (eds.). Psychology Press, . It collapsed after an earthquake that hit Rhodes in 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.Ekroth, p. 210 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.Malkin, p. 245 A sanctuary of Helios and the nymphs stood in Loryma near Lindos.Larson 2001, p. 207
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. Rhodes in Ancient Times, p. 83
Helios was an important god in Ancient Corinth and the greater Corinthia region.Ogden, p. 204 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. Helios's prominence in Corinth might go as back as Mycenaean Greece times, and predate Poseidon's arrival,Farnell, p. 419, vol. V or it might be due to Oriental immigration. At Sicyon, Helios had an altar behind Hera's sanctuary.Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.11.1 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.
Helios had a cult in Laconia as well. Taletos, a peak of Mt. Taygetus, was sacred to Helios.Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.20.4Nagy, p. 100 n. 70 At Thalamae, 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.Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.26.1 While the predominance of Helios in Sparta is currently unclear, it seems Helen was the local solar deity.Euripides, Robert E. Meagher, Helen, Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1986 Helios (and Selene's) worship in Gytheio, near Sparta, is attested by an inscription ( C.I.G. 1392). The Classical Review, p. 77, vol. 7
In Argolis, an altar was dedicated to Helios near Mycenae,Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.18.3 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. Over at Hermione stood a temple of his.Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.34.10Vermaseren, p. 150; CIG Pel. I = IG IV, 12, 700. He appears to have also been venerated in Epidaurus.Vermaseren, p. 149
In Arcadia, he had a cult in Megalopolis as the Saviour, and an altar near Mantineia.Farnell, p. 420, Vol. V; Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.9.4
In his little-attested cults in Asia Minor it seems his identification with Apollo was the strongest.Farnell, p. 138, vol. IVConon, Narrations 33 It is possible that the solar elements of Apollo's Anatolian cults were influenced by Helios's cult in Rhodes, as Rhodes lies right off the southwest coast of Asia Minor.
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 and excavations have revealed traces of his cult at Sinope, Pozzuoli, Ostia Antica and elsewhere. After a plague hit the city of Cleonae, in Phocis, Central Greece, the people there sacrificed a he-goat to Helios, and were reportedly then spared from the plague.Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.11.5
Helios also had a cult in the region of Thessaly.Miller, pp 33–35 Plato in his 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,Plato, Laws 12.946b- e but it is clear that they were nevertheless distinct deities in Thessaly.
Helios is also depicted on first century BC coins found at Halicarnassus, British Museum Catalogue 'Caria'. pp 106-107 Syracuse in Sicily British Museum Catalogue 'Sicily'. p 229 and at Zakynthos. British Museum Catalogue 'Peloponnese'. p 101 From Pergamon originates a hymn to Helios in the style of Euripides.Farnell, note 44, vol. V
In Apollonia he was also venerated, as evidenced from Herodotus's 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.
The Alexander Romance names a temple of Helios in the city of Alexandria.Nawotka, p. 109
Helios was invoked as a witness to several alliances such as the one between Athens and Cetriporis, Lycceius of Paeonia and Grabos II, and the oaths of the League of Corinth.Sommerstein, Bayliss, p. 162 In a treaty between the cities of Smyrna and Magnesia, the Magnesians swore their oath by Helios among others.Gardner and Jevons, p. 232; A treaty between Smyrna and Magnesia-by-Sipylos OGIS: 229 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's announcing the alliance of Athens and Sparta.
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.Faraone and Obbink, p. 35
Helios was also often invoked in funeral imprecations.Faraone and Obbink, p. 46 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. Additionally, in ancient magic evil-averting aid and apotropaic defense were credited to Helios.Collins, p. 128 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.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. 479–94
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,Faraone, p. 139 including homosexual loveFaraone, p. 141 and magical recipes invoking him for affection spells.Faraone, p. 105
According to Artemidorus's 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. He wrote that the sun god was also an auspicious sign for the poor.Thonemann, p. 146 In dreams, Helios could either appear in 'sensible' form (the orb of the sun) or his 'intelligible' form (the humanoid god).Thonemann, p. 151
The last pagan emperor of Rome, 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: The One; Helios-Mithras; and the Sun. 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. Julian's theological conception of Helios has been described as "practically monotheistic", in contrast to earlier Neoplatonists like Iamblichus.
A mosaic found in the Vatican Necropolis (mausoleum 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. Some scholars doubt the Christian associations, or suggest that the figure is merely a non-religious representation of the sun.
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. On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians 7.2, 251–252.
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 Egyptian sun god Ra. Helios is also described as "restraining the serpent", likely a reference to Apep, the serpent god who, in Egyptian myth, is said to attack Ra's ship during his nightly journey through the underworld.
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. He is also assimilated as the Agathodaemon, who is also identified elsewhere in the texts as "the greatest god, lord Horus Harpokrates".
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 , daemons, 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."( Myst. 5.23, 233) For theurgists, the elemental power of these items sacred to particular gods utilizes a kind of sympathetic magic.
Acamas (; ; Άκάμας, "Akàmas"), meaning "tireless, unwearying", as he repeats his never-ending routine day after day without cease.
Apollo (; ; Ἀπόλλων, "Apóllōn") here understood to mean "destroyer", the sun as a more destructive force.
Callilampetes (; ; Καλλιλαμπέτης, "Kallilampétēs"), "he who glows lovely".Roscher, p. 927
Elasippus (; ; Ἐλάσιππος, "Elásippos"), meaning "horse-driving". A Greek-English Lexicon s.v. ἐλάσιππος
Elector (; ; Ἠλέκτωρ, "Ēléktōr") of uncertain derivation (compare Electra), often translated as "beaming" or "radiant", especially in the combination Ēlektōr Hyperiōn.Homer, Iliad 19.398
Eleutherius (; ; Ἐλευθέριος, "Eleuthérios) "the liberator", epithet under which he was worshipped in Troezen in Argolis,Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.31.5 also shared with Dionysus and Eros.
Hagnus (; ; Ἁγνός, Hagnós), meaning "pure", "sacred" or "purifying."
Hecatus (; ; Ἕκατος, "Hékatos"), "from afar," also Hecatebolus (; ; Ἑκατήβολος, "Hekatḗbolos") "the far-shooter", i.e. the sun's rays considered as arrows.Usener, p. 261
Horotrophus (; ; Ὡροτρόφος, "Hōrotróphos"), "nurturer of the Seasons/Hours", in combination with kouros, "youth". A Greek-English Lexicon s.v. ὡροτρόφος
Hyperion (; ; Ὑπερίων, "Hyperíōn") and Hyperionides (; ; Ὑπεριονίδης, "Hyperionídēs"), "superus, high up" and "son of Hyperion" respectively, the sun as the one who is above,Hesychius of Alexandria s. v. and also the name of his father.
Isodaetes (; ; Ἰσοδαίτης, "Isodaítēs"), literally "he that distributes equal portions", cult epithet also shared with Dionysus.Versnel, p. 119, especially note 93.
Paean ( ; Παιάν, Paiān), physician, healer, a healing god and an epithet of Apollo and Asclepius.See παιών in LSJ
Panoptes (; ; Πανόπτης, "Panóptēs") "all-seeing" and Pantepoptes (; ; Παντεπόπτης, "Pantepóptēs") "all-supervising", as the one who witnessed everything that happened on earth.
Pasiphaes (; ; Πασιφαής, "Pasiphaḗs"), "all-shining", also the name of one of his daughters.Walton, p. 34
Patrius (; ; Πάτριος, "Pátrios") "of the fathers, ancestral", related to his role as primogenitor of royal lines in several places.
Phaethon (; ; Φαέθων, "Phaéthōn") "the radiant", "the shining", also the name of his son and Phaethusa.
Phasimbrotus (; ; Φασίμβροτος, "Phasímbrotos") "he who sheds light to the mortals", the sun.
Philonamatus (; ; Φιλονάματος, "Philonámatos") "water-loving", a reference to him rising from and setting in the ocean. Orphic Hymn 8 to the Sun 16
Phoebus ( ; Φοῖβος, Phoîbos), literally "bright", several Roman authors applied Apollo's byname to their sun god Sol.
Sirius (; ; Σείριος, "Seírios") literally meaning "scorching", and also the name of the Sirius.Archilochus 61.3; Scholia on Euripides' Hecuba 1103Diggle p. 138
Soter (; ; Σωτὴρ, "Sōtḗr") "the saviour", epithet under which he was worshipped in Megalopolis, Arcadia.Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.31.7
Terpsimbrotos (; ; Τερψίμβροτος, "Terpsímbrotos") "he who gladdens mortals", with his warm, life-giving beams.
Titan (; ; Τιτάν, "Titán"), possibly connected to τιτώ meaning "day" and thus "god of the day".See τιτώ and Τιτάν in LSJ
Whether Apollo's epithets Aegletes and Asgelatas in the island of Anafi, both connected to light, were borrowed from epithets of Helios either directly or indirectly is hard to say.
By Hellenistic times Apollo had become closely connected with the Sun in 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 and some Orphic texts. Pseudo-Eratosthenes writes about Orpheus in Catasterismi, section 24:
Dionysus and Asclepius are sometimes also identified with this Apollo Helios. G. Lancellotti, Attis, Between Myth and History: King, Priest, and God, BRILL, 2002Guthrie, p. 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. 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. 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 ( 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)."
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.Strabo, Geographica 14.1.6 Pausanias also linked Apollo's association with Helios as a result of his profession as a healing god.Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.23.8 In the Orphic Hymns, Helios is addressed as Paean ("healer") and holding a golden lyre, Orphic Hymn 8 to the Sun 9–15 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, p. 11). 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. Orphic Hymn 34 to Apollo 3 and 8 (Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp 30–31).
According to Athenaeus, Telesilla wrote that the song sung in honour of Apollo is called the "Sun-loving song" (φιληλιάς, philhēliás),Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 14.10 that is, a song meant to make the Sun come forth from the clouds, sung by children in bad weather; but Julius Pollux describing a philhelias in greater detail makes no mention of Apollo, only Helios.Farnell, p. 137, vol. IV Scythinus of Teos wrote that Apollo uses the bright light of the Sun ( λαμπρὸν πλῆκτρον ἡλίου φάος) as his harp-quillScythinus fragment here in Plutarch's Moralia 16.402a and in a fragment of Timotheus's lyric, Helios is invoked as an archer with the invocation 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.
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. Ancient Roman authors who used "Phoebus" for Sol as well as Apollo include Ovid,Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.367 Virgil,Virgil, Aeneid 4.6 Statius,Statius, Thebaid 8.271 and Seneca.Seneca, Hercules Furens 25 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.Mayerson, p. 146
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.Cook, pp 188–189 Frequent joint dedications to "Zeus-Serapis-Helios" have been found all over the Mediterranean.Cook, p. 190Cook, p. 193Manoledakis, Manolis. "A Proposal Relating to a Votive Inscription to Zeus Helios from Pontus." Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 173 (2010): 116–18.Elmaghrabi, Mohamed G. "A Dedication to Zeus Helios Megas Sarapis on a 'Gazophylakion' from Alexandria." Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 200 (2016): 219–28. There is evidence of Zeus being worshipped as a solar god in the Aegean island of Amorgos which, if correct, could mean that Sun elements in Zeus's worship could be as early as the fifth century BC.Cook, p. 194
An old oracle from Claros said that the names of Zeus, Hades, Helios, Dionysus and Jao all represented the Sun at different seasons.Inman, p. 29 Macrobius wrote that Iao/Jao is "Hades in winter, Zeus in spring, Helios in summer, and Iao in autumn."Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.18.19; Dillon, p. 343
In Rhodian coins, he was shown as a beardless god, with thick and flowing hair, surrounded by beams.Collignon, p. 178 He was also presented as a young man clad in tunic, with curling hair and wearing buskins. Classical Manual, p. 572 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.Savignoni, p. 270 It is likely that Helios's later image as a warrior-charioteer might be traced back to the Mycenaean period;Paipetis, p. 365 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.Paipetis, p. 357
In archaic art, Helios rising in his chariot was a type of motive.Savignoni, p. 267 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. An Attica black-figure vase 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.See the vase here.
Helios adorned the east pediment of the Parthenon, along with Selene.Neils, pp 236–237Palagia, pp 18–19 Helios (again with Selene) also framed the birth of Aphrodite on the base of the Statue of Zeus at Olympia,Robertson, Martin 1981, p. 96Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.11.8 the Judgement of Paris,Robertson 1992, p. 255 and possibly the birth of Pandora on the base of the Athena Parthenos statue.Morris, p. 87 They were also featured in the pedimental group of the temple at Delphi. The Nineteenth Century Vol. 17, p. 671 In dynamic Hellenistic art, Helios along with other luminary deities and Rhea-Cybele, representing reason, battle the Giants (who represent irrationality).Roberts, p. 215
In Elis, 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.Pausanias, Description of Greece 6.24.6 Outside the market of the city of Ancient Corinth stood a gateway on which stood two gilded chariots; one carrying Helios's son Phaethon, the other Helios himself.Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.3.2
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.
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.Riggs, p. 449 Other rulers who had their portraits done with solar features include Ptolemy III Euergetes, one of the 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.British Museum, A Guide to the Principal Coins of the Greeks 60, no. 24, pl. 34C. 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. 146
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 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.Ḥaḵlîlî, pp 195-196 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 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.Dunbabin, pp 191-192 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 "the sun is riding on a chariot and rises decorated like a bridegroom". 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. 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.
Helios and Selene were also personified in the mosaic of the Monastery of Lady Mary at Beit She'an. Here he is not shown as Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun, but rather as a celestial body, his red hair symbolizing the sun.
The poplar tree was considered sacred to Helios, due to the sun-like brilliance its shining leaves have.Decharme, pp 240–241 A sacred poplar in an epigram written by Antipater of Thessalonica warns the reader not to harm her because Helios cares for her.
Aelian wrote that the wolf is a beloved animal to Helios;Aelian, On Animals 10.26 the wolf is also Apollo's sacred animal, and the god was often known as Lyceus, "wolf Apollo".Stoneman, p. 28
Additionally to the chariot, Apollo is often drawn with a solar halo around his head and depicted in scenes of Helios's mythology.Impelluso, p. 24 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.Hall, p. 252Seydle, p. 33
In Jean-Gilbert Durval's Le Travaux d'Ulysse (1631), after his men dine on the sacred sheep, the Sun appears in 'a chariot of light', accompanied by Jupiter; like in the myth, Jupiter kills Odysseus's crewmen with his lightning bolts when they put to sea again.Powell, pp 236–237
French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully wrote in 1683 a tragédie en musique inspired by Ovid's handling of the tale of Helios's son, 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.Jean-Baptiste Lully, Phaëton 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.Miller and Newlands, p. 377 This Apollo-Sun was frequently used to represent Louis XIV's reign, such as in Pierre Corneille's Andromède (1650).Powell, p. 266
Gerhart Hauptmann's Helios und Phaethon 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. Helios und Phaethon.
In James Joyce's book Ulysses, episode 14 is titled Oxen of the Sun, after the story of Odysseus's men and the cattle of Helios in book twelve of the Odyssey. Ulysses Guide: 14. Oxen of the Sun
In A True Story, the Sun is an inhabited place, ruled by a king named Phaethon, referencing Helios's mythological son.Lucian of Samosata, A True Story p. 23 The inhabitants of the Sun are at war with those of the Moon, ruled by King Endymion (Selene's lover), over colonization of the Venus (Aphrodite's planet).
The chemical element helium, a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, Inert gas, 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 spectrum of the chromosphere of the Sun.
Helius is a genus of crane fly in the family Limoniidae that shares its name with the god.
A pair of Space probe that were launched into heliocentric orbit by NASA to study solar processes were called Helios A and Helios B.; NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive and 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.
Helios has been portrayed in many modern works of literature such as in Gareth Hinds's 2010 version of Odyssey.
Helios has been portrayed in many video games, such as in Sony Computer Entertainment's , God of War II and God of War III where the character is a boss and plays an antagonist role against Kratos. He also appears in the Wii game , where the second Seed guardian is named after Helios, and as an AI in the Deus Ex series.
Epithets
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:
Identification with other gods
Apollo
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."Walter Burkert, Greek Religion, p. 120. 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.Larson 2007, p. 158 The earliest certain reference to Apollo being identified with Helios appears in the surviving fragments of Euripides's play Phaethon in a speech near the end.Euripides, Phaethon fr. 781 Collard and Cropp = fr. 781 N2.
Usil
The Etruscan god of the Sun was Usil. His name appears on the bronze liver of Piacenza, next to Tiur, the Moon.Larissa Bonfante and Judith Swaddling, Etruscan Myths (Series The Legendary Past, British Museum/University of Texas) 2006:77. He appears, rising out of the sea, with a fireball in either outstretched hand, on an engraved Etruscan bronze mirror in late Archaic style.Noted by On Etruscan mirrors in Classical style, he appears with a 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, however in the area between Cetona and Chiusi a stone obelisk is found, 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, likewise referring to the Sunrise.Fischer-Hansen and Poulsen, p. 281
Zeus
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's name. "Aleion." Suda On Line. Trans. Jennifer Benedict on 17 April 2000. 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.Lalonde, p. 82 According to Plutarch, Helios is Zeus in his material form that one can interact with, and that's why Zeus owns the year,Plutarch, Moralia Why do they believe that the year belongs to Jupiter, but the months to Juno? while the Greek chorus in Euripides's Medea also link him to Zeus when they refer to Helios as "light born from Zeus".Euripides, Medea 1258; The Play of Texts and Fragments: Essays in Honour of Martin Cropp by J. Robert C. Cousland, James, 2009, p. 161 In his Orphic Hymn, Helios is addressed as "immortal Zeus". In Crete, the cult of Zeus Talos had incorporated several solar elements into his worship; "Talos" was the local equivalent of Helios.Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks 1951:110. Helios is referred either directly as Zeus's eye,Sick, David H. (2004) "Mit(h)ra(s) and the myths of the Sun", Numen, 51 (4): 432–467, or clearly implied to be. For instance, Hesiod effectively describes Zeus's eye as the Sun.Bortolani, Ljuba Merlina (2016-10-13) Magical Hymns from Roman Egypt: A study of Greek and Egyptian traditions of divinity, Cambridge University Press. 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 (see Hvare-khshaeta). An Orphic saying, supposedly given by an oracle of Apollo, goes:
Hades
Helios seems to have been connected to some degree with Hades, the god of the Underworld. A dedicatory inscription from Smyrna 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 the Sun" and "Persephone the Moon".Thompson, "ISmyrna 753," pp. 101ff 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.Thompson, "ISmyrna 753," pp. 111. Pluto-Helios seems to reflect the Egyptian idea of the nocturnal Sun that penetrated the realm of the dead.Nilsson 1906, p. 428
Cronus
Diodorus Siculus reported that the Chaldeans called Cronus (Saturnus) by the name Helios, or the Sun, and he explained that this was because Saturn was the "most conspicuous" of the planets."epiphanestaton" – "most conspicuous" noted in Diodorus Siculus II. 30. 3–4. See also Franz Boll (1919) Kronos-Helios, Archiv für Religionswissenschaft XIX, p. 344.
Mithras
Helios is frequently conflated with Mithras in iconography, as well as being worshipped alongside him as Helios-Mithras. The earliest artistic representations of the "chariot god" come from the Parthian Empire (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.
Iconography
Depiction and symbols
The earliest depictions of Helios in a humanoid form date from the late sixth and early fifth centuries BC in Attica 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. In later art, he is consistently drawn as beardless and young. In it, he is typically depicted with a radiant crown,Platt, p . 387 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.Kraemer, p. 165
Late Roman era
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. The cult of Helios/Sol had a notable function in Eretz Israel; Helios was Constantine the Great's patron, and so that ruler came to be identified with Helios.Steinberg, p. 144 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.Long, p. 314 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.Kraemer, p. 158
In post-classical art
In painting
Helios/Sol had little independent identity and presence during the Renaissance, where the main solar gods were Apollo, Bacchus and Hercules.Bull, p. 330Bull, p. 352 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.Impelluso, p. 23 In medieval tradition, each of the four horses had its own distinctive colour; in the Renaissance, however, all four are shown as white.Hall, p. 66 In Versailles, a gilded statue depicts Apollo as the god of the sun, driving his quadriga as he sinks in the ocean;Cosgrove, p. 168 Apollo in this regard represents the king of France, le roi-soleil, "the Sun King".Hall, p. 27
In literature
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 intervenes and restores peace.
Namesakes
Helios is the Greek proper name for the Sun for both Ancient Greek and Modern Greek, and additionally Helios, one of the craters of Hyperion, a moon of Saturn which bears Helios's 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"), heliosphere, perihelion and aphelion among others.
Modern reception
Helios often appears in Modernity and popular culture due to his status as the god of the sun.
Gallery
Genealogy
See also
Notes
Bibliography
Primary sources
Secondary sources
(1989). 9780226143514, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226143514
(1991). 9780691015149, Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691015149
(2026). 9780198737896, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198737896
(2026). 9780199605507, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199605507
(2026). 9780500518328, Thames and Hudson. ISBN 9780500518328
(1986). 9786185129484, Εκδοτική Αθηνών. ISBN 9786185129484
Further reading
External links
Categories: Greek Gods, Solar Gods, Sol Invictus, Deities In The Iliad, Odyssean Gods, Metamorphoses Characters, Personifications In Greek Mythology, Cattle Deities, Titans, Horse Deities, Characters In The Argonautica, Light Gods, Deities In The Aeneid, Rhodian Mythology, Oaths, Consorts Of Selene, Magic Gods, Consorts Of Gaia, Mythology Of Heracles, Dreams In Religion, Deeds Of Aphrodite, Shapeshifters In Greek Mythology, Consorts Of Demeter
|
|
