Helios

Helios was the Greek god of the sun, the son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia and brother of Eos (the Dawn) and Selene (the Moon) (Hesiod, Theogony 371–374). The personification of the Sun, he was portrayed as driving a four-horse chariot across the sky on a daily basis. Helios was married to Perse, but he had quite a few extramarital affairs, and a number of children; these include Phaethon, Circe, Aeetes, Pasiphae, Perses, the Heliadae and the Heliades. At a later time, Helios was identified with Apollo; to the Romans, he was known as Sol.

Family

Helios, the Greek god of the sun, was the only son of the Titans Hyperion (“The High One”) and Theia (“divine”; also called Euryphaessa, the “wide-shining”). The couple had two daughters as well: “rich-tressed” Selene and “rosy-armed” Eos, who represent, respectively and appropriately, the Moon and the Dawn. In Hesiod’s Theogony, Theia bore these three to Hyperion, “the unwearying Sun and the bright Moon and Dawn, who shines on all that are on earth and on the deathless gods who live in the wide heaven” (Theogony 371–374). The Homeric Hymn to Helios calls the mother Euryphaessa (Homeric Hymn 31.1–7).

Portrayal

The image of Helios driving his “golden-yoked” four-horse chariot – sometimes in the company of his sisters – is one of the most recognizable images in all of Greek art. “As he rides in his chariot,” writes marvelously of him the poet of the 31^st Homeric Hymn, “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” (Homeric Hymn 31.8–15). In the Odyssey he is the Sun who sees everything and hears everything (Odyssey 12.323).

The four horses of the Sun are named by Ovid as Pyrois (“the fiery one”), Eous (“belonging to the dawn”), Aethon (“blazing”), and Phlegon (“burning”) (Metamorphoses 2.153–155). Ovid also describes Helios’ palace (Metamorphoses 2.1–18) and the steep road the god drives each day from the east to the west (Metamorphoses 2.63–69). Homer and Hesiod, by contrast, mention the god and his course without naming the horses. Apollodorus tells that Helios crosses the ocean at night in a golden goblet, which carries him back to the east where he rises; Heracles borrowed it to reach Erytheia (Library 2.5.10).

Helios’ Women and His Children

Helios was married to Perse, but just like many other male gods, he had quite a few well-known affairs, most famously with Clymene, Rhode, and Leucothoe.

Perse

According to most accounts, Helios was married to the Oceanid Perse (or Perseis) with whom he had at least four children: Aeetes and Perses; Pasiphae, the wife of Minos and the mother of the Minotaur; and Circe, the powerful enchantress of Aeaea. Hesiod says that Perseis bore Circe and King Aeetes to Helios (Theogony 956–962); Apollodorus calls Aeetes the son of the Sun and Perseis and the brother of Circe and Pasiphae (Library 1.9.1), and names Perses as the brother who later deposed Aeetes (Library 1.9.28). Aeetes became king of Colchis, where the Golden Fleece was kept, which is why Helios is the grandfather of Medea; in the Argonautica Aeetes himself recalls riding in the chariot of his father Helios (Apollonius, Argonautica 3.309–313). Pasiphae, as the wife of Minos, is the mother of Ariadne, Phaedra and the Minotaur (Library 3.1.2–4).

Clymene

Possibly the most famous mistress of Helios was the Oceanid Clymene, with whom he had daughters known collectively as the Heliades, and a son by the name of Phaethon (Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.756–779). Hesiod, in another version, makes Phaethon the son of Eos and Cephalus (Theogony 984–991).

Once, after being granted permission by Helios to borrow his chariot for a day, the inexperienced Phaethon sped it out of control and had to be killed with a thunderbolt by Zeus, lest he should set fire to the entire earth (Metamorphoses 2.31–328).

Phaethon’s sisters, the Heliades, grieved his death of their brother for so long that, eventually, their tears turned into amber and they themselves into poplar trees (Metamorphoses 2.340–366).

Rhode

Rhode was the nymph of the island of Rhodes, which Helios claimed as his own. In Pindar’s account, Helios was absent when the gods divided the earth by lot, and Zeus offered to make a new allotment; but Helios saw the island rising from the sea and asked for it as his portion. Zeus and the other gods agreed, and the island became his (Pindar, Olympian 7.55–76). Soon after, the Sun God lay with Rhode, who bore him seven sons, the Heliadae, and a daughter, Electryone (Pindar, Olympian 7.71–72; Diodorus Siculus 5.56). The Heliadae surpassed all men in both strength and learning (especially, astrology) and, soon enough, they came to rule Rhodes; its three chief cities (Ialysos, Cameiros, and Lindos) are named after three of their descendants to this very day (Pindar, Olympian 7.73–76; Diodorus 5.57).

Leucothoe and Clytie

Journeying through the sky from sunrise to sunset on a daily basis, Helios could see and hear everything happening during most of the day; naturally, sometimes, this meant that he was able to notice things others would rather keep as topmost secrets. Such was the case when he spotted the affair of Aphrodite with Ares, the disclosing of which led to the humiliation of both deities (Odyssey 8.266–332; Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.167–189).

In Ovid’s account, Aphrodite decided to take revenge, so she made Helios (who was, at the time, happily consorting with Clytie) fall madly in love with Leucothoe, the daughter of the Persian king Orchamus and Eurynome. Enraptured with Leucothoe’s beauty, Helios disguised himself as her mother and gained entrance to her room, after which he changed his form back to his customary beauty, which left Leucothoe speechless and presently inspired her love (Metamorphoses 4.190–233).

Wanting Helios all for herself and being unable to bear the pain of his newest affair, Clytie spread around the story of someone secretly defiling Leucothoe until it reached the ears of Orchamus. The king would listen to no excuses: he buried her daughter alive in the cold earth as soon as he found her. Helios uncovered her promptly and tried resuscitating her with the warmth of his rays, but it was too late: Leucothoe was dead. Helios then transformed her into the tree that gives frankincense (Metamorphoses 4.234–255).

Clytie hoped that by eliminating Leucothoe from the story, she could once again earn Helios’ love; she managed to earn his utmost hatred instead. As Helios stopped paying her any attention, she started wasting away in sorrow, sitting all alone, and turning her face toward the Sun God constantly in hope for a single glance. Eventually, she passed away, and her body was transformed into a flower which turns to follow the sun (Metamorphoses 4.256–270). Ovid does not name the flower, which he compares to a violet; it is usually taken to be the heliotrope.

Helios in Other Myths

Helios did not play a major part in Greek mythology, and his cult and worship were overshadowed by that of Apollo, with whom he was later identified. However, he does appear as an extra in the myths of other gods and mortals.

Helios, the Helper

Helios is the one who tells Demeter that her daughter Persephone has been abducted by Hades (Homeric Hymn to Demeter 62–89). He is also the one who restores the eyesight of Orion the Giant (Apollodorus, Library 1.4.3). After his granddaughter Medea murders her children, he lends her his chariot, drawn by winged dragons, so that she can escape from Corinth (Euripides, Medea 1320–1322; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.28). He also lends his golden bowl to Heracles to help the hero cross the Ocean and fetch the cattle of Geryon (Library 2.5.10).

Helios, the Antagonist: Odysseus

Journeying back from the Trojan War, Odysseus and his surviving crew land on the Thrinacian island, sacred to the Sun God. Starving and short of food – against the better advice of Odysseus – his men decide to kill some of Helios’ cattle and eat it. Helios is told of the killing by his daughter, the nymph Lampetia, and complains to Zeus and threatens that he would take the sun with him and make it shine in the Underworld unless the perpetrators are punished. So, Zeus sends a violent storm which destroys the ship of Odysseus with a thunderbolt, killing all of his men except for him, since he had taken no part in the sacrilege (Odyssey 12.260–419).

Helios Sources

The 31^st Homeric Hymn is dedicated to Helios, whose genealogy you can find in the Theogony (371–374); Hesiod also names Helios’ children with Perse (956–962). In his 7^th Olympian Ode (55–76), Pindar tells the story of Helios and Rhode. In “Metamorphoses,” Ovid narrates both Helios’ affair with Leucothoe (4.167–270) and the plight of his son Phaethon (1.747–2.400). Other sources used are Homer’s Odyssey (8.266–332, 12.260–419), the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (62–89), Euripides’ Medea (1320–1322), Apollodorus’ Library (1.4.3, 1.9.1, 1.9.28, 2.5.10, 3.1.2–4), Apollonius’ Argonautica (3.309–313) and Diodorus Siculus (5.56–57).

See Also: Hyperion, Apollo, Rhode, Clymene, Heliadae, Heliades, Selene, Eos, Circe, Aeetes, Pasiphae, Phaethon