Heliades in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Heliades

5 passages from 5 ancient authors that tell of Heliades, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Heliades, in Greek mythology, was the name given to the daughters of the god Helios and the Oceanid Clymene. Various sources provide different numbers... For the story in one place, read our article on Heliades.

Aeschylus (1)

Aeschylus, Fragments 33–49Heliades to CabeiriThe Heliades fragments include the bowl in which the Sun crosses Ocean and the line 'Zeus is air, Zeus is earth, Zeus is heaven'. In the Heracleidae Heracles crosses Ocean in a golden bowl, drives off the cattle and kills the herdsman with three bodies. Short pieces follow from the Chamber-Builders, the Thracian Women, the Priestesses, Ixion, Iphigenia and the Cabeiri.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.298–400The fall of Phaethon; the Heliades and CycnusZeus (Jupiter, 'Jove' in More's translation) hurls his thunderbolt and Phaethon falls blazing into the river Eridanus, where the naiads bury him. His sisters, the Heliades, mourn for four months and are changed into poplars, and their tears become amber. Cycnus, a friend of Phaethon, grieves and is turned into a swan. The Sun, in his own grief, refuses to drive the chariot again until the gods, and Zeus with threats, entreat him.

Nonnus of Panopolis (1)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 38.318–434Book 38: Phaethon's drive and fall; the Heliades become treesPhaethon loses control of the horses and drives off the course of the zodiac, throwing the stars and constellations into confusion, while Lucifer warns him in vain. Zeus strikes him with a thunderbolt into the river Eridanos, restores order, and sets him in the sky as the Charioteer, while his sisters the Heliades are changed into trees that shed precious dew.

Heraclitus (paradoxographer) (1)

Heraclitus (paradoxographer), On Unbelievable Tales 21–39Hades, gods and transformations, from the Underworld to the oxen of HeliosThe second half deals with journeys to Hades, the fall of Phaethon, the charm of Orpheus, the golden fleece, the gods’ abductions and loves, and the transformations of Procne, the Heliades and others, replacing each miracle with a plain event or a phrase we still use. It ends with the oxen of Helios, read through Homer as a rule against slaughtering working cattle. Chapters 22, 25 and 38 touch gaps in the manuscript.

Strabo (1)

Strabo, Geography 5.1.9–10Diomedes among the Heneti and PolaStrabo treats Diomedes as ruler of the lands around this sea and sets aside tales of Phaethon, the Heliades and the Eridanus as myths. He reports the white-horse sacrifice to Diomedes, groves of the Argian Hera (Juno) and the Aetolian Artemis (Diana), and the story of the wolf and the Lucophori horses. Pola is said to have been founded by Colchians sent after Medea, and he adds the rivalry of the Ombrici and Tyrrheni.