Helios



==  Helios        GOD OF THE SUN     ==



**  Helios in Greek mythology was embodied as the sun. He was described as the god that saw and heard everything. He was the son of Hyperion and Theia and was the brother of Selene and Eos. His father would call him Hyperionides, or Hyperion. He was also the guardian of oaths ad the god of sight. Homer called him Titan or Hyperion.
 * Helios the god

**  Helios was thought of as a good-looking god that had a crown with a shining aureole of the sun and rode a chariot of the sun in the sky. He wore purple robes and was beardless usually. Homer depicted Helios’s chariot as drawn by solar horses. Pindar depicted his chariot as drawn by fire horses. They were given names: Pyrios, Aeos, Aethon, and Phlegon. Helios resided in a golden palace that was in the Okeanos River that was on the east end of the earth. The places were he rises differs with the seasons. He would come out every morning and ride his chariot around. When he would arrive at the Hesperides, the land of Evenings, he would into a golden cup. He rode this cup around in the streams of Okeanos back to his golden palace in the east. Later in time he was described as the god of light.
 * Helios’s life

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 * Helios’s sacred things
 *  The island of Thrinacia was sacred to Helios. He had oxen and sheep on this island which each had 350 heads. His daughters Phaetusa and Lampetia would care for these creatures. Wherever Helios’s worship was established contained these creatures. The famous colossuses of Rhodes represented Helios and they were 70 cubits tall but they were destroyed by an earthquake and were never rebuilt. Sacrifices for Helios were white rams, boars, bulls, goats, lambs, honey, white horses. The most famous animal that was sacred to him was the rooster. **



**  The best known story of Helios is a story about his son Phaëton. His son tried to drive his father’s chariot and while he was driving he lost control and this caused the earth to catch on fire. Helios was also identified with Apollo. One reason his was identified with Apollo was because he was the god that knew everything. He was referred to as with different names and with these names he was identified as a different god. The first reference to Apollo indentified with Helios was in different parts of Euripides’ play Phaethon. Phaethon’s mother mourns that Helios has destroyed her child.
 * Stories about Helios

   