Helios was the son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, by whom he was the brother of Selene (the moon) and Eos (the dawn). This made him one of the primordial gods. While he was probably imagined as the sun disk itself, he was also portrayed as an athletic young man driving a four-horse chariot (quadriga) across the sky and wearing a radiant sun crown (aureole). His horses were called Pyrois (the fiery one), Aeos (he of the dawn), Aethon (blacking), and Phlegon (burning).
He was often depicted accompanied by Selene in her matching chariot. They are both sometimes described as riding from the Oceanus River, which may mean that Helios passed through Tartarus at night. Athenaeus suggests that at sunset, Helios climbs into a great cup of solid gold, in which he passes the nighttime hours. Or alternatively, Mimnermus said that he spent the night in a bed made for him by Hephaestus.
Regal Appearance
Euripides described Helios as “golden-eyed” and “beaming like gold,” while Medomedes said he had “golden hair,” and Apollonius Rhodius said that he had “light-emitting golden eyes.” He was clearly conceived of by the Greeks as having the fire of the sun gleaming out from his person. The Roman poet Ovid gave a different description, saying that he wore purple robes, a regal symbol, and sat on a throne of bright emeralds. In their vision, he seems more like a king of the sky than the sun itself.
The Roman vision made itself into the Mithraic cult, where he is described in a white tunic with a scarlet robe and fiery crown and as “lord of heaven and earth, god of gods.”
In the late Roman era, he was frequently depicted surrounded by the 12 signs of the zodiac, often accompanied by Selene. In this capacity he seems to be the leader of all the celestial gods and energies.
All-Seeing Witness
Due to his position in the sky, it was believed that Helios witnessed all. For example, it was he who witnessed the adulterous acts between Aphrodite and Ares and informed Aphrodite’s husband at the time, Hephaestus. He is also the one who witnessed Hades abducting Persephone and told her mother Demeter.
Because of this all-seeing nature, he was also considered a patron of oaths, having witnessed them, and was often invoked in magic and spells.
Measure of the Day
When the goddess Athena was born, Helios stopped his chariot to observe the miracle, extending the day. When Zeus wanted to lie with Hercules’ mother without his jealous wife Hera knowing, he asked Helios and Selene not to shine for three days to give him the cover of darkness.
Later, when Heracles was suffering under the Libyan sun he shot an arrow at Helios. Immediately realizing his mistake, he apologized profusely. Rather than punish Heracles, Helios respected his boldness and gave him the cup that he used to sail across the sea each night.
Helios is said to have made the winter days longer for a period so that he could look at the lovely Leucothoe, a Persian princess. After this, he either made love to or raped the young princess. Her jealous sister Clytie, who also loved Helios, told her father and he buried his daughter alive because she was no longer a virgin. Helios transformed her dead body into a frankincense tree.
In the Iliad, Hera forces Helios to set earlier than usual during battle. Also during the war, when his nephew Memnon was killed, he dimmed his light so that Eos could steal her son’s body back from the armies.
Helios’ actions often explain the changing of the day. It is said that in the summer he sometimes stops his chariot in the sky to watch the nymphs, explaining the heat and length of the day. At other times, he is late to rise because he lingers with his consort. But solar eclipses were explained as Zeus blocking Helios’ light.
Other Greek Myths
Divine Battles
Despite being the son of Titans, surviving fragments of information about the Titanomachy suggest that he did not join the other Titans against the Olympians, and so his place in the sky was maintained in the new Olympian order.
He also seems to have fought alongside the Olympian gods in the Gigantomachy. Pseudo-Apollodorus suggests that he joined the battle when the giant Alcyoneus stole his cattle, or that it was this theft that triggered the war. Later when Zeus learned that Gaia sought magical herbs to give the giants an advantage in the war, he ordered Helios and his siblings not to shine so that he could harvest all the herbs before Gaia. At some point in the battle, Helios also takes the exhausted Hephaestus away in his chariot and later kills the giant Picolous as he tried to flee after the war.
Earthly Territories
According to Pindar, when the gods were dividing the land between them, Helios wasn’t present, so he didn’t get a piece. When he complained to Zeus, the king of the gods offered to redo the land divide. But Helios refused, saying he had seen a new land emerging from the deep sea. Helios asked for this island and Zeus gave it to him. This was the island of Rhodes, named for Helios’ lover Rhode, a daughter of Poseidon and Aphrodite.
Helios is also said to have disputed with Poseidon over possession of Corinth. When the monster Briareos was sent to solve the dispute, he awarded the rocky outcropping to Helios and the isthmus to Poseidon.
Lovers and Children
Helios had another son Phaethon, with the Oceanid Clymene, who was mortal. He asked to drive his father’s chariot for a single day, but he failed the task. While Phaethon steered the chariot, Helios rode the horse Sirius shouting instructions, but still, the boy failed, burning certain paths of the earth and then dying himself, either burning up from the chariot or because Zeus threw a thunderbolt at him to stop him. Several different versions of this story survive.
Helios had many other children. The nymph Perse was traditionally seen as his consort, and they had the children Crice, Aeetes, Pasiogae, Perses, Aloeus, and maybe Calypso. He often helped his children, warning them of things to come and giving them gifts such as a chariot with swift steeds, a golden helmet, and a giant’s armor. With his wife Rhode he is said to have had seven sons known as the Heliadae, called Ochimus, Cercaphus, Macar, Actis, Tenages, Triopas, and Candalus, and a daughter Electryone. He is also reported to have had children with many others, such as Helen of Troy with Leda.
Other Stories
In the Odyssey, Odysseus’ men kill his sacred cattle despite warnings. This parallels Helios with Apollo, also associated with the sun, who has flocks of sheep stolen by Hermes. In his anger, he asks Zeus to punish them for their misdeeds and Zeus strikes their ship with a thunderbolt, killing everyone on board except for Odysseus.
Helios also seems to have had the power to restore eyesight. In the story of Orion, after he was blinded by King Oenopion, Helios healed his eyesight. Similarly, he may have taken the eyesight of Phineus for revealing the future of mankind.
When the inventor Daedalus and his son Icarus made themselves wings and began to fly, Icarus thought himself greater than Helios. The god used his heat to melt the glue holding the wings together, causing Icarus to plunge to his death.
Ancient Worship
While Helios was recognized as a powerful god by the ancient Greeks, there is minimal evidence of his worship, beyond Rhodes. The Greeks preferred the Olympians to the primordial deities. His cult grew under Macedonian influence, who had a greater veneration for the astral deities. The sources suggest that he was offered honey instead of wine and that cakes offered to the sun were set on fire. On Rhodes, there is a record of an annual ritual of driving a chariot off a cliff, seemingly in imitation of the adventures of Phaethon. The Colossus of Rhodes, reportedly 33 meters tall, was a statue of Helios.
Helios was a more important deity as the Roman god Sol. The colossus of Nero represented the emperor as Sol. In 274 CE, the Roman Emperor Aurelian elevated the cult of Sol Invictus as the most important in Rome, above that of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. This was abandoned, but the last pagan emperor of Rome, Julian, also made Helios his primary deity. He was considered the mediator and unifier of the three realms: heaven, earth, and the underworld.
Helios was also syncretized with the mystery god Mithras and the Roman version of the Egyptian god Horus, Harpocrates. As Harpocrates he was considered the creator of life, the lord of the heavens and the cosmos, and the god of the sea. He also ruled over one of the 12 signs of the zodiac. As Helios-Mithras, he was believed the hold and share the secrets of immortality.
In some contexts, he was also treated as the equivalent of the Jewish god Yahweh.
Necromancy and Magic
Helios seems to have had a particular connection with Necromancy. A Greek magical Papyrus containing several necromantic spells includes invocations of the sun over the skull cap of a man who has suffered a violent death. It is Helios who will then send the man’s ghost to the practitioner to tell them everything they wish to know.
He was also associated with other types of magic. He was invoked in curse magic alongside Hecate, in protective magic, especially of graves, to imbue amulets with luck of strength, and invoked in love magic alongside Aphrodite.
A surviving sphere, discovered at Athens, is called the magic sphere of Helios and is believed to have been a magical orb that was used in ancient Greek magic. It shows Helios as the ruler of the universe and has many symbols related to ancient Greek magic, alchemy, and geometry.
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