Helios

In Greek myth Helios is commonly described as the son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia and the brother of Selene (the Moon) and Eos (the Dawn). As the personification of the Sun (the inherited Greek noun ἥλιος), Helios embodies the solar body and its daily movement across the heavens. His origins link to Indo-European solar poetic traditions: the Greek word derives from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂u-el and has cognates in Latin, Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages. In mythic narrative he appears throughout Homeric epic and later literature as the daylight deity who keeps sacred cattle on Thrinacia and who, when wronged, appealed to Zeus for retribution.

Helios is usually depicted in art as a beardless youth wearing a radiant crown and driving a quadriga (a four-horse chariot) across the sky; he commonly holds a whip and wears a chiton. Epithets such as Hyperion ("the one above") and Phaethon ("the shining") emphasize his exalted and luminous aspect. Large-scale anthropomorphic cult images also existed, the most famous being the Colossus of Rhodes, a gigantic statue that adorned the Rhodian harbour until its destruction.

Helios's principal function is the daily solar journey: he drives a horse-drawn chariot across the sky by day, and at night he pastures his steeds and travels east in a golden boat. Because of his visibility from the heavens he was believed to be an all-seeing witness and was invoked as guardian of oaths. In mythic episodes he can bring about consequences for transgressions against his property or sacred rights by appealing to higher gods — for example, in the Odyssey Helios asks Zeus to punish Odysseus's men after they slaughter his sacred cattle, and Zeus destroys their ship. Helios also appears in ancient magical contexts and in later periods was identified with other solar divinities such as Apollo and the Roman Sol.