Editing Helios (section)

{{Short description|Greek god and personification of the Sun}}
{{About|the Greek god|other uses of "Helios" and "Helius"|Helios (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Helius|the crane fly|Helius (fly)|the poet|Helius Eobanus Hessus}}
{{Distinguish|Helois}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Helios
| image = Ilion---metopa.jpg
| caption = Helios in his chariot, early 4th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC, [[Athena]]'s temple, [[Troy|Ilion]]
| alt = 
| planet = [[Sun]]
| god_of = [[Personification]] of the [[Sun]]
| cult_center = [[Rhodes]], [[Corinthia]]
| animals = [[Horse]], [[wolf]], [[cattle]]
| symbol = Sun, [[Quadriga|chariot]], horses, [[aureole]], whip, [[heliotropium]], [[globe]], [[cornucopia]],<ref name=":howm">Alexander Stuart Murray and William H. Klapp, ''Handbook of World Mythology'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BOFzYThPlk8C&pg=PA117 117]</ref> ripened fruit<ref name=":howm"/>
| mount = A chariot driven by four white horses
| festivals = [[Halieia|Halia]]
| parents = [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]] and [[Theia]]
| siblings = [[Selene]] and [[Eos]]
| Roman_equivalent = [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]], [[Sol Invictus]]
}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}

In [[ancient Greek religion]] and [[Greek mythology|mythology]], '''Helios''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|iː|l|i|ə|s|,_|-|ɒ|s}}; {{langx|grc|{{math|[[wikt:Ἥλιος|Ἥλιος]]}} {{IPA|el|hɛ̌ːlios|pron}}|||lit=Sun}}; [[Homeric Greek]]: {{lang|grc|{{math|[[wikt:Ἠέλιος|Ἠέλιος]]}} }}) is the god who [[personification|personifies]] the [[Sun]]. His name is also [[Latin]]ized as '''Helius''', and he is often given the [[epithet]]s '''Hyperion''' ("the one above") and '''Phaethon''' ("the shining").{{efn|Hyperion and Phaethon are also the names of his father and son respectively.}} Helios is often depicted in art with a [[radiant crown]] and driving a horse-drawn chariot through the sky. He was a guardian of oaths and also the god of sight. Though Helios was a relatively minor deity in Classical Greece, his worship grew more prominent in [[late antiquity]] thanks to his identification with several major solar divinities of the Roman period, particularly [[Apollo]] and [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]]. The [[Roman Emperor]] [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] made Helios the central divinity of his short-lived revival of [[Religion in ancient Rome|traditional Roman religious practices]] in the 4th century AD.

Helios figures prominently in several works of Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, in which he is often described as the son of the [[Titans]] [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]] and [[Theia]] and brother of the goddesses [[Selene]] (the Moon) and [[Eos]] (the Dawn). Helios' most notable role in Greek mythology is the story of his mortal son [[Phaethon]].<ref>March, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nZnwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT343 s.v. Helios]</ref> In the [[Homeric epic]]s, his most notable role is the one he plays in the ''[[Odyssey]]'', where [[Odysseus]]' men despite his warnings impiously kill and eat Helios's [[Cattle of Helios|sacred cattle]] that the god kept at [[Thrinacia]], his sacred island. Once informed of their misdeed, Helios in wrath asks Zeus to punish those who wronged him, and Zeus agreeing strikes their ship with a thunderbolt, killing everyone, except for Odysseus himself, the only one who had not harmed the cattle, and was allowed to live.<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'', XII.262, 348, 363.</ref>

Due to his position as the sun, he was believed to be an all-seeing witness and thus was often invoked in oaths. He also played a significant part in ancient magic and spells. In art he is usually depicted as a beardless youth in a [[Chiton (garment)|chiton]] holding a whip and driving his [[quadriga]], accompanied by various other celestial gods such as [[Selene]], [[Eos]], or the stars. In ancient times he was worshipped in several places of ancient Greece, though his major cult centres were the island of [[Rhodes]], of which he was the patron god, [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] and the greater [[Corinthia]] region. The [[Colossus of Rhodes]], a gigantic statue of the god, adorned the port of Rhodes until it was destroyed in an earthquake, thereupon it was not built again.