Editing Helios (section)

=== Other functions ===
==== In oath-keeping ====
[[File:Magical sphere helios from theater of dionysus acropolis museum athens greece.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|Magical sphere with Helios and magical symbols from the theatre of Dionysus, [[Acropolis Museum]], [[Athens]].]]

Gods were often called upon by the Greeks when an oath was sworn; Helios is among the three deities to be invoked in the ''Iliad'' to witness the truce between Greeks and [[Troy|Trojans]].<ref>Warrior, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KRH2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 10]</ref> He is also often appealed to in [[Ancient Greek tragedy|ancient drama]] to witness the unfolding events or take action, such as in ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' and ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]''.<ref>Fletcher, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=q1W2CPsG_5IC&pg=PA116 116] and [https://books.google.com/books?id=q1W2CPsG_5IC&pg=PA186 186]</ref> The notion of Helios as witness to oaths and vows also led to a view of Helios as a witness of wrong-doings.<ref>[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0010%3Acard%3D88 88–94]</ref><ref>Smith Helaine, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=g7PfF3C-z_QC&pg=PA42 42]</ref><ref>van der Toorn et al, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA396 s.v. Helios, p. 396]</ref> He was thus seen as a guarantor of cosmic order.<ref>Toorn et al, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA397 s.v. Helios p. 397]</ref>

[[File:Emperor caracalla helios statue roman north carolina museum of art.jpg|thumb|right|270px|Statue of Helios with features of [[Caracalla]] and Alexander, marble, Roman, ca. 2nd-3rd century AD, [[North Carolina Museum of Art]].]]

Helios was invoked as a witness to several alliances such as the one between [[Athens]] and [[Cetriporis]], [[Lycceius|Lyppeus]] of [[Paeonia (kingdom)|Paeonia]] and [[Grabos II|Grabus]], and the oaths of the [[League of Corinth]].<ref name=":sombay">Sommerstein, Bayliss, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ap_uINEOCZsC&pg=PA162 162]</ref> In a treaty between the cities of [[Smyrna]] and [[Magnesia ad Sipylum|Magnesia]], the Magnesians swore their oath by Helios among others.<ref>Gardner and Jevons, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ifTOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA232 232]; ''A treaty between Smyrna and Magnesia-by-Sipylos'' [http://www.attalus.org/docs/ogis/s229.html ''OGIS:'' 229]</ref> The combination of Zeus, Gaia and Helios in oath-swearing is also found among the non-Greek 'Royal Gods' in an agreement between Maussollus and Phaselis (360s BC) and in the [[Hellenistic period]] with the degree of [[Chremonides]]' announcing the alliance of Athens and [[Sparta]].<ref name=":sombay" />

==== In magic ====
He also had a role in necromancy magic. The [[Greek Magical Papyri]] contain several recipes for such, for example one which involves invoking the Sun over the skull-cup of a man who suffered a violent death; after the described ritual, Helios will then send the man's ghost to the practitioner to tell them everything they wish to know.<ref>Ogden 2001, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=93y-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA211 211]</ref> Helios is also associated with Hecate in cursing magic.<ref name=":queen">Sharynne MacLeod NicMhacha, ''Queen of the Night: Rediscovering the Celtic Moon Goddess'', Weiser Books, 2005; pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=1l1yXq4xGHsC&pg=PA62 62-63]; {{ISBN|1-57863-284-6}}.</ref> In some parts of [[Asia Minor]] Helios was adjured not to permit any violation of the grave in tomb inscriptions and to warn potential violators not to desecrate the tomb, like one example from Elaeussa-Sebaste in [[Cilicia]]:

<blockquote>
We adjure you by the heavenly god [Zeus] and Helios and Selene and the gods of the underworld, who receive us, that no one [. . .] will throw another corpse upon our bones.<ref name="farob">Faraone and Obbink, p. 35</ref>
</blockquote>

Helios was also often invoked in funeral imprecations.<ref name=":fnimp">Faraone and Obbink, p. [https://eclass.uoa.gr/modules/document/file.php/ARCH310/Readings%20for%2022%20Dec%20and%2012%20Jan/Faraone%20and%20Obink%20Magika%20Hiera%20Ebook.pdf 46]</ref> Helios might have been chosen for this sort of magic because as an all-seeing god he could see everything on earth, even hidden crimes, and thus he was a very popular god to invoke in prayers for vengeance.<ref name=":fnimp" /> Additionally, in ancient magic evil-averting aid and apotropaic defense were credited to Helios.<ref>Collins, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_wq7PgIy8RgC&pg=PA128 128]</ref> Some magic rituals were associated with the engraving of images and stones, as with one such spell which asks Helios to consecrate the stone and fill with luck, honour, success and strength, thus giving the user incredible power.<ref>HALUSZKA, ADRIA. "SACRED SIGNIFIED: THE SEMIOTICS OF STATUES IN THE 'GREEK MAGICAL PAPYRI.'" Arethusa, vol. 41, no. 3, The [[Johns Hopkins University Press]], 2008, pp. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/44578289 479–94]</ref>

Helios was also associated with love magic, much like Aphrodite, as there seems to have been another but rather poorly documented tradition of people asking him for help in such love matters,<ref>Faraone, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Aq-Yg6B51NsC&pg=PA139 139]</ref> including homosexual love<ref>Faraone, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Aq-Yg6B51NsC&pg=PA141 141]</ref> and magical recipes invoking him for affection spells.<ref>Faraone, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Aq-Yg6B51NsC&pg=PA10 105]</ref>

==== In dreams ====
It has been suggested that in Ancient Greece people would reveal their dreams to Helios and the sky or the air in order to avert any evil foretold or presaged in them.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Iphigenia in Tauris|Iphigenia Among the Taurians]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0112%3Acard%3D42 42–45]: But the strange visions which the night brought with it, [[Iphigenia|I]] will tell to the [[Aether (mythology)|air]], if that is any relief. I dreamed that I had left this land to live in [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]],</ref><ref>Cropp, p.[https://books.google.com/books?id=jlbwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 176]</ref>

According to [[Artemidorus]]' ''[[Oneirocritica]]'', the rich dreaming of transforming into a god was an auspicious sign, as long as the transformation had no deficiencies, citing the example of a man who dreamt he was Helios but wore a sun crown of just eleven rays.<ref name=":thon" /> He wrote that the sun god was also an auspicious sign for the poor.<ref>Thonemann, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KS3JDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 146]</ref> In dreams, Helios could either appear in 'sensible' form (the orb of the sun) or his 'intelligible' form (the humanoid god).<ref>Thonemann, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KS3JDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 151]</ref>