Editing Helios (section)

== Mythology ==
=== God of the Sun ===
==== Rising and Setting ====
[[File:Hans Rathausky - Helios et Selene.jpg|thumb|right|260px|Helios and Selene, by Johann Rathausky, fountain group statue in [[Opatija]], [[Croatia]].]]

Helios was envisioned as a god driving his chariot from east to west each day, rising from the [[Oceanus|Oceanus River]] and setting in the west under the earth. It is unclear as to whether this journey means that he travels through [[Tartarus]].<ref name=":keig">{{Cite book |last=Keightley |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lWAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA53 |title=The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy |date=1838 |publisher=D. Appleton |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Helios, painting on a terracotta disk, 480 BC, Agora Museum Athens, 080646.jpg|thumb|upright|left|230px|Helios the rising Sun, painting on a [[terracotta]] disk, 480 BC, Agora Museum Athens]]

[[Athenaeus]] in his ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' relates that, at the hour of sunset, Helios climbs into a great cup of solid gold in which he passes from the Hesperides in the farthest west to the land of the Ethiops, with whom he passes the dark hours. According to Athenaeus, [[Mimnermus]] said that in the night Helios travels eastwards with the use of a bed (also created by Hephaestus) in which he sleeps, rather than a cup,<ref name=":ath">[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus11b.html#470 11.39]</ref> as attested in the ''[[Titanomachy (epic poem)|Titanomachy]]'' in the 8th century BCE.<ref name=":keig" /> [[Aeschylus]] describes the sunset as such:

{{Blockquote|"There [is] the sacred wave, and the coralled bed of the [[Erythraean sea|Erythræan Sea]], and [there] the luxuriant marsh of the Ethiopians, situated near the ocean, glitters like polished brass; where daily in the soft and tepid stream, the all-seeing Sun bathes his undying self, and refreshes his weary steeds."|title=[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Prometheus Unbound (Aeschylus)|Prometheus Unbound]]''.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+1.2.27&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239 1.2.27], translation by H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A., Ed.</ref>}}

Athenaeus adds that "Helios gained a portion of toil for all his days", as there is no rest for either him or his horses.<ref>{{harvnb|Kirk|Raven|Schofield|1983|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=kFpd86J8PLsC&pg=PA13 12–13]}}: [F]or him does his lovely bed bear across the wave, [...] from the dwelling of the Hesperides to the land of the Aithiopes where his swift chariot and his horses stand till early-born Dawn shall come; there does the son of Hyperion mount his car."</ref>

Although the chariot is usually said to be the work of [[Hephaestus]],<ref>[[Aeschylus]] in his lost play ''Heliades'' writes: "Where, in the west, is the bowl wrought by Hephaestus, the bowl of [[Phaethon|thy]] sire, speeding wherein he crosseth the mighty, swelling stream that girdleth earth, fleeing the gloom of holy night of sable steeds."</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Athenaeus: Deipnosophists - Book 11 (b) |url=http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus11b.html#469 |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=www.attalus.org}}</ref> [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] states that it was Helios himself who built it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ToposText |url=https://topostext.org/work/207#2.13.1 |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=topostext.org}}</ref> His chariot is described as golden,<ref name=":hom" /> or occasionally "rosy",<ref name="Oxford University Press"/> and pulled by four white horses.<ref name="Hansen 2004"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Habinnas, He'lios, He'lios |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:alphabetic+letter=H:entry+group=6:entry=helios-bio-1 |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>Keightley, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lWAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA56 56], [https://books.google.com/books?id=lWAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA62 62]</ref><ref name=":verg" /> The [[Horae]], goddesses of the seasons, are part of his retinue and help him yoke his chariot.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ToposText |url=https://topostext.org/work/141#2.19 |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=topostext.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=ToposText |url=https://topostext.org/work/529#38.272 |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=topostext.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=C. Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, C. Valeri Flacci Argonauticon Liber Quartus., line 58 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0058:book=4:card=58 |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> His sister Eos is said to have not only opened the gates for Helios, but would often accompany him as well.<ref>Bell, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/180/mode/2up?view=theater Eos]</ref> In the extreme east and west were said to be people who tended to his horses, for whom summer was perpetual and fruitful.<ref name=":fairb" />

==== Disrupted schedule ====
[[File:(24) Flaxman Ilias 1795, Zeichnung 1793, 188 x 255 mm.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|''Hera makes Helios set earlier'', [[Iliad]] engraving, [[John Flaxman]].]]

On several instances in mythology the normal solar schedule is disrupted; he was ordered not to rise for three days during the conception of [[Heracles]], and made the winter days longer in order to look upon [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]]. [[Athena]]'s birth was a sight so impressive that Helios halted his steeds and stayed still in the sky for a long while,<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] 28 to [[Athena]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=28 28.13]; Waterfield, p. [https://archive.org/details/greekmythsstorie0000wate/page/52/mode/2up?q=&view=theater 53]</ref> as heaven and earth both trembling at the newborn goddess' sight.{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=U4mFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 195]}}

In the ''[[Iliad]]'', [[Hera]] who supports the Greeks, makes him set earlier than usual against his will during battle,<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D18%3Acard%3D219 18.239–240]</ref> and later still during the same war, after his sister Eos's son [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]] was killed, she made him downcast, causing his light to fade, so she could be able to freely steal her son's body undetected by the armies, as he consoled his sister in her grief over Memnon's death.<ref>[[Philostratus of Lemnos]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/225#1.7.2 1.7.2]</ref>

It was said that summer days are longer due to Helios often stopping his chariot mid-air to watch from above nymphs dancing during the summer,<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''Hymn to Artemis'' [https://archive.org/details/callimachuslycop00calluoft/page/76/mode/2up?view=theater 181–182]</ref><ref>Powell Barry, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mtoSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA182 182]</ref> and sometimes he is late to rise because he lingers with his consort.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-gods#section12 Aphrodite and Eros]</ref> If the other gods wish so, Helios can be hastened on his daily course when they wish it to be night.<ref>Fairbanks, p. [https://archive.org/details/MythologyOfGreeceAndRomespecialReferenceToItsInfluenceOnLiterature/page/n51/mode/2up?view=theater 39]</ref>

[[File:Heracles on the sea in the bowl of Helios.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Helios's cup with Heracles in it, [[Rome]], [[Vatican Museums#Museo Gregoriano Etrusco|Museo Gregoriano Etrusco]], n. 205336.]]

When Zeus desired to sleep with [[Alcmene]], he made one night last threefold, hiding the light of the Sun, by ordering Helios not to rise for those three days.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D8 2.4.8]; [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Hercules (Seneca)|Hercules Furens]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0003 24]; ''[[Argonautica Orphica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/549#113 113].</ref>{{sfn|Stuttard|2016|page=[https://archive.org/details/greekmythologytr0000stut/page/114/mode/2up?view=theater 114]}} Satirical author [[Lucian]] of [[Samosata]] dramatized this myth in one of his ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]''.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [https://pt.calameo.com/read/000107044fc0f01286992 Hermes and the Sun]</ref>{{efn|Helios (and Lucian) is wrong here; Cronus had [[Chiron]] by [[Philyra (mythology)|Philyra]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus]], [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D4 1.2.4]''</ref>}}

While Heracles was travelling to Erytheia to retrieve the cattle of [[Geryon]] for his tenth labour, he crossed the Libyan desert and was so frustrated at the heat that he shot an arrow at Helios, the Sun. Almost immediately, Heracles realized his mistake and apologized profusely ([[Pherecydes of Syros|Pherecydes]] wrote that Heracles stretched his arrow at him menacingly, but Helios ordered him to stop, and Heracles in fear desisted<ref name=":ath" />); In turn and equally courteous, Helios granted Heracles the golden cup which he used to sail across the sea every night, from the west to the east because he found Heracles' actions immensely bold. In the versions delivered by Apollodorus and Pherecydes, Heracles was only ''about to'' shoot Helios, but according to [[Panyassis]], he ''did'' shoot and wounded the god.<ref>Matthews, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=d92mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 52]</ref>

==== Solar eclipses ====
[[File:Meyers b5 s0687 b1.png|thumb|right|270px|Helios and Eos, carried by the morning dew, above them the god of heaven. Relief from the armor of the statue of Augustus in the Vatican, circa 1885.]]

[[Solar eclipse]]s were phaenomena of fear as well as wonder in Ancient Greece, and were seen as the Sun abandoning humanity.<ref>Glover, Eric. "The eclipse of Xerxes in Herodotus 7.37: Lux a non obscurando." ''The Classical Quarterly'', vol. 64, no. 2, 2014, pp. [https://jstor.org/stable/43905590 471–492]. New Series. Accessed 12 Sept. 2021.</ref> According to a fragment of [[Archilochus]], it is Zeus who blocks Helios and makes him disappear from the sky.<ref>[[Archilochus]] frag [https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2015/09/26/now-nothing-is-unexpected-archilochus-on-an-eclipse-fr-122/ 122]; Rutherford, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=gPjZOB1YNqAC&pg=193 193]</ref> In one of his [[paean]]s, the lyric poet Pindar describes a solar eclipse as the Sun's light being hidden from the world, a bad omen of destruction and doom:<ref>Ian Rutherford, ''Pindar's Paeans: A reading of the fragments with a survey of the genre''.</ref>

{{Blockquote|Beam of the sun! What have you contrived, observant one, mother of eyes, highest star, in concealing yourself in broad daylight? Why have you made helpless men's strength and the path of wisdom, by rushing down a dark highway? Do you drive a stranger course than before? In the name of Zeus, swift driver of horses, I beg you, turn the universal omen, lady, into some painless prosperity for Thebes ... Do you bring a sign of some war or wasting of crops or a mass of snow beyond telling or ruinous strife or emptying of the sea on land or frost on the earth or a rainy summer flowing with raging water, or will you flood the land and create a new race of men from the beginning?|title=[[Pindar]], ''[[Paean]]'' IX<ref>Rutherford, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=gPjZOB1YNqAC&pg=191 191]</ref>}}

==== Horses of Helios ====
{{Redirect|Pyrois|the moth|Pyrois (moth)}}[[File:London , Westminster - The Horses of Helios - geograph.org.uk - 5153323.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The Horses of Helios, Westminster, London.]]Some lists, cited by Hyginus, of the names of horses that pulled Helios' chariot, are as follows. Scholarship acknowledges that, despite differences between the lists, the names of the horses always seem to refer to fire, flame, light and other luminous qualities.<ref>Slim, Hédi. "La chute de Phaeton sur une mosaïque de Barrarus-Rougga en Tunisie". In: ''Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres''. 147<sup>e</sup> année, N. 3, 2003. p. 1121. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/crai.2003.22628; www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_2003_num_147_3_22628</ref>
* According to [[Eumelus of Corinth]] – late 7th/ early 6th century BC:  The male trace horses are Eous (by him the sky is turned) and Aethiops (as if flaming, parches the grain) and the female yoke-bearers are Bronte ("Thunder") and Sterope ("Lightning").
* According to Ovid&nbsp;— Roman, 1st century BC ''Phaethon's ride'': Pyrois ("the fiery one"), Eous ("he of the dawn"), [[Aethon]] ("blazing"), and Phlegon ("burning").<ref name=":hyg183">[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#183 183]</ref><ref>Dain, Philippe. ''Mythographe du Vatican III. Traduction et commentaire''. Besançon: Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité, 2005. p. 156 (footnote nr. 33) (Collection "ISTA", 854). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/ista.2005.2854; www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_2005_edc_854_1</ref>

Hyginus writes that according to Homer, the horses' names are Abraxas and Therbeeo; but Homer makes no mention of horses or chariot.<ref name=":hyg183" />

[[Alexander of Aetolia]], cited in Athenaeus, related that the magical herb grew on the island [[Thrinacia]], which was sacred to Helios, and served as a remedy against fatigue for the sun god's horses. [[Aeschrion of Samos]] informed that it was known as the "dog's-tooth" and was believed to have been sown by Cronus.<ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae|Scholars at Dinner]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Athenaeus/7D*.html#p329 7.294C]</ref>

=== Awarding of Rhodes ===
[[File:Rhodos tetradrachm Helios.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Silver [[tetradrachm]] of [[Rhodes]] showing Helios and a rose (205-190 BC, 13.48 g)]]

According to Pindar,<ref name=":pin7">[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D7 7]</ref> when the gods divided the earth among them, Helios was absent, and thus he got no lot of land. He complained to Zeus about it, who offered to do the division of portions again, but Helios refused the offer, for he had seen a [[Rhodes|new land]] emerging from the deep of the sea; a rich, productive land for humans and good for cattle too. Helios asked for this island to be given to him, and Zeus agreed to it, with [[Lachesis]] (one of the three [[Moirai|Fates]]) raising her hands to confirm the oath. Alternatively in another tradition, it was Helios himself who made the island rise from the sea when he caused the water which had overflowed it to disappear.<ref name=":dd563">[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca Historica|Library of History]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#56 5.56.3]</ref> He named it Rhodes, after his lover [[Rhodos|Rhode]] (the daughter of [[Poseidon]] and Aphrodite<ref>Scholia on Pindar's ''Olympian Odes'' [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001a.perseus-grc1:7.25 7.25]</ref> or [[Amphitrite]]<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D5 1.4.5]</ref>), and it became the god's sacred island, where he was honoured above all other gods. With Rhode Helios sired seven sons, known as the [[Heliadae]] ("sons of the Sun"), who became the first rulers of the island, as well as one daughter, [[Alectrona|Electryone]].<ref name=":dd563" /> Three of their grandsons founded the cities [[Ialysos]], [[Camiros]] and [[Lindos]] on the island, named after themselves;<ref name=":pin7" /> thus Rhodes came to belong to him and his line, with the autochthonous peoples of Rhodes claiming descend from the Heliadae.<ref>[[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]], ''Narrations'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_05bibliotheca.htm 47]</ref>

=== Phaethon ===
{{Main|Phaethon}}

[[File:Clymene Urging Phaeton to Find Helios LACMA M.71.76.20.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|''Clymene urges Phaethon to find his father'', 1589 engraving by [[Hendrik Goltzius]].]]

The most well known story about Helios is the one involving his son [[Phaethon]], who asked him to drive his chariot for a single day. Although all versions agree that Phaethon convinced Helios to give him his chariot, and that he failed in his task with disastrous results, there are a great number of details that vary by version, including the identity of Phaethon's mother, the location the story takes place, the role Phaethon's sisters the [[Heliades]] play, the motivation behind Phaethon's decision to ask his father for such thing, and even the exact relation between god and mortal.

Traditionally, Phaethon was Helios' son by the Oceanid nymph [[Clymene (mother of Phaethon)|Clymene]],<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]''; [[Euripides]], ''[https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.325.xml Phaethon]''; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]''; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#152A 152A]</ref> or alternatively Rhode<ref name=":pin">[[Scholia]] on [[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://cts.perseids.org/read/greekLit/tlg5026/tlg007/First1K-grc1/2.17.1-2.17.3 17.208] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921010912/https://cts.perseids.org/read/greekLit/tlg5026/tlg007/First1K-grc1/2.17.1-2.17.3 |date=2021-09-21 }}</ref> or the otherwise unknown Prote.<ref>[[John Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades'' 4.127</ref> In one version of the story, Phaethon is Helios' grandson, rather than son, through the boy's father [[Clymenus]]. In this version, Phaethon's mother is an Oceanid nymph named Merope.<ref name=":fb154">[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#154 154]</ref>

In Euripides' lost play ''[[Phaethon (play)|Phaethon]]'', surviving only in twelve fragments, Phaethon is the product of an illicit liaison between his mother Clymene (who is now married to [[Merops (mythology)|Merops]], the king of [[Aethiopia]]) and Helios, though she claimed that her lawful husband was the father of her all her children.<ref>Gantz, pp [https://www.academia.edu/29883249/GANTZ_Timothy_Early_Greek_myth_a_guide_to_literary_and_artistic_sources_Johns_Hopkins_University_Press_1993_ 31–32] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924025153/https://www.academia.edu/29883249/GANTZ_Timothy_Early_Greek_myth_a_guide_to_literary_and_artistic_sources_Johns_Hopkins_University_Press_1993_ |date=2023-09-24 }}</ref><ref>Diggle, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=RYAh8dv18lUC&pg=PA7 7–8]</ref> Clymene reveals the truth to her son, and urges him to travel east to get confirmation from his father after she informs him that Helios promised to grant their child any wish when he slept with her. Although reluctant at first, Phaethon is convinced and sets on to find his birth father.<ref>Cod. Claromont. - Pap. Berl. 9771, [[Euripides]] fragment [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.335.xml 773 Nauck]</ref> In a surviving fragment from the play, Helios accompanies his son in his ill-fated journey in the skies, trying to give him instructions on how to drive the chariot while he rides on a spare horse named Sirius,<ref name=":dig138" /> as someone, perhaps a [[paedagogi|paedagogus]] informs Clymene of Phaethon's fate, who is probably accompanied by slave women:

[[File:Ovide - Métamorphoses - I - Phaéton.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.05|''Phaethon meets the Sun'', engraving for the ''[[Metamorphoses]]''.]]

{{Blockquote|Take, for instance, that passage in which Helios, in handing the reins to his son, says—<br />
<blockquote>
"Drive on, but shun the burning [[Ancient Libya|Libyan]] tract;<br />
The hot dry air will let thine axle down:<br />
Toward the seven [[Pleiades]] keep thy steadfast way."<br />
</blockquote>
And then—<br />
<blockquote>
"This said, his son undaunted snatched the reins,<br />
Then smote the winged coursers' sides: they bound<br />
Forth on the void and cavernous vault of air.<br />
His father mounts another steed, and rides<br />
With warning voice guiding his son. 'Drive there!<br />
Turn, turn thy car this way."
</blockquote>
|title=[[Euripides]], ''Phaethon'' frag [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.349.xml?readMode=verso 779]<ref>Longinus, ''[[On the Sublime]]'' [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17957/17957-h/17957-h.htm#tag_35 15.4], with a translation by H. L. Havell.</ref>}}

If this messenger did witness the flight himself, it is possible there was also a passage where he described Helios taking control over the bolting horses in the same manner as [[Lucretius]] described.<ref>Diggle, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=RYAh8dv18lUC&pg=PA42 42–43]</ref> Phaethon inevitably dies; a fragment near the end of the play has Clymene order the slave girls hide Phaethon's still-smouldering body from Merops, and laments Helios' role in her son's death, saying he destroyed him and her both.<ref name=":frag" /> Near the end of the play it seems that Merops, having found out about Clymene's affair and Phaethon's true parentage, tries to kill her; her eventual fate is unclear, but it has been suggested she is saved by some [[deus ex machina]].<ref name=":cocro">Collard and Cropp, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uT78DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 202]</ref> A number of deities have been proposed for the identity of this possible deus ex machina, with Helios among them.<ref name=":cocro" />

[[File:Nicolas Poussin - Helios and Phaeton with Saturn and the Four Seasons.jpg|upright=1.3|thumb|left|''Helios and Phaethon with Saturn and the Four Seasons'', by [[Nicolas Poussin]], oil on canvas]]

In Ovid's account, Zeus' son [[Epaphus]] mocks Phaethon's claim that he is the son of the sun god; his mother Clymene tells Phaethon to go to Helios himself, to ask for confirmation of his paternity. Helios promises him on the river [[Styx]] any gift that he might ask as a proof of paternity; Phaethon asks for the privilege to drive Helios' chariot for a single day. Although Helios warns his son of how dangerous and disastrous this would be, he is nevertheless unable to change Phaethon's mind or revoke his promise. Phaethon takes the reins, and the earth burns when he travels too low, and freezes when he takes the chariot too high. Zeus strikes Phaethon with lightning, killing him. Helios refuses to resume his job, but he returns to his task and duty at the appeal of the other gods, as well as Zeus' threats. He then takes his anger out on his four horses, whipping them in fury for causing his son's death.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph.php#anchor_Toc64105482 1.747]–[https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph2.php#anchor_Toc64106101 2.400]</ref>

[[Nonnus]] of [[Panopolis]] presented a slightly different version of the myth, narrated by Hermes; according to him, Helios met and fell in love with Clymene, the daughter of the [[Oceanus|Ocean]], and the two soon got married with her father's blessing. When he grows up, fascinated with his father's job, he asks him to drive his chariot for a single day. Helios does his best to dissuade him, arguing that sons are not necessarily fit to step into their fathers' shoes. But under pressure of Phaethon and Clymene's begging both, he eventually gives in. As per all other versions of the myth, Phaethon's ride is catastrophic and ends in his death.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft/page/102/mode/2up?view=theater 38.142]–[https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft/page/122/mode/2up?view=theater 435]</ref>

[[File:Godfried Maes - Phaeton in the Chariot of the Sun God.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Phaethon in the chariot of the Sun, Godfried Maes, ca 1664-1700]]

Hyginus wrote that Phaethon secretly mounted his father's car without said father's knowledge and leave, but with the aid of his sisters the Heliades who yoked the horses.<ref>Gantz, p. [https://archive.org/details/early-greek-myth-a-guide-timothy-gantz/page/32/mode/2up?view=theater 33]</ref>

In all retellings, Helios recovers the reins in time, thus saving the earth.<ref>Bell, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/150/mode/2up?view=theater Phaethon]</ref> Another consistent detail across versions are that Phaethon's sisters the Heliades mourn him by the [[Eridanos (river of Hades)|Eridanus]] and are turned into black poplar trees, who shed tears of [[amber]]. According to [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], it was Helios who turned them into trees, for their honour to Phaethon.<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''[[Posthomerica]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=KiDDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT134 5.300], "The Daughters of the Sun, the Lord of Omens, shed (tears) for Phaethon slain, when by Eridanos' flood they mourned for him. These, for undying honour to his son, the god made amber, precious in men's eyes."</ref> In one version of the myth, Helios conveyed his dead son to the stars, as a constellation (the [[Auriga (constellation)|Auriga]]).<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''De astronomia'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.42.2 2.42.2]</ref>

=== The Watchman ===
==== Persephone ====
[[File:Head Helios AM Rhodes E49.jpg|thumb|left|Head of Helios, middle period, [[Archaeological Museum of Rhodes]]]]

{{rquote|right|But, Goddess, give up for good your great lamentation.<br />You must not nurse in vain insatiable anger.<br />Among the gods Aidoneus is not an unsuitable bridegroom,<br />Commander-of-Many and Zeus's own brother of the same stock.<br />As for honor, he got his third at the world's first division<br />and dwells with those whose rule has fallen to his lot.|''[[Homeric Hymn]] to [[Demeter]]'', lines 82–87, translated by Helene Foley<ref>Foley, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wRARAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 6]</ref>}}

Helios is said to have seen and stood witness to everything that happened where his light shone. When [[Hades]] abducts [[Persephone]], Helios is the only one to witness it.{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=U4mFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA124 124]}}

In Ovid's ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'', Demeter asks the stars first about Persephone's whereabouts, and it is [[Helice (mythology)|Helice]] who advises her to go ask Helios. Demeter is not slow to approach him, and Helios then tells her not to waste time, and seek out for "the queen of the third world".<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/OvidFastiBkFour.php#anchor_Toc69367852 4.575]</ref>

==== Ares and Aphrodite ====
[[File:JOHANN HEISS VULCAN SURPRISING VENUS AND MARS.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|''Vulcan surprises Venus and Mars'', by [[Johann Heiss]] (1679)]]

In another myth, Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but she cheated on him with his brother [[Ares]], god of war. In Book Eight of the ''Odyssey'', the blind singer [[Demodocus (Odyssey character)|Demodocus]] describes how the illicit lovers committed adultery, until one day Helios caught them in the act, and immediately informed Aphrodite's husband Hephaestus. Upon learning that, Hephaestus forged a net so thin it could hardly be seen, in order to ensnare them. He then announced that he was leaving for [[Lemnos]]. Upon hearing that, Ares went to Aphrodite and the two lovers coupled.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218%3Abook%3D8%3Acard%3D5 8. 266–295]</ref> Once again Helios informed Hephaestus, who came into the room and trapped them in the net. He then called the other gods to witness the humiliating sight.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218%3Abook%3D8%3Acard%3D6 8. 296–332]</ref>

Much later versions add a young man to the story, a warrior named [[Alectryon (mythology)|Alectryon]], tasked by Ares to stand guard should anyone approach. But Alectryon fell asleep, allowing Helios to discover the two lovers and inform Hephaestus. For this, Aphrodite hated Helios and his race for all time.<ref name=":senny">[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]]'' [https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/sen/sen.phaedra.shtml 124]</ref> In some versions, she cursed his daughter [[Pasiphaë]] to fall in love with the [[Cretan Bull]] as revenge against him.<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Euripides]]' ''[[Hippolytus (play)|Hippolytus]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=quBFAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA501 47]</ref><ref>[[Libanius]], ''[[Progymnasmata]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=kRi-If9IAOYC&pg=PA27 2.21]</ref> Pasiphaë's daughter [[Phaedra (mythology)|Phaedra]]'s passion for her step-son [[Hippolytus of Athens|Hippolytus]] was also said to have been inflicted on her by Aphrodite for this same reason.<ref name=":senny" />

==== Leucothoe and Clytie ====
[[File:The nymph klytie transforming into a sunflower as the sun god drives his chariot above, engraving by abraham diepenbeeck for the metamorphoses book by ovid, in a greek language copy.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Clytie turns into a sunflower as the Sun refuses to look at her, engraving by [[Abraham van Diepenbeeck]].]]

Aphrodite aims to enact her revenge by making Helios fall for a mortal princess named [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]], forgetting his previous lover the [[Oceanid]] [[Clytie (Oceanid)|Clytie]] for her sake. Helios watches her from above, even making the winter days longer so he can have more time looking at her. Taking the form of her mother [[Eurynome]], Helios enters their palace, entering the girl's room before revealing himself to her.

However, Clytie informs Leucothoe's father [[Orchamus]] of this affair, and he buries Leucothoe alive in the earth. Helios comes too late to rescue her, so instead he pours [[nectar]] into the earth, and turns the dead Leucothoe into a [[Boswellia sacra|frankincense tree]]. Clytie, spurned by Helios for her role in his lover's death, strips herself naked, accepting no food or drink, and sits on a rock for nine days, pining after him, until eventually turning into a purple, sun-gazing flower, the [[Heliotropium|heliotrope]].<ref name=":1">[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/141#4.190 4.167]–[https://topostext.org/work/141#4.256 273]; [[Lactantius Placidus]], ''Argumenta'' [https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=oDRdAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA18&hl=el 4.5]; Paradoxographers anonymous, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eTUOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA222 222]</ref><ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA45 p. 45]; Gantz, p. 34; Berens, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_NcDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA63 p. 63]; Grimal, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00grim/page/102/mode/2up?view=theater Clytia]</ref> This myth, it has been theorized, might have been used to explain the use of [[frankincense]] [[aroma]]tic resin in Helios' worship.{{sfn|Κακριδής|Ρούσσος|Παπαχατζής|Καμαρέττα|1986|page=228}} Leucothoe being buried alive as punishment by a male guardian, which is not too unlike [[Antigone]]'s own fate, may also indicate an ancient tradition involving [[human sacrifice]] in a vegetation cult.{{sfn|Κακριδής|Ρούσσος|Παπαχατζής|Καμαρέττα|1986|page=228}} At first the stories of Leucothoe and Clytie might have been two distinct myths concerning Helios which were later combined along with a third story, that of Helios discovering Ares and Aphrodite's affair and then informing Hephaestus, into a single tale either by Ovid himself or his source.<ref name="20–38">[[Joseph Fontenrose|Fontenrose, Joseph]]. ''The Gods Invoked in Epic Oaths: [[Aeneid]], XII, 175-215.'' [[The American Journal of Philology]] 89, no. 1 (1968): pp [https://doi.org/10.2307/293372 20–38].</ref>

==== Other ====
In [[Sophocles]]' play ''[[Ajax (play)|Ajax]]'', [[Ajax the Great]], minutes before committing suicide, calls upon Helios to stop his golden reins when he reaches Ajax's native land of [[Salamis Island|Salamis]] and inform his aging father [[Telamon]] and his mother of their son's fate and death, and salutes him one last time before he kills himself.<ref>[[Sophocles]], ''[[Ajax (play)|Ajax]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0184%3Acard%3D815 845-860]</ref>

=== Involvement in wars ===
[[File:4. Silahtarağa Statuary Group at the Museum of Archaeology, Istanbul, Turkey, 2nd century CE. This is one of the deities.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Helios from the Silahtarağa Statuary Group depicting the Gigantomachy, 2nd century AD, [[Archaeological Museum of Istanbul]].]]

Helios sides with the other gods in several battles.<ref name=":gig">[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#p289 5.71.3]</ref> Surviving fragments from ''[[Titanomachy (epic poem)|Titanomachy]]'' imply scenes where Helios is the only one among the Titans to have abstained from attacking the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympian gods]],<ref>Fr. *4 Serv. in Aen. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D6%3Acommline%3D580 6.580] (de Titanomachia; II 81.12–13 Thilo et Hagen) [= *4 GEF]</ref> and they, after the war was over, gave him a place in the sky and awarded him with his chariot.<ref>''[[Titanomachy (epic poem)|Titanomachy]]'' fragments 4.GEF, 11.EGEF and 12.EGEF in Tsagalis, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lL0vDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 47]</ref><ref name=":mad">Madigan, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=9moee6JH6FAC&pg=PA48 48–49]</ref>

He also takes part in the Giant wars; it was said by [[Pseudo-Apollodorus]] that during the battle of the [[Giants (Greek mythology)|Giants]] against the gods, the giant [[Alcyoneus]] stole Helios' cattle from [[Erytheia]] where the god kept them,<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D6%3Asection%3D1 1.6.1]</ref> or alternatively, that it was Alcyoneus' very theft of the cattle that started the war.<ref>Scholia on [[Pindar]], ''Isthmian Odes'' [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001d.perseus-grc1:6.47 6.47b]</ref><ref>Gantz, pp. 419, 448–449</ref> Because the [[earth]] goddess Gaia, mother and ally of the Giants, learned of the prophecy that the giants would perish at the hand of a mortal, she sought to find a magical herb that would protect them and render them practically indestructible; thus Zeus ordered Helios, as well as his sisters Selene (Moon) and Eos ([[Dawn]]) not to shine, and harvested all of the plant for himself, denying Gaia the opportunity to make the Giants immortal, while Athena summoned the mortal Heracles to fight by their side.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D6%3Asection%3D1 1.6.1]; Hansen, p. [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/178/mode/2up?view=theater 178]; Gantz, [https://archive.org/details/early-greek-myth-a-guide-timothy-gantz/page/448/mode/2up?view=theater 449]</ref>

[[File:Altar Pérgamo Helios 01.JPG|thumb|upright=1.5|Helios on his chariot fighting a Giant, detail of the Gigantomachy frieze, [[Pergamon Altar]], [[Pergamon museum]], Berlin]]

At some point during the battle of gods and giants in [[Phlegra (mythology)|Phlegra]],<ref>[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Oresteia|Eumenides]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0006%3Acard%3D276 294]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Herakles (Euripides)|Heracles Gone Mad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=779AD6C623207413812A728B409D9381?doc=Eur.+Her.+1192 1192–1194]; ''[[Ion (play)|Ion]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Ion+987 987–997]; [[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Birds (play)|The Birds]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0019,006:824&lang=original 824]; [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/210/mode/2up 3.232–234 (pp. 210–211)], [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/276/mode/2up 3.1225–7 (pp. 276–277)]. See also Hesiod fragment 43a.65 MW (Most 2007, p. 143, Gantz, p. 446)</ref> Helios takes up an exhausted Hephaestus on his chariot.<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/208/mode/2up?view=theater 3.220–234]</ref> After the war ends, one of the giants, [[Picolous]], flees to [[Aeaea]], where Helios' daughter, Circe, lived. He attempted to chase Circe away from the island, only to be killed by Helios.<ref>[[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]], ''Ad Odysseam'' 10.305; translation by Zucker and Le Feuvre p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=EAYREAAAQBAJ&pg=PT324 324]: "Alexander of [[Paphos]] reports the following tale: Picoloos, one of the Giants, by fleeing from the war led against Zeus, reached Circe's island and tried to chase her away. Her father Helios killed him, protecting his daughter with his shield; from the blood which flowed on the earth a plant was born, and it was called μῶλυ because of the {{lang|grc|μῶλος}} or the battle in which the Giant aforementioned was killed."</ref><ref>''The Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius: Book III'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yQU4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA89 89 note 845]</ref><ref>Le Comte, p. [https://archive.org/details/poetsriddlesessa0000leco/page/74/mode/2up?view=theater 75]</ref> From the blood of the slain giant that dripped on the earth a new plant was sprang, the [[herb]] [[Moly (herb)|moly]], named thus from the battle ("malos" in [[Ancient Greek]]).<ref>Knight, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=292mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA180 180]</ref>

Helios is depicted in the [[Pergamon Altar]], waging war against Giants next to Eos, Selene, and Theia in the southern frieze.<ref>Picón and Hemingway, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr3WCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 47]</ref><ref>[https://weblimc.org/page/monument/2071289 ''LIMC'' 617 (Helios)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230716120337/https://weblimc.org/page/monument/2071289 |date=2023-07-16 }}.</ref><ref>Faita, pp [https://archive.org/details/THEGREATALTAROFPERGAMONTHEMONUMENTINITSFHISTORICALANDCULTURALCONTEXTBYANTONIASTELLAFAITA2000/page/n213/mode/2up?q=&view=theater 202–203]</ref><ref name=":mad" /><ref>Now housed in the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]] and can be seen [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/153313/rein-guide-for-a-chariot-with-a-scene-of-the-battle-of-the-g?ctx=9f6c1772-3544-4c76-85a7-593a85983117&idx=82 here].</ref>

[[File:Phébus&Borée.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''Phoebus and Boreas'', [[Jean-Baptiste Oudry]]'s cosmic interpretation of La Fontaine's fable, 1729/34]]

=== Clashes and punishments ===
==== Gods ====
A myth about the origin of [[Corinth]] goes as such: Helios and Poseidon clashed as to who would get to have the city. The [[Hecatoncheires|Hecatoncheir]] Briareos was tasked to settle the dispute between the two gods; he awarded the [[Acrocorinth]] to Helios, while Poseidon was given the [[Isthmus of Corinth|isthmus]] of Corinth.<ref name=":p215">Fowler 1988, p. 98 n. 5; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.1.6 2.1.6], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4.6 2.4.6].</ref><ref>[[Dio Chrysostom]], ''Discourses'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/37*.html#p13 37.11–12]</ref>

[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] wrote that [[Nerites (mythology)|Nerites]] was the son of the sea god [[Nereus]] and the Oceanid [[Doris (Oceanid)|Doris]]. In the version where Nerites became the lover of Poseidon, it is said that Helios turned him into a shellfish, for reasons unknown. At first Aelian writes that Helios was resentful of the boy's speed, but when trying to explain why he changed his form, he suggests that perhaps Poseidon and Helios were rivals in love.<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'' [http://www.attalus.org/translate/animals14.html#28 14.28]</ref>{{sfn|Sanders|Thumiger|Carey|Lowe|2013|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qt7JkvxScSkC&pg=PA86 86]}}

In an Aesop fable, Helios and the north wind god [[Boreas (god)|Boreas]] [[The North Wind and the Sun|argued]] about which one between them was the strongest god. They agreed that whoever was able to make a passing traveller remove his cloak would be declared the winner. Boreas was the one to try his luck first; but no matter how hard he blew, he could not remove the man's cloak, instead making him wrap his cloak around him even tighter. Helios shone bright then, and the traveller, overcome with the heat, removed his cloak, giving him the victory. The moral is that persuasion is better than force.<ref>[[Aesop]], ''[[Aesop's Fables|Fables]]'' [http://www.mythfolklore.net/aesopica/oxford/183.htm 183]</ref>

==== Mortals ====
[[File:Nicolas Poussin - Landscape with Diana and Orion - WGA18341.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|''Blind Orion Searching for the Rising Sun'', by [[Nicolas Poussin]], 1658, oil on canvas]]Relating to his nature as the Sun,<ref name=":gender">Rea, Katherine A., ''The Neglected Heavens: Gender and the Cults of Helios, Selene, and Eos in Bronze Age and Historical Greece'', (2014). Classics: Student Scholarship & Creative Works. [[Augustana College (Illinois)|Augustana College]], [https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=classtudent PDF].</ref> Helios was presented as a god who could restore and deprive people of vision, as it was regarded that his light that made the faculty of sight and enabled visible things to be seen.<ref>John Peter Anton and George L. Kustas, ''Essays in Ancient Greek Philosophy II'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=7kq6jBE2rvEC&pg=PA236 236]</ref><ref>Decharme, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=nU9msl7p2vMC&pg=PA241 241–242]</ref> In one myth, after [[Orion (mythology)|Orion]] was blinded by King [[Oenopion]], he traveled to the east, where he met Helios. Helios then healed Orion's eyes, restoring his eyesight.<ref>Pseudo-[[Eratosthenes]], ''[[Catasterismi|Placings Among the Stars]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=0EoZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA162 Orion]; Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D3 1.4.3]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''De astronomia'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.34.3 2.34.3]; [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on the [[Aeneid]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D10%3Acommline%3D763 10.763]</ref>

In [[Phineus]]'s story, his blinding, as reported in Apollonius Rhodius's ''[[Argonautica]]'', was Zeus' punishment for Phineus revealing the future to mankind.<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/114/mode/2up 2.178–86]</ref> According, however, to one of the alternative versions, it was Helios who had deprived Phineus of his sight.<ref>Scholia on [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'' 12.69</ref> [[Pseudo-Oppian]] wrote that Helios' wrath was due to some obscure victory of the prophet; after [[Boreads|Calais and Zetes]] slew the Harpies tormenting Phineus, Helios then turned him into a [[mole (animal)|mole]], a blind creature.<ref>[[Pseudo-Oppian]], ''Cynegetica'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Oppian/Cynegetica/2*.html#612 2.615]</ref> In yet another version, he blinded Phineus at the request of his son Aeëtes.<ref>Fowler, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA222 222], vol. II; Gantz, pp [https://archive.org/details/early-greek-myth-a-guide-timothy-gantz/page/352/mode/2up?view=theater 352–353].</ref>[[File:The Fall of Icarus, fresco from Pompeii, 40-79 AD.png|thumb|230px|The Fall of Icarus, ancient fresco from Pompeii, ca 40-79 AD]]

In another tale, the Athenian inventor [[Daedalus]] and his young son [[Icarus]] fashioned themselves wings made of birds' feathers glued together with wax and flew away.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D12 ''Epitome'' 1.12]</ref> According to scholia on Euripides, Icarus, being young and rashful, thought himself greater than Helios. Angered, Helios hurled his rays at him, melting the wax and plunging Icarus into the sea to drown. Later, it was Helios who decreed that said sea would be named after the unfortunate youth, the [[Icarian Sea]].{{sfn|Mastronarde|2017|page = [https://escholarship.org/content/qt5p2939zc/qt5p2939zc_noSplash_e32bfabd1126d088150b59583c6c9c38.pdf#page=183 150]}}<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D12 ''Epitome'' 1.12]–[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D13 13]</ref>

[[Arge]] was a huntress who, while hunting down a particularly fast stag, claimed that fast as the Sun as it was, she would eventually catch up to it. Helios, offended by the girl's words, changed her shape into that of a doe.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#205 205]</ref><ref>Alexander Stuart Murray and William H. Klapp, Handbook of World Mythology, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BOFzYThPlk8C&pg=PA288 288]</ref>

In one rare version of [[Myrrha|Smyrna]]'s tale, it was an angry Helios who cursed her to fall in love with her own father [[Cinyras]] because of some unspecified offence the girl committed against him; in the vast majority of other versions however, the culprit behind Smyrna's curse is the goddess of love Aphrodite.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] ''Commentary on Virgil's Eclogues'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+Ecl.+10.18&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0091 10.18]</ref>

=== Oxen of the Sun ===
{{main article|Cattle of Helios}}

[[File:Budapest Széchenyi-Bad Eingangshalle Kuppel 4.JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Helios and chariot depicted on the dome of the entrance hall of the [[Széchenyi Bath]], [[Budapest]]]]

Helios is said to have kept his sheep and cattle on his sacred island of [[Thrinacia]], or in some cases Erytheia.<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] 3 to Apollo'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3%3Acard%3D397 410–414]</ref> Each flock numbers fifty beasts, totaling 350 cows and 350 sheep—the number of days of the year in the early Ancient Greek calendar; the seven herds correspond to the [[week]], containing seven days.<ref>Chris Rorres, ''Archimedes' count of Homer's Cattle of the Sun'', 2008, Drexel University, [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312116822_Archimedes'_count_of_homer's_cattle_of_the_sun chapter 3]</ref> The cows did not breed or die.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D12%3Acard%3D111 12.127–135]</ref> In the ''Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes'', after Hermes has been brought before Zeus by an angry Apollo for stealing Apollo's sacred cows, the young god excuses himself for his actions and says to his father that "I reverence Helios greatly and the other gods".<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] 4 to Hermes'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D4%3Acard%3D344 383]</ref><ref>Kimberley Christine Patton, ''Religion of the Gods: Ritual, Paradox, and Reflexivity'' p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QwgTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA333 393]</ref>

[[Augeas]], who in some versions is his son, safe-keeps a herd of twelve bulls sacred to the god.<ref>[[Theocritus]], ''Idylls'' 28 Heracles the Lion-Slayer [https://allpoetry.com/Idyll-XXV.--Heracles-the-Lion-Slayer 28.129-130]</ref> Moreover, it was said that Augeas' enormous herd of cattle was a gift to him by his father.<ref>[[Theocritus]], ''Idylls'' 28 Heracles the Lion-Slayer [https://allpoetry.com/Idyll-XXV.--Heracles-the-Lion-Slayer 28.118–121]</ref>

[[Apollonia (Illyria)|Apollonia]] in [[Illyria]] was another place where he kept a flock of his sheep; a man named [[Evenius|Peithenius]] had been put in charge of them, but the sheep were devoured by wolves. The other Apolloniates, thinking he had been neglectful, gouged out Peithenius' eyes. Angered over the man's treatment, Helios made the earth grow barren and ceased to bear fruit; the earth grew fruitful again only after the Apolloniates had propitiated Peithenius by craft, and by two suburbs and a house he picked out, pleasing the god.<ref>[[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]], ''Narrations'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_05bibliotheca.htm 40].</ref> This story is also attested by Greek historian [[Herodotus]], who calls the man Evenius.<ref name=":hh993">[[Herodotus]], ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Hdt.+9.93&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126 9.93] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D94 –94]</ref>{{sfn|Ustinova|2009|page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=gUsiqGlSzegC&pg=PA170 170]}}

==== Odyssey ====
[[File:Pellegrino Tibaldi 001.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|''The companions of Odysseus rob the cattle of Helios'', fresco by Palazzo Poggi, 1556.]]

During Odysseus' journey to get back home, he arrives at the island of Circe, who warns him not to touch Helios' sacred cows once he reaches Thrinacia, or the god would keep them from returning home. Though Odysseus warns his men, when supplies run short they kill and eat some of the cattle. The guardians of the island, Helios' daughters Phaethusa and Lampetia, tell their father about this. Helios then appeals to Zeus telling him to dispose of Odysseus' men, rejecting the crewmen's compensation of a new temple in Ithaca.<ref>Loney, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Y6ADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 92]</ref> Zeus destroys the ship with his lightning bolt, killing all the men except for Odysseus.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218%3Abook%3D12%3Acard%3D8 12.352–388]</ref>

=== Other works ===
[[File:Clipeus_Helios_Terme.jpg|thumb|240px|right|Bust of Helios in a clipeus, detail from a strigillated lenos [[sarcophagus]], white marble, early 3rd century CE, Tomb D in Via Belluzzo, [[Rome]].]]
Helios is featured in several of [[Lucian]]'s works beyond his ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]''. In another work of Lucian's, ''{{Interlanguage link|Icaromenippus|fi|Ikaromenippos}}'', Selene complains to the [[Menippus|titular character]] about philosophers wanting to stir up strife between herself and Helios.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''Icaromenippus'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:icaromenippus#section20 20]; Lucian is parodying here [[Anaxagoras]]' theory that the sun was a piece of blazing metal.</ref> Later he is seen feasting with the other gods on Olympus, and prompting Menippus to wonder how can night fall on the Heavens while he is there.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''Icaromenippus'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:icaromenippus#section28 28]</ref>

[[File:The music of the spheres.jpg|thumb|left|The music of the spheres: the planetary spheres, among others, on an engraving from Renaissance Italy.]]

[[Diodorus Siculus]] recorded an unorthodox version of the myth, in which Basileia, who had succeeded her father [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] to his royal throne, married her brother Hyperion, and had two children, a son Helios and a daughter Selene. Because Basileia's other brothers envied these offspring, they put Hyperion to the sword and drowned Helios in the river [[Eridanos (river of Hades)|Eridanus]], while Selene took her own life. After the massacre, Helios appeared in a dream to his grieving mother and assured her and their murderers would be punished, and that he and his sister would now be transformed into immortal, divine natures; what was known as [[Mene (goddess)|Mene]]<ref>Hard, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 46], another [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] word for the [[Moon]].</ref> would now be called Selene, and the "holy fire" in the heavens would bear his own name.<ref name=":dio">[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3D*.html#57.2 3.57.2–8]; Grimal, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00grim/page/72/mode/2up?view=theater Basileia]</ref><ref>Caldwell, p. [https://archive.org/details/hesiodstheogony00hesi/page/40/mode/2up?q=&view=theater 41, note on lines 207–210]</ref>

It was said that Selene, when preoccupied with her passion for the mortal Endymion,<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-gods#section12 Aphrodite and Eros I]</ref> would give her moon chariot to Helios to drive it.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]]'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3ATragedies_of_Seneca_(1907)_Miller.djvu/197 309–314]</ref>

[[Claudian]] wrote that in his infancy, Helios was nursed by his aunt [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]].<ref>[[Claudian]], ''Rape of Persephone'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Claudian/De_Raptu_Proserpinae/2*.html#p323 Book II]</ref>

{{anchor|Titan (brother of Helios)}}Pausanias writes that the people of [[Titane (Sicyon)|Titane]] held that Titan was a brother of Helios, the first inhabitant of Titane after whom the town was named;<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Paus.+2.11.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.11.5]</ref> Titan however was generally identified as Helios himself, instead of being a separate figure.<ref>''Ugarit-Forschungen'', Volume 31,
Verlag Butzon & Bercker, 2000, p. 20</ref>

According to sixth century BC lyric poet [[Stesichorus]], with Helios in his palace lives his mother [[Theia]].<ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae|Scholars at Dinner]]'' [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus11b.html#469 11.38]; "Now the Sun, begotten of Hyperion, was descending into his golden cup, that he might traverse the Ocean and come to the depths of dark and awful night, even to his mother and wedded wife and beloved children."</ref>

In the myth of the dragon [[Python (mythology)|Python]]'s slaying by Apollo, the slain serpent's corpse is said to have rotten in the strength of the "shining Hyperion".<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] 3'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3%3Acard%3D349 363-369]</ref>

=== Consorts and children ===
[[File:Exhibition Medea's Love and the Hunt for the Golden Fleece (2018-2019), Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main (52662740200).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Helios, riding on a snake-drawn chariot, witnesses Medea killing her son on an altar, red-figure krater, detail, attributed to the [[Underworld Painter]], circa 330 - 310 BC, [[Staatliche Antikensammlung]], [[Munich]].]]

The god Helios is typically depicted as the head of a large family, and the places that venerated him the most would also typically claim both mythological and genealogical descent from him;<ref name=":gender" /> for example, the Cretans traced the ancestry of their king [[Idomeneus of Crete|Idomeneus]] to Helios through his daughter Pasiphaë.<ref name=":5259">[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Paus.+5.25.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 5.25.9]</ref>

[[File:Musée Cinquantenaire Helios.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|left|Limestone relief representing the god Helios, driving the celestial quadriga, [[Royal Museums of Art and History]], [[Brussels]], [[Belgium]].]]

Traditionally the Oceanid nymph [[Perse (mythology)|Perse]] was seen as the sun god's wife<ref>[[Hecataeus of Miletus]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA141 fr. 35A Fowler (p. 141)]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA44 p. 44].</ref> by whom he had various children, most notably [[Circe]], Aeëtes, [[Minos]]' wife Pasiphaë, [[Perses of Colchis|Perses]], and in some versions the Corinthian king [[Aloeus]].<ref>Bell, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/356/mode/2up?view=theater Perse]</ref> [[John Tzetzes|Ioannes Tzetzes]] adds [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]], otherwise the daughter of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], to the list of children Helios had by Perse, perhaps due to the similarities of the roles and personalities she and Circe display in the ''Odyssey'' as hosts of Odysseus.<ref>Tzetzes ad [[Lycophron]], [https://topostext.org/work/860#174 174] [https://archive.org/details/hin-wel-all-00000373-002/page/n55/mode/2up?view=theater (Gk text)]</ref>{{AI-generated source|date=November 2024}}

[[File:Terracotta lekythos (oil flask) MET DP225321.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Helios rising in his quadriga; above Nyx driving away to the left and Eos to the right, and Heracles offering sacrifice at altar. Sappho painter, Greek, Attic, black-figure, ca. 500 BC]]

At some point Helios warned Aeëtes of a prophecy that stated he would suffer treachery from one of his own offspring (which Aeëtes took to mean his daughter [[Chalciope]] and her children by [[Phrixus]]).<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/234/mode/2up?view=theater 3.597–600]</ref><ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/214/mode/2up?view=theater 3.309–313]</ref>  Helios also bestowed several gifts on his son, such as a chariot with swift steeds,<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/308/mode/2up?view=theater 4.220–221]</ref> a golden helmet with four plates,<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/276/mode/2up?view=theater 3.1229]</ref> a giant's war armor,<ref>[[Philostratus the Younger|Philostratus]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/philostratus_younger-imagines_11_argo_aeetes/1931/pb_LCL256.343.xml 11]</ref> and robes and a necklace as a pledge of fatherhood.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Medea (Seneca)|Medea]]'' [https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/sen/sen.medea.shtml 570]</ref> When his daughter [[Medea]] betrays him and flees with [[Jason]] after stealing the [[golden fleece]], Aeëtes calls upon his father and Zeus to witness their unlawful actions against him and his people.<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/308/mode/2up?view=theater 4.228–230]</ref>

As father of Aeëtes, Helios was also the grandfather of Medea and would play a significant role in Euripides' rendition of her fate in [[Corinth]]. When Medea offers Princess [[Creusa of Corinth|Glauce]] the poisoned robes and diadem, she says they were gifts to her from Helios.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0114%3Acard%3D941 956]</ref> Later, after Medea has caused the deaths of Glauce and King [[Creon of Corinth|Creon]], as well as her own children, Helios helps her escape Corinth and her husband.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0114%3Acard%3D1293 1322]</ref><ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D28 1.9.28]</ref> In [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]'s [[Medea (Seneca)|rendition]] of the story, a frustrated Medea criticizes the inaction of her grandfather, wondering why he has not darkened the sky at sight of such wickedness, and asks from him his fiery chariot so she can burn Corinth to the ground.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Medea (Seneca)|Medea]]'' [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46058/46058-h/46058-h.htm 32–41]</ref><ref>Boyle, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=W7icAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 98]</ref>

However, he is also stated to have married other women instead like Rhodos in the [[Rhodes|Rhodian]] tradition,<ref>Fowler 2013, pp. 14, 591–592; Hard, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA43 43], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA105 105]; Grimal, p. 404 "Rhode", pp. 404–405 "Rhodus"; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DR%3Aentry+group%3D3%3Aentry%3Drhode-bio-1 "Rhode" ], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DR%3Aentry+group%3D3%3Aentry%3Drhodos-bio-1 "Rhodos"]; [[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Pind.%20O.%207&lang=original 7.71–74]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#55 5.55]</ref> by whom he had seven sons, the [[Heliadae]] ([[Ochimus]], [[Cercaphus]], [[Macareus of Rhodes|Macar]], [[Actis (mythology)|Actis]], [[Tenages]], [[Triopas]], [[Candalus]]), and the girl [[Alectrona|Electryone]].

In [[Nonnus]]' account from the ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', Helios and the nymph Clymene met and fell in love with each other in the mythical island of Kerne and got married.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#38.105 38.110-141], with a translation by William Henry Denham Rouse.</ref> Soon Clymene fell pregnant with Phaetheon. Her and Helios raised their child together, until the ill-fated day the boy asked his father for his chariot.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#38.105 38.142-217]</ref> A passage from [[Greek anthology]] mentions Helios visiting Clymene in her room.<ref>[[Greek anthology]] ''Macedonius the Consul'' [https://topostext.org/work/532#5.223 5.223]</ref>

The mortal king of [[Elis]] [[Augeas]] was said to be Helios' son, but [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] states that his actual father was the mortal king [[Eleius|Eleios]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D9 5.1.9]</ref>

In some rare versions, Helios is the father, rather than the brother, of his sisters Selene and Eos. A scholiast on Euripides explained that Selene was said to be his daughter since she partakes of the solar light, and changes her shape based on the position of the sun.<ref>Keightley, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lWAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA61 61]</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! Consort
! Children
| rowspan="27;" |
! Consort
! Children
| rowspan="27;" |
! Consort
! Children
|-
| [[Athena]]
| • The [[Korybantes|Corybantes]]<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.3.19 10.3.19].</ref>
| rowspan="11" | [[Rhodos]]<br />{{small|(a [[nymph]]<ref>Daughter of Poseidon and Aphrodite or Amphitrite.</ref>)}}
| • [[Heliadae|The Heliadae]]{{efn|Expert seafarers and astrologers from Rhodes island.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#56 5.56.3]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#14.36 14.44]</ref>}}
| Ephyra<br />{{nobr|{{small|(an [[Oceanid]]<ref>[[Epimenides]] in [[scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 3.242</ref>)}} }}
| • [[Aeëtes]]
|-
| rowspan="4" | [[Aegle (mythology)|Aegle]],<br />{{small|(a [[Naiad]]<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D35%3Asection%3D5 9.35.5] with a reference to [[Antimachus]].</ref><ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s. v. [https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/Γλώσσαι/Α ''Αἴγλης Χάριτες'']</ref>)}}
| • [[Charites|The Charites]]<ref>Otherwise called daughters of [[Eurynome]] with Zeus ([[Hesiod]] ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D901 907]) or of [[Aphrodite]] with [[Dionysus]] ([[Anacreontea]] fragment [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/anacreontea/1988/pb_LCL143.211.xml 38]).</ref>
| 1. [[Tenages]]
| rowspan="2" |Antiope<ref>[[Diophantus]] in [[scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 3.242</ref>
| • [[Aeëtes]]
|-
| 1. [[Aglaia (Grace)|Aglaea]]<br />{{small|"splendor"}}
| 2. [[Macareus (son of Helios)|Macareus]]
| • [[Aloeus]]
|-
| 2. [[Euphrosyne (mythology)|Euphrosyne]]<br />{{small|"mirth"}}
| 3. [[Actis (mythology)|Actis]]
| rowspan="3" | [[Gaia]] 
| • [[Tritopatores]]<ref name="sud">{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = Suda | publisher = Suda On Line | author = Suidas | url = http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-cgi-bin/search.cgi | access-date = December 10, 2023 | translator = David Whitehead | date =  21 December 2000 | title = Tritopatores}}</ref>
|-
| 3. [[Thalia (Grace)|Thalia]]<br />{{small|"flourishing"}}
| 4. [[Triopas]]
| • [[Bisaltes]]<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], ''Ethnica'' s.v. ''[https://topostext.org/work/241#B170.16 Bisaltia]''</ref>
|-
| rowspan="9" | [[Clymene (mother of Phaethon)|Clymene]]<br />{{small|(an [[Oceanid]])}}
| • [[Heliades|The Heliades]]<ref>Mostly represented as poplars mourning Phaethon's death beside the river [[Eridanus (mythology)|Eridanus]], weeping tears of amber in Ovid, ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph2.php#anchor_Toc64106114 2.340] & [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#154 154]</ref>
| 5. [[Candalus]]
| • [[Achelous]]<ref>[[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecateus]] fragment [https://archive.org/details/fragmentahistori01mueluoft/page/n131/mode/2up?view=theater 378]</ref><ref>Grimal s. v. [https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00grim/page/4/mode/2up?view=theater Achelous]</ref>
|-
| 1. Aetheria
| 6. [[Ochimus]]
| [[Hyrmine]]<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 1.172</ref> or
| rowspan="3" | • [[Augeas]]
|-
| 2. Helia
| 7. [[Cercaphus]]
| [[Iphiboe]]<ref name="4.361" /> or
|-
| 3. Merope
| 8. Auges
| [[Nausidame]]<ref>Daughter of [[Amphidamas]] of [[Ancient Elis|Elis]] in [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14.3 14.3] & [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/14/mode/2up 1.172]</ref>
|-
| 4. Phoebe
| 9. Thrinax
| [[Demeter]] or
| rowspan="2" | • [[Acheron]]<ref>[[Natalis Comes]], ''Mythologiae'' 3.1; [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith]] s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D3%3Aentry%3Dacheron-bio-1 Acheron]</ref>
|-
| 5. Dioxippe
| • [[Electryone]]
| [[Gaia]]
|-
| • [[Phaethon]]<ref>The son who borrowed the chariot of Helios, but lost control and plunged into the river [[Eridanus (mythology)|Eridanus]].</ref>
| rowspan="6" | [[Perse (mythology)|Perse]]<br />{{nobr|{{small|(an [[Oceanid]]<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D938 956]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#27 27]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D1 1.9.1] and [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]] ad Lycophron, ''Alexandra'' [https://archive.org/details/hin-wel-all-00000373-002/page/n55/mode/2up?view=theater 174]</ref>)}} }}
| • [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • Aethon<ref>In Suidas "Aithon", he chopped Demeter's sacred grove and was forever famished for that (compare the myth of [[Erysichthon of Thessaly|Erysichthon]]).</ref>
|-
| • [[Astris]]<ref>In [[Nonnus]] ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#17.269 17.269], wife of the river-god [[Hydaspes]] in [[India]], mother of Deriades.</ref>
| • [[Aeëtes]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Aega (mythology)|Aix]]<ref>In [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] ''De astronomia'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.13 2.13], a nymph with a beautiful body and a horrible face.</ref>
|-
| • [[Lampetia]]
| • [[Perses of Colchis|Perses]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Aloeus]]<ref>In [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1 2.1.1], ruler over [[Sicyon|Asopia]].</ref>
|-
| Rhode<br />{{small|(a [[Naiad]]<ref name=":pin"/>)}}
| rowspan="2" | • [[Phaethon]]
| • [[Circe]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • Camirus<ref>In [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#275 275], founder of [[Camirus]], a city in Rhodes.</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | Prote<br />{{small|(a [[Nereid]]<ref>[[John Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades'' 4.363</ref>)}}
| • [[Pasiphaë]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Ichnaea]]<ref>[[Lycophron]], ''Alexandra'' [https://archive.org/details/callimachuslycop00calluoft/page/504/mode/2up?view=theater 128 (pp. 504, 505)].</ref>
|-
| • [[Heliades|The Heliades]]
| • [[Aloeus]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • Mausolus<ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'' 25</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Neaera (consort of Helios)|Neaera]]<br />{{small|(perhaps an<br />[[Oceanid]]<ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s. v. [https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/Γλώσσαι/Ν {{mvar|Νέαιρα}}]</ref>)}}
| • [[Phaethusa]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Asterope (Greek myth)|Asterope]]<ref>''[[Argonautica Orphica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/549#1207 1217]</ref>
| • [[Aeëtes]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Phorbas]]<ref>Stephanus of Byzantium, ''Ethnica'' s.v. ''[https://topostext.org/work/241#A84.22 Ambrakia]''</ref>
|-
| • [[Lampetia]]<ref>Guardians of the cattle of [[Thrinacia]] ([[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' 12.128).</ref><ref>In [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph2.php#anchor_Toc64106114 2.340], these two are listed among the children of Clymene.</ref>
| • [[Circe]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Sterope]]<ref>[[John Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 886</ref><ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Pindar]], ''Pythian Odes'' [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001b.perseus-grc1:4.57/ 4.57], in which she is also described as "sister to Pasiphaë", perhaps implying they also share a mother as well, either [[Perse (mythology)|Perse]] or [[Crete (mythology)|Crete]].</ref>
|-
| [[Ocyrrhoe]]<br />{{nobr|{{small|(an [[Oceanid]]<ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'' 5.1</ref>)}} }}
| • [[Phasis (river)|Phasis]]
| [[Ceto (Oceanid)|Ceto]]<br />{{small|(an [[Oceanid]]<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#26.351 26.351], Nonnus calls her a [[Naiad]], but says that her father is [[Oceanus]].</ref>)}}
| • [[Astris]]<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#26.351 26.351], contradicting his previous statement that has Clymene as Astris' mother.</ref>
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Eos]]<ref>[[Mesomedes]], ''Hymn to the Sun'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=ULNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 1]. Eos, much like her sister Selene, is usually said to be Helios' sister instead in various other sources, rather than his daughter.</ref>
|-
| [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]]<ref>[[Ptolemaeus Chennus]], ''New History'' Book IV, as epitomized by [[Photius I of Constantinople|Patriarch Photius]] in ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Myriobiblon]]'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_05bibliotheca.htm 190]. Usually Helen is the daughter of [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]] by Zeus; in some versions her mother is [[Nemesis]], again by Zeus.</ref>
| • [[Helen of Troy|Helen]]
| [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]]<ref name=":1" /><ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14.4 14.4]. Either [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|this]] Leucothoe or [[Leucothea|another]] is the mother of Thersanon according to Hyginus.</ref> or
| rowspan="2" | • [[Thersanon]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Selene]]<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Phoen.+175&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0118 175 ff.]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/310/mode/2up 44.191]. Just like her sister Eos, she's more commonly said to be Helios' sister rather than his daughter.</ref>
|-
| [[Clytie (Oceanid)|Clytie]]<br />{{small|(an [[Oceanid]]<ref name=":1"/>)}}
| • {{small|''No known offspring''}}
| [[Leucothea]]<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14.4 14.4]. Either [[Leucothea|this]] Leucothoe or [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|another]] is the mother of Thersanon according to Hyginus.</ref>
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Hemera]]<ref>[[Pindar]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D2 O.2.32]; [[Scholia]] on [[Pindar]]'s ''Olympian Odes'' [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001a.perseus-grc1:2.58 2.58]; more often the daughter of Nyx and [[Erebus]].</ref>
|-
| [[Selene]]
| • The [[Horae]]<br />{{small|(possibly<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''Fall of Troy'' [http://mcllibrary.org/Troy/book10.html 10.337]</ref><ref>More commonly known as daughters of Zeus by [[Themis]].</ref>)}}
| [[Crete (mythology)|Crete]]<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#60.4 4.60.4]</ref><ref name="4.361">[[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades4.html 4.361]</ref>
| • Pasiphae
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Dirce]]<ref>Bell, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/168/mode/2up?view=theater Dirce (1)]</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | {{small|''unknown woman''}}<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4C*.html#45 4.45.1]</ref>
| •  [[Aeëtes]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Clymenus]]<ref name=":fb154" />
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
|• [[Lelex (king of Sparta)|Lelex]]<ref>Beck, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HGvqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA59 59]</ref>
|-
| • [[Perses of Colchis|Perses]]
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Chrysus]]<ref>Scholia on Pindar's ''Odes'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=JsmGAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA92 I.5.3]; "The Sun came from Theia and Hyperion, and from the Sun came gold". Pindar himself described Chrysus/Gold as a son of Zeus.</ref>
|-
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • Cos<ref>[[Palaephatus]], ''On Unbelievable Things'' [https://topostext.org/work/808#30 30]</ref>
| {{small|''unknown woman''}}
| • [[Cronus]]<ref>Meisner, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ethjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 31]</ref><br />({{small|[[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]]}})
|}

* [[Anaxibia]], an [[India]]n [[Naiad]], was lusted after by Helios according to [[Pseudo-Plutarch]].<ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'' 3.3. Pseudo-Plutarch attributes this story to Clitophon the Rhodian's ''Indica'', perhaps recording an Indian tale [[Interpretatio graeca|using the names of the Greek gods]].</ref>