Helius

HELIOS (Helius) was the Titan god of the sun, a guardian of oaths, and the god of sight. He dwelt in a golden palace in the River Okeanos (Oceanus) at the far ends of the earth from which he emerged each dawn, crowned with the aureole of the sun, driving a chariot drawn by four winged steeds. When he reached the the land of the Hesperides in the far West he descended into a golden cup which bore him through the northern streams of Okeanos back to his rising place in the East.

Once his son Phaethon tried to drive the chariot of the sun, but he lost control and set the earth ablaze. Zeus struck the boy down with a thunderbolt.

Helios was depicted as a handsome, usually beardless, man clothed in purple robes and crowned with the shining aureole of the sun. His sun-chariot was drawn by four, sometimes winged, steeds.

Helios was identified with several other gods of fire and light such as Hephaistos (Hephaestus) and light-bringing Phoebus Apollo.

Parents:

Father: Hyperion
Mother: Thea

Children:

• AIX - A Gorgon nymph daughter of Helios whose face was so terrifying to behold, that the ruling Titans ordered she be hidden away within the earth.
• ASTRIS - The nymph wife of the Indian river-god Hydaspes and ancestress of the Indian royal family. She was a daughter of Helios and the Okeanid-nymph Keto or Klymene.
• HELIADES The nymph sisters of Phaethon, the boy who tried to drive the chariot of the sun, were daughters of Helios and Clymene. They were transformed by their father into amber-weeping poplar trees to ease their grief.
• Horae - The goddesses of the four seasons were daughters of Helios (Sun) and Selene (Moon). (Most however describe them as daughters of Zeus and Themis.)
• Circe - A goddess-witch of the island of Aiaia was a daughter of Helios and the Okeanid-nymph Perseis.
• LAMPETIE (Lampetia) - A nymph who tended her father's immortal flocks of sheep on the sacred island of Thrinakie. She was a daughter of Helios by the nymph Neaira.
• PASIPHAE - A witch-queen of the island of Krete (Greek Aegean). She was a daughter of Helios and Perseis.
• PHAETHOUSA (Phaethusa) - A Nnymph who tended her father's immortal herds of cattle on the sacred island of Thrinakie. She was a daughter of Helios by the nymph Neaira.
• TELKHINES (Telchines) Daimon-magicians of the island of Rhodes which were sometimes described as sons of Helios and the Rhodian Athena.