Helios, the Sun God
Helios is Sun-god in ancient Greeks religion & mythology, He is also called Sol by the Romans and Mithra by the ancient Persians, was the son of Hyperion and Thea and a brother of Selene (the
Moon) and Eos (Dawn). He is also called latinized as Helius. He is generally given the epithets Hyperion or phaethon
Homer describes Helios as rising in the east from Oceanus, traversing the
heaven, and descending in the evening into the darkness of the west and Oceanus. Later poets embellished this simple notion. From his magnificent palace in the east Helios starts in the morning in a chariot drawn by four horses.
In the evening, he arrives at his second palace in the west. His horses feed upon herbs & growing in the Islands of
the Blessed. Helios sees and hears everything.
The island of Thrinasia (Sicily) was sacred to him and there he had flocks of sheep and oxen, which were tended by his daughters, Phaetusa and
Lampetia. He was worshipped in many parts of Greece, and especially in the island of Rbodes, where
the famous colossus was the representation of this god. The sacrifices offered to him consisted of white rams, bears, bulls, goats, lambs, and especially white horses and honey. Among the animals sacred to
him, the cock receives special mention. This god was distinct from Apollo in Homer, but was later identified with him.
Helios radiate holding long sceptre figures on some of the Indo-Greek coins. On a coin of Plato, he is
shown driving a quadriga of horses.
He 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 later stages.
