Editing Helios (section)

=== Cult ===
==== Archaic and Classical Athens ====
[[File:Helios LACMA M.88.91.106.jpg|thumb|250px|''Helios the Sun'', by Hendrik Goltzius (Holland, Mülbracht [now Bracht-am-Niederrhein], 1558-1617]]

Scholarly focus on the ancient Greek cults of Helios has generally been rather slim, partially due to how scarce both literary and archaeological sources are.<ref name=":gender" /> L.R. Farnell assumed "that sun-worship had once been prevalent and powerful among the [[Pelasgians|people of the pre-Hellenic culture]], but that very few of the communities of the later historic period retained it as a potent factor of the state religion".<ref>Farnell, L.R. (1909) ''The Cults of the Greek States'' (New York/London: Oxford University Press) vol.&nbsp;v, p&nbsp;419f.</ref> The largely Attic literary sources used by scholars present ancient Greek religion with an Athenian bias, and, according to J. Burnet, "no Athenian could be expected to worship Helios or Selene, but he might think them to be gods, since Helios was the great god of Rhodes and Selene was worshiped at Elis and elsewhere".<ref>J. Burnet, ''Plato: Euthyphro, Apology of Socrates, and Crito'' (New York/London: Oxford University Press) 1924, p.&nbsp;111.</ref>[[Aristophanes]]' ''Peace'' (406–413) contrasts the worship of Helios and Selene with that of the more essentially Greek [[Twelve Olympians]].<ref>Notopoulos 1942:265.</ref>

[[File:Roman - Alexander Helios - Walters 542290.jpg|thumb|left|230px|Alexander the Great as Helios, Roman, cast bronze, 1st century, [[Walters Art Museum]].]]

The tension between the mainstream traditional religious veneration of Helios, which had become enriched with ethical values, poetical symbolism,<ref>Notopoulos 1942 instances [[Aeschylus]]' ''[[Oresteia|Agamemnon]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0004%3Acard%3D488 508], ''[[Oresteia|Choephoroe]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0008%3Acard%3D973 993], ''[[The Suppliants (Aeschylus)|Suppliants]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0016%3Acard%3D207 213], and [[Sophocles]]' ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0192%3Acard%3D660 660] and [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0192%3Acard%3D1416 1425].</ref> and the Ionian proto-scientific examination of the sun, clashed in the trial of [[Anaxagoras]] c. 450 BC, in which Anaxagoras asserted that the Sun was in fact a gigantic red-hot ball of metal.<ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anaxagoras/ Anaxagoras biography]</ref>

==== Hellenistic period ====
Helios was not worshipped in Athens until the [[Hellenistic period]], in post-classical times.<ref>Ogden, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yOQtHNJJU9UC&pg=PA200 200]</ref> His worship might be described as a product of the Hellenistic era, influenced perhaps by the general spread of cosmic and astral beliefs during the reign of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander III]].<ref name=":hoffie">Hoffmann, Herbert. "Helios." Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 2 (1963):  [https://doi.org/10.2307/40000976. 117–24.]</ref> A scholiast on Sophocles wrote that the Athenians did not offer [[wine]] as an offering to the Helios among other gods, making instead ''[[nephalia]]'', or ''wineless'', sober sacrifices;<ref>[[Scholia]] ad [[Sophocles|Sophocli]] ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=CflPAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA27 91]; Xenis p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3HBLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 72]</ref><ref>Robert E. Meagher, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vBDfKCyC2LMC&pg=PA142 142]</ref> Athenaeus also reported that those who sacrificed to him did not offer wine, but brought honey instead, to the altars reasoning that the god who held the cosmos in order should not succumb to drunkenness.<ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae|Scholars at Dinner]]'' [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus15c.html#693 25.48]</ref>

Lysimachides in the first century BC or first century AD reported of a festival [[Skira]]:

<blockquote>
that the skiron is a large sunshade under which the priestess of Athena, the priest of Poseidon, and the priest of Helios walk as it is carried from the [[Acropolis of Athens|acropolis]] to a place called Skiron.<ref>Ogden, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yOQtHNJJU9UC&pg=PA200 200] [=FGrH 366 fr. 3].</ref>
</blockquote>

During the [[Thargelia]], a festival in honour of Apollo, the Athenians had cereal offerings for Helios and the [[Horae]].<ref>Farnell, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NQF-MSICWEC&pg=PA19 19], [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NQF-MSICWEC&pg=PA143 143]. vol. IV</ref> They were honoured with a procession, due to their clear connections and relevance to agriculture.<ref>Parker, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ff51JeXhHXUC&pg=PA417 417]</ref><ref name=":harr">Harrison, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uucSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 79]; a scholiast says "At the Pyanepsia and the Thargelia the Athenians hold a feast to Helios and the Horae, and the boys carry about branches twined with wool,"</ref><ref name=":park204">Parker, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ff51JeXhHXUC&pg=PA204 204]</ref><ref>Gardner and Jevons, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ifTOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA294 294]</ref> Helios and the Horae were also apparently worshipped during another Athenian festival held in honor of Apollo, the [[Pyanopsia]], with a feast;{{sfn|Konaris|2016|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PLbkCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA225 225]}}<ref name=":harr" /> an attested procession, independent from the one recorded at the Thargelia, might have been in their honour.<ref name=":park203">Parker, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ff51JeXhHXUC&pg=PA203 203], note 52: "Deubner [...] and Σ. vet. Ar. Plut. 1054c treat the ''Thargelia'' (and ''Pyanopsia'') as festivals of the Sun and Seasons. Once could on that basis equally well link the Sun and Seasons processions with ''Pyanopsia'', but it is neater to identify it with the attested ''Thargelia'' procession and leave the ''Pyanopsia'' free for the boys' roamings with the ''eiresione''."</ref>

Side B of LSCG 21.B19 from the [[Piraeus]] Asclepium prescribe cake offerings to several gods, among them Helios and [[Mnemosyne]],<ref>Lupu, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ROx5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 64]</ref> two gods linked to incubation through dreams,<ref>Miles, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QBcuCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT112 112]</ref> who are offered a type of [[honey]] cake called ''arester'' and a honeycomb.<ref>''Mnemosyne at the Asklepieia'', Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll, Classical Philology, Vol. 109, No. 2 (April 2014), pp. 99-118; The [[University of Chicago Press]].</ref><ref>[http://cgrn.ulg.ac.be/file/54/ CGRN File 54]</ref> The cake was put on fire during the offering.<ref>Bekker, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=80td5BGBPVUC&pg=PA215 215], vol. I</ref> A type of cake called ''orthostates''<ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s. v. [https://archive.org/details/hesychiialexand00schmgoog/page/n613/mode/2up?view=theater {{lang|grc|{{math|ὀρθοστάτης}} }}]</ref><ref>[[Julius Pollux]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=m2U-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA23 6.74]</ref> made of wheaten and [[barley]] flour was offered to him and the Hours.<ref>[[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], ''[[On Abstinence from Eating Animals|On Abstinence from Animal Food]]'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/porphyry_abstinence_02_book2.htm 2.7]</ref><ref name=":liknon">Allaire Brumfield, ''Cakes in the Liknon: Votives from the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on Acrocorinth'', Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens Vol. 66, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1997), pp. [https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/uploads/media/hesperia/148477.pdf 147-172], The [[American School of Classical Studies at Athens]].</ref> Phthois, another flat cake<ref>[[Photios I of Constantinople|Patriarch Photius]] s. v. [https://archive.org/details/photiipatriarcha02phot/page/262/mode/2up?view=theater {{lang|grc|{{math|Φθόις}} }}]</ref> made with [[cheese]], honey and [[wheat]] was also offered to him among many other gods.<ref name=":liknon" />

In many places people kept herds of red and white cattle in his honour, and white animals of several kinds, but especially white horses, were considered to be sacred to him.<ref name=":seyf" /> Ovid writes that horses were sacrificed to him because no slow animal should be offered to the swift god.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'' [https://archive.org/details/ovidsfasti00oviduoft/page/28/mode/2up?view=theater 1.385–386]</ref>

In Plato's ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' Helios, the Sun, is the symbolic offspring of the idea of the Good.<ref>[[Plato]], ''[[Republic (Plato)|The Republic]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D7%3Asection%3D517b 7.517b]–[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D7%3Asection%3D517c 7.517c]</ref>

The ancient Greeks called [[Sunday]] "day of the Sun" (''{{lang|grc|{{math|ἡμέρα Ἡλίου}}}}'') after him.<ref>Martin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Go18BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA302 p. 302]; Olderr, [https://books.google.com/books?id=y5gZDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 p. 98]; Barnhart (1995:778).</ref> According to [[Philochorus]], Athenian historian and Atthidographer of the 3rd century BC, the first day of each month was sacred to Helios.<ref>[[Philochorus]] 181; Müller, [https://archive.org/details/fragmentahistori01mueluoft/page/526/mode/2up?view=theater s. v. ''Sol, Hyperionis'']</ref>

It was during the Roman period that Helios actually rose into an actual significant religious figure and was elevated in public cult.<ref>''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=bVWcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA655 s.v. Helios], "But it was not until the later Roman empire that Helios/*Sol grew into a figure of central importance in actual cult."</ref><ref name=":hoffie" />

==== Rhodes ====
[[File:Colosse de Rhodes (Barclay).jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.05|[[Colossus of Rhodes]]]]

The island of [[Rhodes]] was an important [[Cult (religion)|cult]] center for Helios, one of the only places where he was worshipped as a major deity in ancient Greece.<ref>Burkert, p. 174</ref>{{sfn|Nilsson|1950|page=355}} One of Pindar's most notable greatest odes is an abiding memorial of the devotion of the island of Rhodes to the cult and personality of Helios, and all evidence points that he was for the Rhodians what Olympian Zeus was for [[Elis]] or Athena for the Athenians; their local myths, especially those concerning the [[Heliadae]], suggest that Helios in Rhodes was revered as the founder of their race and their civilization.<ref>Farnell, p. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56576/page/n531/mode/2up?view=theater 418], vol. V</ref>

[[File:Münze aus Rhodos, 170-150 v. Chr. Vorderseite.jpg|Silver drachma coin from Rhodes island with the head of Helios looking to the right and bearing a diadem of rays, ca. 170-150 BC, [[University of Tübingen]], [[Berlin]].|260px|thumb]]

The worship of Helios at Rhodes included a ritual in which a [[quadriga]], or chariot drawn by four horses, was driven over a precipice into the sea, in reenactment to the myth of Phaethon. Annual gymnastic tournaments were held in Helios' honor;<ref name=":seyf">{{Cite book |last=Seyffert |first=Oskar |url=http://archive.org/details/b3135841x |title=A dictionary of classical antiquities : mythology, religion, literature & art |date=1901 |publisher=London : S. Sonnenschein; New York : Macmillan |others=Wellcome Library}}</ref> according to [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] (s. v. [[October Horse|October Equus]]) during the Halia each year the Rhodians would also throw quadrigas dedicated to him into the sea.<ref>Parker, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=e_ytDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA138 138]</ref><ref>Farnell, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NQF-MSICWEC&pg=PA20 20], vol. IV</ref><ref>Gardner and Jevons, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ifTOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA247 247]</ref> Horse sacrifice was offered to him in many places, but only in Rhodes in teams of four; a team of four horses was also sacrificed to Poseidon in [[Illyricum (Roman province)|Illyricum]], and the sea god was also worshipped in Lindos under the epithet Hippios, denoting perhaps a blending of the cults.<ref name=":riat73">''Rhodes in Ancient Times'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cdA5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA73 73]</ref>

It was believed that if one sacrificed to the rising Sun with their day's work ahead of them, it would be proper to offer a fresh, bright white horse.<ref>Harrison, Jane E. "Helios-Hades." The Classical Review, vol. 22, no. 1, Classical Association, [[Cambridge University Press]], 1908, pp. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/694587 12–16]</ref>

The [[Colossus of Rhodes]] was dedicated to him. In [[Xenophon of Ephesus]]' work of fiction, ''[[Ephesian Tale|Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes]]'', the protagonist Anthia cuts and dedicates some of her hair to Helios during his festival at Rhodes.<ref>[[Xenophon of Ephesus]], ''[[Ephesian Tale]]'' pp. [https://www.elfinspell.com/ClassicalTexts/Rooke/XenophonsEphesianHistory/Ephesiaca-Book5.html 107-108]; Dillon 2002, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=A4YyVL0sygAC&pg=PA216 216]</ref> The Rhodians called shrine of Helios, Haleion ({{langx|grc|{{math|Ἄλειον}} }}).<ref>[https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/alpha/1155 Suda, alpha, 1155]</ref>

A colossal statue of the god, known as the Colossus of Rhodes and named as one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]], was erected in his honour and adorned the port of the city of Rhodes.<ref>Hemingway, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=n1I_EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 36]</ref>

<blockquote>
The best of these are, first, the Colossus of Helius, of which the author of the iambic verse says, "seven times ten cubits in height, the work of [[Chares of Lindos|Chares the Lindian]]"; but it now lies on the ground, having been thrown down by an earthquake and broken at the knees. In accordance with a certain oracle, the people did not raise it again.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geography]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/14B*.html#p269 14.2.5]</ref>
</blockquote>

According to most contemporary descriptions, the Colossus stood approximately 70 [[cubit]]s, or {{convert|33|m|ft|abbr=off}} high – approximately the height of the modern [[Statue of Liberty]] from feet to crown – making it the tallest statue in the [[ancient world]].<ref>Higgins, Reynold (1988) "The Colossus of Rhodes" [https://books.google.com/books?id=vGhbJzigPBwC&pg=PA130 p. 130], in ''The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World'', Peter A. Clayton and Martin Jessop Price (eds.). Psychology Press, {{ISBN|9780415050364}}.</ref> It collapsed after an earthquake that hit Rhodes in [[226 BC Rhodes earthquake|226 BC]], and the Rhodians did not build it again, in accordance with an oracle.

In Rhodes, Helios seems to have absorbed the worship and cult of the island's local hero and mythical founder [[Tlepolemus]].<ref name=":ekr1">Ekroth, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=i54VCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA210 210]</ref> In ancient Greek city foundation, the use of the ''archegetes'' in its double sense of both founder and progenitor of a political order, or a polis, can be seen with Rhodes; real prominence was transferred from the local hero Tlepolemus, onto the god, Helios, with an appropriate myth explaining his relative insignificance; thus games originally celebrated for Tlepolemus were now given to Helios, who was seen as both ancestor and founder of the polis.<ref>Malkin, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=A-0UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA245 245]</ref> A sanctuary of Helios and the nymphs stood in Loryma near [[Lindos]].<ref>Larson 2001, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1ww3m1vSRtsC&pg=PA207 207]</ref>

The priesthood of Helios was, at some point, appointed by lot, though in the great city a man and his two sons held the office of priesthood for the sun god in succession.<ref>''Rhodes in Ancient Times'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cdA5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA83 83]</ref>

==== Peloponnese ====
The scattering of cults in [[Sicyon]], [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], [[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]], [[Epidaurus]] and [[Laconia]] seem to suggest that Helios was considerably important in Dorian religion, compared to other parts of ancient Greece. It may have been the Dorians who brought his worship to Rhodes.<ref name=":largdn2">Larson, Jennifer. "A Land Full of Gods: Nature Deities in Greek Religion". In Ogden, Daniel. ''A Companion to Greek Religion''. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, 56–70.</ref>

[[File:DSC00400 - Tempio C di Selinunte - Quadriga di Helios - Sec. VI a.C. - Foto G. Dall'Orto.jpg|thumb|right|240px|''Quadriga of the Sun'', sixth century BC, Temple C, [[Selinunte]].]]

Helios was an important god in [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] and the greater [[Corinthia]] region.<ref name=":ogd4">Ogden, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yOQtHNJJU9UC&pg=PA204 204]</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] in his ''Description of Greece'' describes how Helios and Poseidon vied over the city, with Poseidon getting the [[isthmus of Corinth]] and Helios being awarded with the [[Acrocorinth]].<ref name=":p215" /> Helios' prominence in Corinth might go as back as [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] times, and predate Poseidon's arrival,<ref name=":farn19">Farnell, p. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56576/page/n533/mode/2up?view=theater 419], vol. V</ref> or it might be due to Oriental immigration.{{sfn|Harrison|1991|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uucSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA609 609]}} At [[Sicyon]], Helios had an altar behind Hera's sanctuary.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.11.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.11.1]</ref> It would seem that for the Corinthians, Helios was notable enough to even have control over thunder, which is otherwise the domain of the sky god Zeus.<ref name=":gender" />

Helios had a cult in [[Laconia]] as well. Taletos, a peak of Mt. [[Taygetus]], was sacred to Helios.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.20.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 3.20.4]</ref><ref>Nagy, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GOO5Z7wqZS0C&pg=PA100 100 n. 70]</ref> At [[Thalamae (Laconia)|Thalamae]], Helios together with his daughter Pasiphaë were revered in an oracle, where the goddess revealed to the people consulting her what they needed to know in their dreams.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.26.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 3.26.1]</ref><ref name=":farn19" /> While the predominance of Helios in [[Sparta]] is currently unclear, it seems [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] was the local solar deity.<ref>Euripides, Robert E. Meagher, ''Helen,'' Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1986</ref> Helios (and Selene's) worship in [[Gytheio|Gytheum]], near Sparta, is attested by an inscription (''C.I.G. 1392'').<ref>''The Classical Review'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LQgOi5LWx5QC&pg=PA77 77], vol. 7</ref>

In [[Argolis]], an altar was dedicated to Helios near [[Mycenae]],<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.18.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.18.3]</ref> and another in [[Troezen]], where he was worshipped as the God of Freedom, seeing how the Troezenians had escaped slavery at the hands of [[Xerxes I]].<ref name=":2315" /> Over at [[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]] stood a temple of his.<ref name=":farn19" /><ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.34.10&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.34.10]</ref><ref>Vermaseren, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=peh5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150 150]; [https://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/28227?&bookid=6&location=1690 CIG Pel. I = IG IV, 1<sup>2</sup>, 700].</ref> He appears to have also been venerated in [[Epidaurus]].<ref>Vermaseren, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=peh5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA149 149]</ref>

In [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]], he had a cult in [[Megalopolis, Greece|Megalopolis]] as the Saviour, and an altar near [[Mantineia]].<ref>Farnell, p. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56576/page/n533/mode/2up?view=theater 420], Vol. V; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.9.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 8.9.4]</ref>

==== Elsewhere ====
Traces of Helios's worship can also be found in [[Crete]]. In the earliest period Rhodes stood in close relations with Crete, and it is relatively safe to suggest that the name "Taletos" is associated with the [[Eteocretan]] word for the sun "[[Talos]]", surviving in Zeus' epithet Tallaios,<ref name=":farn19" /> a solar aspect of the thunder god in Crete.<ref name=":kk" /><ref name=":hest">[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s. v. [https://archive.org/details/hesychiialexand00schmgoog/page/n767/mode/2up?view=theater {{mvar|Τάλως}}]</ref> Helios was also invoked in an oath of alliance between [[Knossos]] and [[Dreros]].<ref>Farnell, note [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56576/page/n565/mode/2up?view=theater 40], vol. V</ref>

[[File:Garni Temple 02.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|left|The [[Temple of Garni]], late first century, [[Armenia]], dedicated to the solar god Helios-[[Mihr (Armenian deity)|Mihr]], from a syncretic Helleno-Armenian cult.]]

In his little-attested cults in [[Asia Minor]] it seems his identification with Apollo was the strongest.<ref>Farnell, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2NQF-MSICWEC&pg=PA138 138], vol. IV</ref>{{sfn|Fontenrose|1988|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wOtqfmkUZA8C&pg=PA115 115]}}<ref>[[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]], ''Narrations'' [https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_05bibliotheca.htm 33]</ref> It is possible that the solar elements of Apollo's Anatolian cults were influenced by Helios' cult in Rhodes, as Rhodes lies right off the southwest coast of Asia Minor.{{sfn|Fontenrose|1988|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wOtqfmkUZA8C&pg=PA113 113]}}

Archaeological evidence has proven the existence of a shrine to Helios and [[Hemera]], the goddess of the [[day]] and daylight, at the island of [[Kos]]<ref name=":farn19" /> and excavations have revealed traces of his cult at [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]], [[Pozzuoli]], [[Ostia Antica|Ostia]] and elsewhere.<ref name=":hoffie" /> After a plague hit the city of [[Cleonae (Phocis)|Cleonae]], in [[Phocis]], [[Central Greece (geographic region)|Central Greece]], the people there sacrificed a he-goat to Helios, and were reportedly then spared from the plague.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+10.11.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 10.11.5]</ref>

Helios also had a cult in the region of [[Thessaly]].<ref name=":miller">Miller, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=-wsxBUMzY3YC&pg=PA33 33–35]</ref> Plato in his ''[[Laws (Plato)|Laws]]'' mentions the state of the [[Magnetes]] making a joint offering to Helios and Apollo, indicating a close relationship between the cults of those two gods,<ref>[[Plato]], ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0166%3Abook%3D12%3Asection%3D946b 12.946b]-[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0166%3Abook%3D12%3Asection%3D946e e]</ref> but it is clear that they were nevertheless distinct deities in Thessaly.<ref name=":miller" />

[[File:Greek inscription of Tiridates I, Garni.jpg|right|thumb|250px|An ancient Greek inscription naming King Tiridates the Sun (''Helios Tiridates'') as the founder of the Garni temple.]]

Helios is also depicted on first century BC coins found at [[Halicarnassus]],<ref>''British Museum Catalogue 'Caria'.'' pp 106-107</ref> [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] in [[Sicily]]<ref>''British Museum Catalogue 'Sicily'.'' p 229</ref> and at [[Zakynthos|Zacynthus]].<ref>''British Museum Catalogue 'Peloponnese'.'' p 101</ref> From [[Pergamon]] originates a hymn to Helios in the style of Euripides.<ref>Farnell, note [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56576/page/n565/mode/2up?view=theater 44], vol. V</ref>

In [[Apollonia, Illyria|Apollonia]] he was also venerated, as evidenced from [[Herodotus]]' account where a man named Evenius was harshly punished by his fellow citizens for allowing wolves to devour the flock of sheep sacred to the god out of negligence.<ref name=":hh993" />

The ''[[Alexander Romance]]'' names a temple of Helios in the city of [[Alexandria]].<ref>Nawotka, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=MtMuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 109]</ref>