Editing Helios (section)

==== 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" />