Editing Zeus (section)

=== Helios ===

Zeus is occasionally conflated with the Hellenic [[sun god]], [[Helios]], who is sometimes either directly referred to as Zeus's eye,<ref>Sick, David H. (2004), "Mit(h)ra(s) and the Myths of the Sun", Numen, 51 (4): 432–467, {{JSTOR|3270454}}</ref> or clearly implied as such. [[Hesiod]], for instance, describes Zeus's eye as effectively the sun.<ref>Ljuba Merlina Bortolani, Magical Hymns from Roman Egypt: A Study of Greek and Egyptian Traditions of Divinity, Cambridge University Press, 13 October 2016</ref> This perception is possibly derived from earlier [[Proto-Indo-European religion]], in which the sun is occasionally envisioned as the eye of [[Dyeus|*''Dyḗus Pḥ<sub>a</sub>tḗr'']] (see [[Hvare-khshaeta]]).<ref>{{cite book|last1=West|first1=Martin Litchfield|author-link=Martin Litchfield West|title=Indo-European Poetry and Myth|date=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, England|isbn=978-0-19-928075-9|url=http://library.globalchalet.net/Authors/Poetry%20Books%20Collection/Indo-European%20Poetry%20and%20Myth.pdf|access-date=7 May 2017|pages=194–196|archive-date=17 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417103355/http://library.globalchalet.net/Authors/Poetry%20Books%20Collection/Indo-European%20Poetry%20and%20Myth.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Euripides]] in his now lost tragedy ''Mysians'' described Zeus as "sun-eyed", and Helios is said elsewhere to be "the brilliant eye of Zeus, giver of life".<ref>Cook, p. [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/196/mode/2up?view=theater 196]</ref> In another of Euripides's tragedies, ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'', the chorus refers to Helios as "light born from Zeus."<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0114%3Acard%3D1251 1258]; ''The Play of Texts and Fragments: Essays in Honour of Martin Cropp'' by J. Robert C. Cousland, James, 2009, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=hcW-i_nrpWEC&pg=PA161 161]</ref>

Although the connection of Helios to Zeus does not seem to have basis in early Greek cult and writings, nevertheless there are many examples of direct identification in later times.<ref>Cook, pp [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/186/mode/2up?view=theater 186–187]</ref> The Hellenistic period gave birth to [[Serapis]], a Greco-Egyptian deity conceived as a chthonic avatar of Zeus, whose solar nature is indicated by the sun crown and rays the Greeks depicted him with.<ref name=":co188">Cook, pp [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/188/mode/2up?view=theater 188–189]</ref> Frequent joint dedications to "Zeus-Serapis-Helios" have been found all over the Mediterranean,<ref name=":co188"/> for example, the Anastasy papyrus (now housed in the [[British Museum]] equates Helios to not just Zeus and [[Serapis]] but also [[Mithras]],<ref>Cook, p. [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/190/mode/2up?view=theater 190]</ref> and a series of inscriptions from [[Lajat|Trachonitis]] give evidence of the cult of "Zeus the Unconquered Sun".<ref>Cook, p. [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/192/mode/2up?view=theater 193]</ref> There is evidence of Zeus being worshipped as a solar god in the Aegean island of [[Amorgos]], based on a lacunose inscription ''{{lang|grc|Ζεὺς Ἥλ[ιο]ς}}'' ("Zeus the Sun"), meaning sun elements of Zeus's worship could be as early as the fifth century BC.<ref>Cook, p. [https://archive.org/details/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft/page/194/mode/2up?view=theater 194]</ref>

The [[Crete|Cretan]] Zeus [[Talos|Tallaios]] had solar elements to his cult. "Talos" was the local equivalent of Helios.<ref>Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks 1951:110.</ref>