Editing Helios (section)

== Description ==
[[File:Bust of the sun-god Helios. 2nd cent. A.D.jpg|thumb|right|265px|Bust of the sun-god Helios, second century AD; the holes were used for the attachment of a sun ray crown, [[Ancient Agora Museum]], [[Athens]], Greece.]]
Helios is the son of [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]] and [[Theia]],<ref name=":hesd">{{Cite web |title=Hesiod, Theogony, line 371 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130:card=371 |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref name=":pseuap">{{Cite web |title=Apollodorus, Library, book 1, chapter 2, section 2 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Library:book=1:chapter=2:section=2 |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Scaife Viewer {{!}} Scholia in Pindarum Isthmian Odes |url=https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001d.perseus-grc1:5.2/ |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=scaife.perseus.org}}</ref> or Euryphaessa,<ref name=":hh31">{{Cite web |title=Hymn 31 to Helios, To Helios |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=31 |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> or Basileia,<ref name=":dio" /> and the only brother of the goddesses Eos and Selene. If the order of mention of the three siblings is meant to be taken as their birth order, then out of the four authors that give him and his sisters a birth order, two make him the oldest child, one the middle, and the other the youngest.{{efn|[[Hesiod]] and [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] both give their birth order as first Helios/[[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]], then [[Selene]]/[[Luna (goddess)|Luna]] and lastly [[Eos]]/[[Aurora (mythology)|Aurora]],<ref name=":hesd" /><ref name=":hygi">[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 preface]</ref> [[pseudo-Apollodorus]] makes him the middle child (with Eos as the oldest)<ref name=":pseuap" /> and the author of his ''[[Homeric Hymn]]'' has him as the youngest of the three (with Eos again as the oldest).<ref name=":hh31" />}} Helios was not among the regular and more prominent deities, rather he was a more shadowy member of the Olympian circle,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gardner |first1=Percy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ifTOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA115 |title=A Manual of Greek Antiquities |last2=Jevons |first2=Frank Byron |date=1895 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |language=en}}</ref> despite the fact that he was among the most ancient.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ogden |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yOQtHNJJU9UC&pg=PA8 |title=A Companion to Greek Religion |date=2010-02-01 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-3417-3 |language=en}}</ref> From his lineage, Helios might be described as a second generation Titan.<ref name=":barry">{{Citation |last=Powell |first=Barry B. |title=Greek Poems to the Gods |chapter=14 Sun, Moon, Earth, Hekatê, and All the Gods |date=2021-04-30 |pages=240–252 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520972605-017/html |access-date=2024-08-06 |publisher=University of California Press |language=en |doi=10.1525/9780520972605-017 |isbn=978-0-520-97260-5}}</ref> He is associated with harmony and order, both literally in the sense of the movement of celestial bodies and metaphorically in the sense of bringing order to society.<ref name=":berg45">{{Cite book |last=Berg |first=Robbert Maarten van den |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3et5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA145 |title=Proclus' Hymns: Essays, Translations, Commentary |date=2001-12-01 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-0103-2 |language=en}}</ref>

Helios is usually depicted as a handsome young man crowned with the shining [[Aureola|aureole]] of the Sun, which traditionally had twelve rays, symbolising the twelve months of the year.<ref name=":thon">{{Cite book |last=Thonemann |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KS3JDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=An Ancient Dream Manual: Artemidorus' The Interpretation of Dreams |date=2020-01-16 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-258202-7 |language=en}}</ref> Beyond his Homeric Hymn, not many texts describe his physical appearance; [[Euripides]] describes him as ''{{lang|grc|{{math|χρυσωπός}} }}'' (khrysо̄pós) meaning "golden-eyed/faced" or "beaming like gold",<ref>{{Cite book |last=West |first=M. L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA199 |title=Indo-European Poetry and Myth |date=2007-05-24 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-928075-9 |language=en}}</ref> [[Mesomedes]] of [[Crete]] writes that he has golden hair,<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{Cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=Tom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ULNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 |title=Music, Text, and Culture in Ancient Greece |last2=D'Angour |first2=Armand |date=2018-03-02 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-251328-1 |language=en}}</ref> and [[Apollonius Rhodius]] that he has light-emitting, golden eyes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Apollonius |first=Rhodius |url=http://archive.org/details/theargonauticaof00apoliala |title="The Argonautica" of Apollonius Rhodius |date=1889 |publisher=London : George Bell |others=University of California Libraries}}</ref> According to [[Augustan poetry|Augustan poet]] [[Ovid]], he dressed in [[tyrian purple]] robes and sat on a throne of bright [[emerald]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Metamorphoses (Kline) 2, the Ovid Collection, Univ. of Virginia E-Text Center |url=https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph2.htm#476707488 |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=ovid.lib.virginia.edu}}</ref> In ancient artefacts (such as coins, vases, or reliefs) he is presented as a beautiful, full-faced youth<ref name=":stoll">{{Cite book |last=Stoll |first=Heinrich Wilhelm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UWoBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA61 |title=Handbook of the religion and mythology of the Greeks, tr. by R.B. Paul, and ed. by T.K. Arnold |date=1852 |language=en}}</ref> with wavy hair,<ref name=":fairb">{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/MythologyOfGreeceAndRomespecialReferenceToItsInfluenceOnLiterature |title=Mythology of Greece and Rome (Special Reference to Its Influence on Literature) |language=English}}</ref> wearing a crown adorned with the sun's rays.<ref name=":seyf" />

Helios is said to drive a golden chariot drawn by four horses:<ref name=":hom">{{Cite web |title=Hymn 31 to Helios, To Helios |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=31 |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pindar, Olympian, Olympian 7 For Diagoras of Rhodes Boxing-Match 464 B. C. |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0162:book=O.:poem=7 |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Pyrois ("The Fiery One", not to be confused with [[Pyroeis]], one of the [[planetae|five naked-eye planets]] known to [[Ancient Greek astronomy|ancient Greek and Roman astronomers]]), Aeos ("He of the Dawn"), [[Aethon]] ("Blazing"), and Phlegon ("Burning").<ref>Gordon MacDonald Kirkwood, ''A Short Guide to Classical Mythology'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OkUGQeGGn7IC&pg=PA88 88]</ref> In a Mithraic invocation, Helios's appearance is given as thus:

<blockquote>A god is then summoned. He is described as "a youth, fair to behold, with fiery hair, clothed in a white tunic and a scarlet cloak and wearing a fiery crown." He is named as "Helios, lord of heaven and earth, god of gods."{{sfn|Fear|2022|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dkJtEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT173 173]}}</blockquote>

As mentioned above, the imagery surrounding a chariot-driving solar deity is likely [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] in origin and is common to both early Greek and Near Eastern religions.<ref>Burkert, W. ''Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical''. Cambridge Mass., 1985, p. 175.</ref><ref name=":verg">{{Cite book |last=Vergados |first=Athanassios |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzF9UQt8NDUC&pg=PA286 |title=The "Homeric Hymn to Hermes": Introduction, Text and Commentary |date=2012-12-06 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-025970-4 |language=en}}</ref>

Helios is seen as both a personification of the Sun and the fundamental creative power behind it,<ref name="julian_works" /> and as a result is often worshiped as a god of life and creation. His literal "light" is often assorted with a metaphorical vitality,<ref>{{Cite web |title=ToposText |url=https://topostext.org/work/3#12.265 |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=topostext.org|date=700 }}</ref> and other ancient texts give him the epithet "gracious" (''{{lang|grc|{{math|ἱλαρός}}}}''). The [[Ancient Greek comedy|comic]] playwright [[Aristophanes]] describes Helios as "the horse-guider, who fills the plain of the earth with exceeding bright beams, a mighty deity among gods and mortals."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aristophanes, Clouds, line 563 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0241:card=563 |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> One passage recorded in the [[Greek Magical Papyri]] says of Helios, "the earth flourished when you shone forth and made the plants fruitful when you laughed and brought to life the living creatures when you permitted."<ref name="Pachoumi" /> He is said to have helped create animals out of primeval mud.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Apollonius |first1=Rhodius |url=http://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft |title=The Argonautica |last2=Seaton |first2=R. C. (Robert Cooper) |date=1912 |publisher=London : Heinemann; New York : G.P. Putnam |others=Kelly - University of Toronto}}</ref>