Editing Helios (section)

=== Late antiquity ===
[[File:Follis-Constantine-lyons RIC VI 309.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Coin of Roman Emperor [[Constantine I]] depicting [[Sol Invictus]]/Apollo with the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, c.&nbsp;315&nbsp;AD.]]

By [[Late Antiquity]], Helios had accumulated a number of religious, mythological, and literary elements from other deities, particularly Apollo and the Roman sun god [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]]. In 274 AD, on December 25, the Roman Emperor [[Aurelian]] instituted an official state cult to Sol Invictus (or ''Helios Megistos'', "Great Helios"). This new cult drew together imagery not only associated with Helios and Sol, but also a number of [[syncretism|syncretic]] elements from other deities formerly recognized as distinct.<ref>Wilhelm Fauth, ''Helios Megistos: zur synkretistischen Theologie der Spätantike'' (Leiden:Brill) 1995.</ref> Helios in these works is frequently equated not only with deities such as [[Mithras]] and [[Harpocrates]], but even with the monotheistic Judaeo-Christian god.<ref>Pachoumi, Eleni, "The Religious and Philosophical Assimilations of Helios in the Greek Magical Papyri", in ''Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies'', vol. 55, pp. 391–413. [http://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/15325/6623 PDF].</ref>

[[File:Patera di Parabiago - MI - Museo archeologico - Apollo - Sole - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 25-7-2003.jpg|thumb|left|260px|Horse-drawn quadriga of Sol on the [[Parabiago plate]] (ca. 2nd–5th centuries AD)]]

The last pagan emperor of Rome, [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]], made Helios the primary deity of his revived pagan religion, which combined elements of [[Mithraism]] with [[Neoplatonism]]. For Julian, Helios was a [[Triple deity|triunity]]: [[Form of the Good|The One]]; Helios-Mithras; and the Sun. Because the primary location of Helios in this scheme was the "middle" realm, Julian considered him to be a mediator and unifier not just of the three realms of being, but of all things.<ref name="julian_works">{{Cite book |last=Julian |first=Emperor of Rome |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48664 |title=The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 1 |date=2015-04-07 |language=English |translator-last=Wright |translator-first=Wilmer Cave}}</ref> Julian's theological conception of Helios has been described as "practically monotheistic", in contrast to earlier Neoplatonists like Iamblichus.<ref name="julian_works" />

A mosaic found in the [[Vatican Necropolis]] (mausoleum&nbsp;M) depicts a figure very similar in style to Sol / Helios, crowned with solar rays and driving a solar chariot. Some scholars have interpreted this as a depiction of [[Christ]], noting that [[Clement of Alexandria]] wrote of Christ driving his chariot across the sky.<ref>{{cite book |first=Matilda |last=Webb |title=The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-90221058-2 |page=18}}</ref> Some scholars doubt the Christian associations,<ref>{{cite book |first=Martin |last=Kemp |title=The Oxford History of Western Art |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-19860012-1 |page=70}}</ref> or suggest that the figure is merely a non-religious representation of the sun.{{sfn|Hijmans|2009|pp=567–578}}