Editing Helios (section)

=== In the Greek Magical Papyri ===
[[File:Apollo1.JPG|thumb|250px|left|Solar Apollo with the radiant [[Halo (religious iconography)|halo]] of Helios in a Roman floor mosaic, [[El Djem]], Tunisia, late 2nd&nbsp;century]]

Helios figured prominently in the [[Greek Magical Papyri]]. In these mostly fragmentary texts, Helios is credited with a broad domain, being regarded as the creator of life, the lord of the heavens and the cosmos, and the god of the sea. He is said to take the form of 12 animals representing each hour of the day, a motif also connected with the 12 signs of the [[zodiac]].<ref name="Pachoumi">Pachoumi, Eleni. 2015. "[http://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/15325/6623 The Religious and Philosophical Assimilations of Helios in the Greek Magical Papyri]." ''Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies'', '''55''': 391–413.</ref>

The Papyri often syncretize Helios with a variety of related deities. He is described as "seated on a lotus, decorated with rays", in the manner of [[Harpocrates]], who was often depicted seated on a [[lotus flower]], representing the rising sun.<ref>''On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians'' 7.2, 251–252.</ref><ref name="Pachoumi" />

[[File:Hama Museum 4429.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|Helios in front of [[Mithras]], fresco from a Mithraeum, Hama museum, [[Syria]].]]

Helios is also assimilated with [[Mithras]] in some of the Papyri, as he was by Emperor Julian. The [[Mithras Liturgy]] combines them as Helios-Mithras, who is said to have revealed the secrets of immortality to the magician who wrote the text. Some of the texts describe Helios-Mithras navigating the Sun's path not in a chariot but in a boat, an apparent identification with the [[Ancient Egyptian religion|Egyptian]] sun god [[Ra]]. Helios is also described as "restraining the serpent", likely a reference to [[Apep|Apophis]], the serpent god who, in Egyptian myth, is said to attack Ra's ship during his nightly journey through the underworld.<ref name=Pachoumi/>

In many of the Papyri, Helios is also strongly identified with Iao, a name derived from that of the Hebrew god [[Yahweh]], and shares several of his titles including Sabaoth and Adonai.<ref name=Pachoumi/> He is also assimilated as the [[Agathodaemon|Agathos Daemon]], who is also identified elsewhere in the texts as "the greatest god, lord Horus Harpokrates".<ref name=Pachoumi/>

The Neoplatonist philosophers [[Proclus]] and [[Iamblichus]] attempted to interpret many of the syntheses found in the Greek Magical Papyri and other writings that regarded Helios as all-encompassing, with the attributes of many other divine entities. Proclus described Helios as a cosmic god consisting of many forms and traits. These are "coiled up" within his being, and are variously distributed to all that "participate in his nature", including [[angel]]s, [[Daemon (classical mythology)|daemon]]s, souls, animals, herbs, and stones. All of these things were important to the Neoplatonic practice of [[theurgy]], magical rituals intended to invoke the gods in order to ultimately achieve union with them. Iamblichus noted that theurgy often involved the use of "stones, plants, animals, aromatic substances, and other such things holy and perfect and godlike."<ref>(''Myst.'' 5.23, 233)</ref> For theurgists, the elemental power of these items sacred to particular gods utilizes a kind of [[sympathetic magic]].<ref name=Pachoumi/>