Editing Helios (section)

=== Depiction and symbols ===
[[File:British_Museum,_London_(2014)_-_08.JPG|thumb|250x250px|Helios (far left, head missing) marble from the east pediment of the [[Parthenon]], [[British Museum]]]]

The earliest depictions of Helios in a humanoid form date from the late sixth and early fifth centuries BC in [[Attica|Attic]] black-figure vases, and typically show him frontally as a bearded man on his chariot with a sun disk. A red-figure on a polychrome bobbin by a follower of the Brygos painter already signifies a shift in the god's depiction, painting him as a youthful, beardless figure. In later art, he is consistently drawn as beardless and young. In it, he is typically depicted with a radiant crown,<ref>Platt, p .[https://books.google.com/books?id=L-OBDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA387 387]</ref> with the right hand often raised, a gesture of power (which came to be a definitional feature of solar iconography), the left hand usually holding a whip or a globe.<ref name=":kraem">Kraemer, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SSbnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA165 165]</ref>

In Rhodian coins, he was shown as a beardless god, with thick and flowing hair, surrounded by beams.<ref>Collignon, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=srufAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA178 178]</ref> He was also presented as a young man clad in tunic, with curling hair and wearing buskins.<ref>''Classical Manual'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qqdfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA572 572]</ref> Just like Selene, who is sometimes depicted with a lunar disk rather than a crescent, Helios too has his own solar one instead of a sun crown in some depictions.<ref>Savignoni, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=q0EaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA270 270]</ref> It is likely that Helios' later image as a warrior-charioteer might be traced back to the Mycenaean period;<ref>Paipetis, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FdJGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA365 365]</ref> the symbol of the disc of the sun is displayed in scenes of rituals from both Mycenae and [[Tiryns]], and large amounts of chariots used by the Mycenaeans are recorded in Linear B tablets.<ref>Paipetis, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FdJGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA357 357]</ref>

[[File:Academy of athens a facade detail far left.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|Helios witnessing the birth of Athena, detail from the pediment (far-left) of the [[Academy of Athens (modern)|Academy of Athens]], by [[Leonidas Drosis]], [[Greece]].]]

In archaic art, Helios rising in his chariot was a type of motive.<ref>Savignoni, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=q0EaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA271 267]</ref> Helios in ancient pottery is usually depicted rising from the sea in his four-horse chariot, either as a single figure or connecting to some myth, indicating that it takes place at dawn. An [[Attica|Attic]] black-figure vase shows Heracles sitting on the shores of the Ocean river, while next to him a pair of arrows protrude from Helios, crowned with a solar disk and driving his chariot.<ref>See the vase [https://www.theoi.com/Gallery/T17.4.html here].</ref>

Helios adorned the east pediment of the [[Parthenon]], along with Selene.<ref>Neils, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=gA81kINAI9cC&pg=236 236–237]</ref><ref>Palagia, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=GFNuxcVKLIkC&pg=PA18 18–19]</ref> Helios (again with Selene) also framed the birth of Aphrodite on the base of the [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia]],<ref>Robertson, Martin 1981, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BoUsvD1_VNQC&pg=PA96 96]</ref><ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+5.11.8 5.11.8]</ref> the [[Judgement of Paris]],<ref>Robertson 1992, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BmmW1h7Qk7MC&pg=PA255 255]</ref> and possibly the birth of [[Pandora]] on the base of the [[Athena Parthenos]] statue.<ref>Morris, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fnJvha8jzzQC&pg=PA87 87]</ref> They were also featured in the pedimental group of the [[Temple of Apollo (Delphi)|temple]] at [[Delphi]].<ref>''The Nineteenth Century'' Vol. 17, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=YDMAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA671 671]</ref> In dynamic [[Hellenistic]] art, Helios along with other luminary deities and Rhea-[[Cybele]], representing reason, battle the Giants (who represent irrationality).<ref>Roberts, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=rMeJDwmr_hcC&pg=PA215 215]</ref>

[[File:0 Arc de Constantin - Côté oriental.JPG|thumb|right|320px|Sol in the east side of the [[Arch of Constantine]], [[Rome]].]]

In [[Elis]], he was depicted with rays coming out of his head in an image made of wood with gilded clothing and marble head, hands and feet.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D24%3Asection%3D6 6.24.6]</ref> Outside the market of the city of [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] stood a gateway on which stood two gilded chariots; one carrying Helios' son Phaethon, the other Helios himself.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.3.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.3.2]</ref>

Helios appears infrequently in gold jewelry before Roman times; extant examples include a gold medallion with its bust from the Gulf of Elaia in [[Anatolia]], where he's depicted frontally with a head of unruly hair, and a golden medallion of the [[Pelinna]] necklace.

His iconography, used by the [[Ptolemies]] after representations of [[Alexander the Great]] as Alexander-Helios, came to symbolize power and epiphany, and was borrowed by several Egyptian deities in the Roman period.<ref>Riggs, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOLuaRusoCgC&pg=PA449 449]</ref> Other rulers who had their portraits done with solar features include [[Ptolemy III Euergetes]], one of the [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemaic kings]] of [[Egypt]], of whom a bust with holes in the fillet for the sunrays and gold coins depicting him with a radiant halo on his head like Helios and holding the [[aegis]] exist.<ref>[[British Museum]], ''A Guide to the Principal Coins of the Greeks 60'', no. 24, pl. 34</ref><ref>C. Vermeule and D. von Bothmer, "Notes on a New Edition of Michaelis: Ancient Marbles in Great Britain." ''[[American Journal of Archaeology]]'' vol. 63, no. 2 (1959): p. [https://archive.org/details/sim_american-journal-of-archaeology_1959_63/page/146/mode/2up?q=&view=theater 146]</ref>