Helios, also known as Helius or Sol, is the Titan/god of the sun, guardian of oaths, and the god of sight.
Description[]
Helios was depicted as a handsome, usually beardless, man clothed in purple robes and crowned with the shining aureole of the sun. His sun-chariot was drawn by four, sometimes winged, steeds. Helios was married to Perse, but he had quite a few extramarital affairs, and a number of children; these include the Charites, Phaethon, Circe, Aeetes, Pasiphae, Heliadae, and Heliades.
Helios, like his sister, had trained the god Apollo to take over the sun after his retirement and along with Selene is one of the Titans that was not imprisoned within Tartarus by Zeus. Because of this Helios is often considered a traitor by many of his Titan brethren though Helios would showcase his disdain towards the Olympians despite being spared by Zeus.
History[]
Origins[]
Helios is the son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia and brother of the Titan goddess Selene and Eos, Titan goddess of the dawn. Unlike the rest of his brethren, Helios did not join the Titans during the Titanomachy which resulted in them labelling him as a traitor. Others believe that Helios did join the Titans but after their defeat he was given a lighter sentence by Zeus.
Helios and the Norse sun goddess Sól intercepted Cthugha, the Living Flame and one of the Ogdru Hem. Together they battled the fiery Old One that was said to have set a star system ablaze; this particular star system is believed to be the Sagittarius constellation which is one of the emptiest places imaginable in space and the emptiness is the result of many stars and space bodies imploding during the battle.
God of the Sun[]
He dwelt in a golden palace in the river Okeanos at the far ends of the Earth from which he emerged each dawn, crowned with the aureole of the sun, driving a chariot drawn by four winged steeds. When he reached the the land of the Hesperides in the far West he descended into a golden cup which bore him through the northern streams of Okeanos back to his rising place in the East.
Phaethon[]
Phaethon, his son, asked his father for a favour; Helios agreed, but then Phaethon asked for the privilege to drive his four-horse fiery chariot across the skies for a single day. Although Helios warned his son again and again against this choice, explaining to him the dangers of such a journey that no other god but him was capable to bring about, Phaethon was hard to deter, and thus Helios was forced to hand him the reins. As expected, the ride was disastrous as he lost control and set the earth ablaze. Zeus struck the youth with one of his lightning bolts to stop him from burning or freezing the earth beyond salvation.
Odyssey[]
In the Odyssey, Odysseus' men impiously kill and eat his sacred cattle the god kept at Thrinacia, his sacred island despite Odysseus' warnings. Once informed of their misdeed, Helios in wrath asks Zeus to punish those who wronged him, and Zeus agrees by striking their ship with a thunderbolt, killing everyone, except for Odysseus himself, the only one who had not harmed the god's cattle, and was allowed to live. After that, Helios troubles Odysseus no more in his journey.
Other Exploits[]
Helios is the one who tells Demeter that her daughter Persephone has been abducted by Hades. He is also the one who restores the eyesight of Orion the Giant. After his granddaughter Medea murders her children, he lends her his chariot so that she can escape from Corinth. He also lends his golden bowl to Heracles to help the hero cross the river of Okeanos and fetch the cattle of Geryon.