Ancient Greece created many wonderful myths, among them the legend of Helios, the sun god. In ancient mythology, the celestial bodies were responsible for the children of the titans Hyperion and Thei: Helios, Selena and Eos. More information about Helios - below.
Helios is the sun
During the day, the children of Hyperion succeeded each other in the sky. Eos first appeared - the morning dawn, then Helios traveled the whole sky - this is the sun, and Selena is the moon, which came into its own when Helios was hiding behind the horizon. Each of these three is characterized by a wayward and passionate nature.
Young and golden-haired god
Helios is in many ways related to Apollo - both of these solar deities are the all-seeing and all-knowing patrons of the bright side of human nature. Helios is also responsible for the passage of time, keeps many secrets - nothing will be hidden from his eyes when he passes through the sky.
Helios lives in a luxurious palace in the east beyond the Ocean. Every morning he leaves his palace in a chariot drawn by four fiery horses, and then Eos hands him the reins. During the day he reaches the other side of the world, where, having descended from heaven, he sits in a golden bowl and returns home eastward across the ocean.
Lovers and offspring
The sunny god is distinguished by an ardent disposition - both his beloved and his offspring are numerous. Many are connected with rather sad traditions, because, in addition to passion and dazzle, the essence of Helios is an exorbitant ego. In order to gain the favor of the object of adoration, he could take on someone else's appearance (because of which the victim of his passion later suffered). Another legend says that he turned his beloved into a dog due to the fact that during the hunt for a deer she exclaimed that she could catch the beast, even if he runs faster than the sun.
Helios is the father of the infamous Phaeton. According to legend, the young man either asked the powerful father to ride a chariot, or took it without demand. Carried away by the trip, Phaeton did not notice how the horses deviated from the course and approached the ground. The flames swept everything around, and Gaia, the goddess of the earth, appealed to Zeus with a request to pacify the wretch. Zeus, not particularly ceremonial, threw lightning at Phaeton, breaking his life.
Colossus of Rhodes: Background
One of the seven wonders of the world, the famous Colossus statue on the island of Rhodes, is the god Helios, which many do not really know. According to legend, the solar god personally brought this island directly from the depths of the sea, since nowhere else on Earth was there a place where he would be revered. And indeed, nowhere else in ancient Greece was the cult of Helios more widespread than in Rhodes.
The establishment of the statue was preceded by the following events. In the year 305-304, the island was under siege for a whole year: the ruler of Macedonia, Demetrius Poliorket, with many siege weapons and an army of 40 thousand people, tried to capture Rhodes, but still failed. Demetrius of Macedon was so disbelieved in the victory that he even abandoned all the siege guns and sailed from the island. The inhabitants of Rhodes, pleased that fate was favorable to them, decided to make an unprecedented offering to the gods. Having sold the tools left by Demetrius, the Rhodians ordered the sculptor Hares a huge statue of Helios for the money they received - this was a kind of gratitude to the most revered god for the victory.
