Helios

// **Helios: god of the sun** //



//** Family **//

 //**Helios is the young Greek god of the sun. He is the son of Hyperion and Theia. By the Oceanid Perse he became the father of Aeëtes, Circe, and Pasiphae. His other children are Phaethusa ("radiant") and Lampetia ("shining") and Phaeton.

Description **//

//**Each morning at dawn he rises from the ocean in the east and rides in his chariot, pulled by four horses - Pyrois, Eos, Aethon and Phlegon -- through the sky, to descend at night in the west. Helios once allowed Phaeton to guide his chariot across the sky. The unskilled youth could not control the horses and fell towards his death.**// //**In classical Greece, Helios was especially worshipped in Rhodes, where from at least the early 5th century**// //**bc**//  //**he was regarded as the chief god, to whom the island belonged.**// //** As the god of light, Helios saw everything and knew everything. Nobody could hide anything from him. He was the one who told Demeter about the abduction of her daughter, and who revealed to Hephaestus Aphrodite's unfaithfulness.

Synopsis**//


 * //Helios and the Island of Rhodes //**


 * //One of the wives of Helios was the Nymph Rhodes, meaning “Rose” in the Greek language. Rhodes gave her name to the Greek island Rhodes and Helios was the island’s patron deity. The Rhodians worshipped Helios very much and organized annual festivities in his honor. The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven world wonders of the World, was also built in Helios' honor. It was a bronze statue, about 32 meters high that was constructed by the famous Chares of Lindos. //**

**//The Daily Journey of Helios //**


 * //Every morning, Eos was traveling to Mount Olympus to announce her brother’s glorious arrival. As soon as Helios approached the Olympus, with his winged chariot pulled by four horses of fire, the two deities set off for their daily journey across the sky.While traveling from the land of the dawn to the land of the heavens, Eos gradually transformed into Hemera (Day) and later on to Hespera (evening). Upon arrival, Helios hid himself in his golden cup and night fell upon the earth- this was the moment his wife Selene, the goddess of the moon, departed for her own, nightly journey. //**

//**Images**//



Words from Helios 1. Helium - A light colorless inert gaseous element found especially in natural gases and used chiefly for inflating airships and balloons, in lamps, in cryogenic research, and as a component of inert atmospheres (as in welding)

2. heliocentric (oxford) - having or representing a sun at the center

3. heliogram (oxford) - a message sent by reflecting sunlight in flashes from a movable mirror

4. heliometer (oxford) - a refracting telescope with a split objective lens, used for finding the angular distance between two stars.

Sources

Websites 1)http://www.milica.com.au/greek_myths/others/heli2_t.htm 2)http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/helios.html 3)http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/260072/Helios 4)http://www.greek-gods.info/ancient-greek-gods/helios/ 5)http://rhadamanthus.vox.com/library/post/words-derived-from-mythology.html

Images 1)http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Images/Helios.jpg 2)http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Images/HeliosR.jpg