Greek God Helius

Helius was a mythological Greek figure that was said to live in a golden palace located in the River Okeanos that flowed on the far eastern edge of the earth. According to ancient Greek legend he began each day by driving his his chariot crowned by the aureole of the sun that was pulled by four flaming winged horses. At the end of each day when he reached his destination which was a golden cup that sat in the far western end of the earth he was carried back around during the night to his golden palace in the east to begin his journey again.

Helius was typically depicted in Greek works of art as being a handsome man in his mid twenties, beardless and wearing a purple robe. Helius was depicted in most Greek myths as being the son of Hyperion and Theia and was also the brother of Selene and Eros. He was a very important god to the ancient Greeks and was considered to be all seeing and knowing as they went about their day to day lives.

It is speculated that it was due to his visibility in the sky that there were was so much that was written about him and his exploits. There are in fact many explanations and versions in Greek mythology that explain the many aspects of the life and doings of Helius. One version of how he traveled from the west back to the east after the sun has set has him traveling each night in a golden ship that was built by Hephaestus and he is described as living in both and several palaces in the east, depending on which story is told.

Due to the fact that Helius shared many of the same attributes of Apollo he is often associated with him in Greek mythology and in fact, Apollo came to be depicted in Roman mythology as having sun beams on his head. According to many Greek legends of the time Helius was accredited with having a herd of sheep and a herd of oxen both consisting of 350 head each that never increased or decreased over the course of time.

They told that he kept them on the island of Thrinacia which is now the island of Sicily where they were tended by his daughters Phaetusa and Lampita. Temples erected solely for the worship of this Greek god of the sun were some of the first to be built in ancient Greece and when a sacrifice was made to Helius at one of the temples that were dedicated to him a white animal such as a goat horse or sheep was the preferred animal to be offered up at the ceremony.