"Grant, oh, grant that I ride through the air in my father's car; give me the reins, O sire, give me the right to guide your fire-bearing steeds with the flaming reins; then let Corinth [...] be consumed by flames and bring the two seas together."
Seneca, Medea 28
🏛 Helios-Sol, Roman marble decoration, 3rd century CE, Terme di Diocleziano, #Rome
Meet this Roman gold and silver finger ring depicting the sun god Sol-Helios!
The relief shows the face of Helios in silver on a golden background. His seven-spiked sun-ray crown is also golden.
Meet this spectacular statue of #Helios that was part of the ancient marine cargo of a merchant ship that sank during the Late Roman period (400 CE): the statues look as though they were cast yesterday rather than 1,600 years ago!
🏛 Figurine of the sun god #Sol-Helios, found in the port of Caesarea, Israel.
Engraved Stone Ball (Magic Sphere?) with #Helios and magical symbols. Discovered in 1866 at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, near the remains of the Theatre of Dionysos.
🎨 Marble sphere, dated 2nd-3rd centuries CE. Today in the #Athens Acropolis Museum.
"Phaethon [#Helios] laughed, because #Ares in the seafight of [#Dionysos against the Indians] had fled again before the fire of #Hephaistos, as once before he fled from his chains."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 39.403
🎨 Helios (possibly Alexander of Macedon) bronze bust, 1st century CE.
"We came soon enough to the lovely island of #Helios. Here were the fine broad-browed herds, here were the plentiful fat flocks of Hyperion [Helios]."
Homer, Odyssey 12. 261
🎨 Helios and #Odysseus depicted on an oil lamp, Antikensammlung #Munich
"She [Gaia] prayed to the Titan #Helios with submissive voice: she begged of him one red hot ray, that with its heating fire she might melt the petrified water of Zeus, by pouring his kindred radiance over frozen Typhon."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 2. 543
🎨 Roman silver relief of Sol from Pessinus in Anatolia, dated 3rd century CE. Today in the British Museum.
"Helios, the myth tells us [...] caused the water which had overflowed it [the island of Rhodes] to disappear. But the true explanation is that [...] the island was still like mud and soft, Helios dried up the larger part of its wetness and filled the land with living creatures."
🎨 Red-figure vase painting of #Helios in a chariot drawn by two #Erotes.
"Helios (the Sun), who is watchman of both gods and men [...] You [Helios] with your beams look down from the bright upper air (aitheros) over all the earth and sea."
Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter
A magnificent marble bust of #Helios, the ancient Greek sun god, that was unearthed at the ancient Agora of Athens in 1970. The holes were used for the attachment of a sun ray crown.
🎨 2nd century CE, Ancient Agora Museum. #Athens, Greece
"And there grew up from the watery wave this island, and great Helios who begets the fierce rays of the sun, holds her in his dominion, that ruler of the horses breathing fire.
There long ago he lay with Rhodes and begot seven sons, endowed beyond all men of old with genius of thoughtful mind."
Pindar, Olympian Ode 7
Four steeds pull the chariot bearing the sun god #Helios, surrounded by the 12 signs of the zodiac. Helios and the zodiac appear in at least seven synagogues from about 400 to 500 CE.
🎨 Floor #mosaic in the ancient Sepphoris Synagogue, Israel. Photo: Gabi Laron/Courtesy Zeev Weiss.
"And there the children of dark #Nyx (Night) have their dwellings, #Hypnos (Sleep) and #Thanatos (Death), awful gods. Glowing #Helios (the #Sun) never looks upon them with his beams, neither as he goes up into heaven, nor as he comes down from heaven."
Hesiod, Theogony 758
🎨 Detail of Sol Invictus on a Roman marble relief.
It's only four days until the #SummerSolstice, the longest day of the year and thus the longest work day for #Helios. In Athens, it will last 14 hours, 48 minutes and 07 seconds.
Boreas and Helios had a contest: whoever could strip a traveller of his clothes would win.
"Boreas blew with all his might, but the traveller only wrapped his cloak around him more tightly. Helios shone with all his warmth. The traveller took off one garment after another, and at last bathed in a stream naked."
Aesop, Fables
But if one may guess where there is nothing to go by, #Poseidon 6 Helios might have been rivals. And maybe #Helios was vexed at the boy travelling about in the sea and wished that he should travel among the constellations instead.
Aelian, On Animals 14. 28
🎨 Helios & #Nerites by Sinita for the story "Milk Sea", a retelling of Aelian's fable:
Meet a Greek silver tetradrachm with the head of #Helios or #Apollon.
The words [ΘΕΟΔΟ]ΤΟΣ / ΕΠΟΕΙ can be deciphered left of the beautiful god, "Theodotos made this".
🏛️ Dated ca. 375-360 BCE, Münzkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Meet a Roman bronze Helios-Sol figurine, raising his hand in greeting. The seven-spike sun ray crown identify him as the Sun god. The orb in his left hand is also a common attribute of Helios-Sol.
🏛️ Dated late 2nd century CE, Christie's live auction