Lights of the Heaven Edition I

The Sight of Helios

Today is the Beginning of Summer. The Summer Solstice begin at 1:16 pm so I think to honor the Sun at it highest. I have choose to honor Helios today.  
Helios is the Titan God of the Sun. He is the son of the Titan Hyperion and Titaness Theia and the brother of Eos, Goddess of Dawn and Selene, Mother Moon. By the Oceanid Perse, he became the father of Aeetes: King of Colchis, the Great Enchantress Circe, and Queen Pasiphae of Crete. His other two daughters are Phaethusa and Lampetia.
At the end of each night his sister, rosy-fingered Eos rises from her home in the east and, mounted on a chariot, she rides to Olympus to announce the approach of her brother, Helios. Once Helios appears Eos becomes Hemera (Day) and escorts him on his travels across the sky until, becoming Hespera, she announces their safe arrival on the western shores of Ocean.
Awaken by the rooster, his sacred animal, he leaves his splendid palace in the far east and daily travels his four-horse chariot across the Heavens, until finally he reaches an equally-magnificent palace in the far west. The palaces were built by Hephaestus in gratitude for being rescued by Helios when the Giants overwhelmed him during their attack on Olympus. His chariot is pulled by four horses - Pyrois, Eos, Aethon and Phlegon - and often others. Lampos, Actaeon, Chronos, Aethon, Asterope, Bronte, Pyroeis, Phaeton, Eryhreos, and Phlegon are some of the many winged steeds that are the residents of Helios' Sun-stables. Pegasus, when not in attendance with the Muses or bearing Zeus' thunderbolts in a storm, often resides here as well. Phaeton was so named in honor of the deceased son of Helios (Sol) by the same name. Aethion, Asterope, Bronte, and Phlegon most often drive Helios' chariot.
At the end of the day Helios lets his horses graze and rest in the Islands of the Blessed. Afterwards he sails home along the great stream called Oceanus, which flows around the entire world. To get back to his Eastern palace, Hephaestus crafted a golden ferry-boat for the sun god and his chariot and horse team to use and Helios sleeps comfortably in his royal cabin on their nightly voyage on Ocean.
Because he crosses the sky and brings light, Helios is considered being omniscient. He sees all that happens and reports everything done by mortals and other gods to the gods in Mount Olympus. He is often called upon to be a witness because of his perceived omniscience It was Helios the all-seeing to whom Demeter turned for information when she was seeking her “kidnapped” daughter, Persephone. She forced him to admit that indeed it was Hades, Ruler of the Underworld, who had taken away Demeter's daughter, with the implied approval of his brother Zeus. In anger she withdrew her services and the earth began to wither and die while Demeter wandered the earth in search of Persephone.
Warning Helios can be a gossip, he was the one to inform Hephaestus that his wife Aphrodite was being unfaithful with Ares. Acting on this information, Hephaestus fashioned a net so fine it was nearly invisible, but strong as steel, and captured the two love birds in bed. To punish Helios for being such a big-mouth, Aphrodite caused him to fall in love with a mortal beauty named Leucothoe, and his seduction of her led to her death.
Helios’s island is beautiful Rhodes, where the worshipful natives in his honor built the Colossus of Rhodes, an awesome statue that straddled the harbor entrance and under whose legs all ships, even the tallest, easily passed. It was the sixth of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Some have said that the Colossus of Rhodes was dedicated in honor of Helios.
In addition to Rhodes, Zeus also added the island of Sicily to the dominion of Helios. This island was a missile that was tossed in the battle with the Giants and had formed Sicily upon landing.
Meet the Children of the Sun God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

History of Homosexual: Ancient Greece

Image
How we from being happily accept in society to being hate and have to fight for equality? Let start begin in the ancient world work our way to the source of the problem. The Ancient Greece "The noble lover of beauty engages in love wherever he sees excellence and splendid natural endowment without regard for any difference in physiological detail." - Plutarch The ancient Greeks are widely known for their gay exploits. Many people are aware of Greek homosexual love poetry, the same-sex relations of Greek gods and heroes, and the gay relationship between Alexander the Great and Hephaestion. It is important in the beginning to define our vocabulary. The term ’homosexuality’ as it is used and understood today is not mainly applicable to Greek of ancient times for three reasons: First of all, most Greeks were bisexual. Second, homosexuality and 'gay' as sexual identities are recent developments. They were emerged only in the 2Oth Century (our idea of what i...
Please read more »

Seven Wonders of the World: Colossus of Rhodes

Image
Travelers to the New York City harbor see a marvelous sight. Standing on a small island in the harbor is an immense statue of a robed woman, holding a book and lifting a torch to the sky. It is sometimes referred to as the "Modern Colossus," but more often called the Statue of Liberty. This awe-inspiring statue was a gift from France to America and is easily recognized by people around the world. What many visitors to this shrine to freedom don't know is that the statue, the "Modern Colossus," is the echo of another statue, the original colossus, which stood over two thousand years ago at the entrance to another busy harbor on the Island of Rhodes. In the late 4th century BC, Rhodes, allied with Ptolemy I of Egypt, prevented a massive invasion staged by their common enemy, Antigonus I Monophthalmus and his son Demetrius. In 304 BC a relief force of ships sent by Ptolemy arrived, and Antigonus's army abandoned the siege, leaving most of their siege equi...
Please read more »

Daily life of Roman life: Slavery

Image
Slavery had a long history in the ancient world and was practiced in Ancient Egypt and Greece, as well as Rome. Most slaves during the Roman Empire were foreigners and, unlike in modern times, Roman slavery was not based on race. Slaves were considered property under Roman law and had no legal personhood. Unlike Roman citizens, they could be subjected to corporal punishment, sexual exploitation (prostitutes were often slaves), torture, and summary execution. The testimony of a slave could not be accepted in a court of law unless the slave was tortured—a practice based on the belief that slaves in a position to be privy to their masters' affairs would be too virtuously loyal to reveal damaging evidence unless coerced (yeah right). Over time, however, slaves gained increased legal protection, including the right to file complaints against their masters. How did people become Roman Slaves? People became slaves among the Romans by the following ways: Prisoners of war Sailors ...
Please read more »