Helios

Phaethon seized the reins of his father Helios's sun chariot, but he could not control the fiery horses. They broke from their usual path, rising towards the heavens and plunging close to the earth. Mountains and forests caught fire, rivers and streams dried up, and the earth faced destruction. Zeus answered the earth's appeal by striking Phaethon with a thunderbolt. The young charioteer fell lifeless into the river Eridanus.

Nymphs of the river received his body and buried him. They raised a tomb and marked it with words stating that Phaethon had driven the Sun-god's chariot, failed greatly, and dared greatly. His sisters, the Heliades, daughters of Helios, came to the river bank and continued to mourn him.

Their grief lasted until mourning had become a fixed habit. Then the gods began to change them. One sister, Phaethusa, tried to kneel, but sudden roots held her feet. As Lampetia rose to go to her, roots also seized her. Another sister reached for her disordered hair, but found leaves in her hands. Their legs became wood, their arms lengthened into branches, and tender bark spread over their thighs, loins, bellies, breasts, shoulders, and hands. They continued to call piteously for their mother while the change advanced.

Their mother ran from one daughter to another, following the force that drew her towards them. She kissed them while she still could. The sisters became poplar trees on the banks of the Eridanus. They continued to mourn Phaethon, and their tears fell into the river as shining drops of amber.

Eos, the Dawn, drew aside the mist and painted the mountain tops before Helios rose in the east. Helios, the son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, then drove his flame-darting chariot along its accustomed track. His light filled the day and reached gods and humans alike.

The chariot was made of burnished gold and was drawn by four fire-breathing steeds. Helios stood erect behind them and held their reins. Rays surrounded his head, and his eyes flashed as he drove. No one else could control the fiery horses.

Towards evening, Helios descended along the curve and cooled his burning forehead in the waters of the deep sea. His sister Selene, the Moon, followed him and took charge of the world during the dusky night. She illumined it with her silver crescent.

In later tellings, a winged boat or golden cup made by Hephaestus carried Helios, his chariot, and his horses from the western side of the Ocean to the east. He then began his bright course again. His all-seeing eye missed nothing, so people invoked him as a witness when they swore solemn oaths.

Phaethon stood before Helios and asked to drive the sun chariot. Helios acknowledged him as his son, but granted the request reluctantly. Phaethon took his place in the car and seized the reins. The fiery horses recognised the inexperienced hand and broke from their usual course.

They raced upwards until they threatened heaven, then plunged so low that the earth nearly caught fire. Phaethon could not control them. He drove blindly through smoke and burning ash. Mountains and forests caught fire. Springs became steam, rivers shrank, and the lands of Scythia, the Caucasus, Ossa, Pindus, Olympus, the Alps, and the Apennines were scorched. The heat dried Libya and was said to have changed the people of Aethiopia, while the rivers Tanais, Caicus, Xanthus, Meander, Euphrates, Ganges, Tagus, and Caÿster suffered under the flames. The Nile fled and hid its head in the desert, where it remained concealed.

The seas also suffered. Poseidon saw his waters turning to steam and his fish cooking. Mother Earth could bear no more. Overcome by heat and thirst, she cried out to Zeus and warned that the burning earth, sea, and heavens would collapse into ancient Chaos. Phaethon, wrapped in smoke and heat, became terrified by the destruction. He dropped the reins and wished for the ordeal to end.

Zeus saw that the world had to be saved. He hurled his thunderbolt at Phaethon. The bolt killed him and shattered the chariot. The maddened horses rushed down into the sea, while Phaethon's burning body fell through the air towards the river Eridanus. One account says that the nymphs of the stream received and buried him. Another leaves the river mysterious and unseen by mortal eyes.

The gods cast lots for their shares of the world during the Titanomachia. Helios was away when the division took place, so he received no territory. When he returned, he complained to Zeus. Zeus offered to divide the world again, but Helios refused. During his daily journey, he had seen a lovely, fertile island beneath the sea. He asked that the immortals swear to give him permanent possession of it instead.

The gods took the oath. In one account, Zeus called the Fate Lachesis to witness the agreement. The island then rose from the water and became Rhodes. Helios claimed it as his share. Another account places the island south of Asia Minor and says that Helios had noticed signs of it emerging before it rose above the waves.

The island was later connected with Helios’s offspring. One account says that he fathered seven sons and a daughter there with the nymph Rhode. Another names Rhode as a daughter of Poseidon and says that she gave her name to the island. That account also says that the Telchines were Rhodes’s first inhabitants. Poseidon had fathered Rhode and six sons with the nymph Halia. The six sons later insulted Aphrodite as she travelled from Cythera to Paphos, and she drove them mad. They then committed further outrages, after which Poseidon sank them. The descendants of Helios’s seven sons were said to become rulers of Rhodes.

Hyperion and Theia brought forth their children, Dawn, the Sun, and the Moon. Helios was the Sun, born among the divine descendants of the Titans. His sister was Eos, the Dawn, and his other sister was Selene, the Moon.

Each morning, Eos rose first in the east. She drew aside the mist through which her brother was about to appear, and the mountain tops took on the light of dawn. Helios then burst forth in the full brightness of day. He drove his flame-darting chariot along its accustomed path. The chariot was made of burnished gold and was drawn by four fire-breathing horses. Helios stood upright behind them, with flashing eyes and rays around his head. He held the reins, although the fiery horses could not be controlled by other hands.

Helios crossed the sky in his chariot and brought daylight as he followed his course. Towards evening, he descended along the curve of the sky. He cooled his burning forehead in the waters of the deep sea. Eos had already disappeared after preceding him into the day.

Selene followed Helios as he descended. She then took charge of the world and illumined the dark night with her silver crescent.