"‘O #Helios, send me as far over the earth as is my pleasure and yours, and may I make the acquaintance of good men, but never hear anything of bad ones, nor they of me.’
And with these words he threw the frankincense into the fire."
Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 1.31
🏛 Stater of Tarentum, struck under Alexander of Epiros, 334–330 BCE, today in the MFA, Boston
"You'll find sheep and cattle grazing there; they belong to a god, all-seeing, all-hearing Helios. If you leave these unharmed--if you set your mind only to return--all of you may still reach Ithaka, though with much misery. But if you harm them, then I foretell destruction alike for your ship and for your crew."
Homer, #Odyssey
"To Helios (Sol), Fumigation from Frankincense and Manna. Hear, golden Titan, whose eternal eye with matchless sight illumines all the sky. Native, unwearied in diffusing light, and to all eyes the object of delight"
Orphic Hymn 8 to Helios
🏛 #Helios, Roman silver and gold finger ring, dated ca 2nd century CE
Helios, the Sun, rises another day, illuminating a #NewYear. #Helios was associated with the turn of the year as he passes through the constellations of the zodiac:
"The golden #Sun [Sol-Helios] rules his circuit, portioned out in fixed divisions, through the world's twelve constellations."
Virgil, Georgics 1.231
"But having gone down into Hades because of his wife & seeing what sort of things were there, he did not continue to worship #Dionysos, because of whom he was famous, but he thought #Helios to be the greatest of the gods, Helios whom he also addressed as Apollon."
Eratosthenes, Placings Among the Stars 24
🏛 Detail of a #fresco from #Pompeii, today in the Napoli MAN
The festival of Natalis Invicti, the birthday of Sol, was celebrated on 25 December. The Iranian god #Mithras is often depicted feasting with him, being a sun god too.
🏛 Relief of Sol Invictus (with a halo of sunlight) and Mithras (to his right) feasting together. Found at Fiano Romano, near #Rome. Dated 2nd-3rd century CE.
"Through them all [the constellations of the zodiac] Helios passes in yearly course, as he drives his mighty furrow, and now to one, now to another he draws near, now as he rises and anon as he sets."
Aratus, Phaenomena 748
🏛 #Helios statuette, Antalya Archaeological Museum
"As he rides his chariot, he shines upon men and deathless gods. Bright rays beam dazzlingly from him, and his bright locks streaming from the temples of his head gracefully enclose his far-seen face: a rich, fine-spun garment glows upon his body and flutters in the wind: and stallions carry him."
Homeric Hymn 31 to #Helios
"When he [Helios] has stayed his golden-yoked chariot and horses, he rests there upon the highest point of heaven, until he marvellously drives them down again through heaven to Okeanos."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.397
🏛 Helios, silver-gilt disc. Foundin Elis, Greece, and dated 5th to 2nd century BCE. Today in the British Museum.
"Sol meanwhile, dishevelled, his bright sheen subdued as in the gloom of an eclipse, loathing himself, loathing the light, the day, gives way to grief, and, grief rising to rage, denies his duty to the world."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.397
🏛 Phaethon Sarcophagus, detail of Helios, 3rd century CE, #Verona, Museum-Lapidarium of Maffei
One of the oldest antiquities found at Aï Khanum, this spectacular disk depicts #Kybele and winged #Nike on a chariot drawn by two lions through a mountainous landscape with a bust of the sun god Helios in the sky.
🏛 Ceremonial Plaque depicting Kybele, Nike, and Helios. Early 3rd century BCE. Today in the National Museum of #Afghanistan, Kabul.
"From Okeanos upsprings Helios in glory, flashing fire far over earth - fire, when beside his radiant chariot-team races the red star Seirios, scatterer of woefullest diseases over men."
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 8.30
🏛 Roman oil lamp decorated with the image of Helios-Sol, from the cemetery of Fragonisi near #Olympia. 2nd to 3rd century CE.
"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.