Digital Maps of the Ancient World

Helius

Helius was the Titan sun god. Each dawn, he rose from his golden palace at the edge of the world, his radiant crown illuminating the heavens. He drove his fiery chariot across the sky, his gaze encompassing all, a constant reminder of the divine order and the passage of time.

Residence: The Sky
Symbols: Sun, chariot, horse, sunflower, aureole and cockerel.
Parents: Hyperion and Theia
Siblings: Eos and Selene
Consort: Clymene, Perse and Rhode
Children: Aeetes, Circe, Perses, Pasiphae, Heliades, Heliadae, Phaethusa and Lampetia
Roman equivalent: Sol

Each morning, he emerged from the cool embrace of Oceanus, a vast river encircling the earth, pushing back the veil of night with his radiant presence. His fiery steeds, symbols of the sun’s power, blazed across the sky, their passage marking the triumph of light. Yet, as he reached the distant land of the Hesperides, where the sun dipped below the horizon, he descended into a golden cup, carried through the unseen northern streams of Oceanus, a silent journey until his glorious return in the East.

Phaethon

Helios’ son, Phaethon, a young man filled with bravado, yearned to prove himself worthy. He badgered his father for permission to drive the sun chariot across the heavens. Blinded by his love for his son, Helios reluctantly agreed, a decision fraught with peril. The celestial steeds, magnificent as they were, were not meant for mortal hands.

The moment Phaethon grasped the reins, disaster struck. Overwhelmed by the immense power coursing through the steeds, he lost control. The chariot veered wildly, its fiery breath scorching the earth. Lush fields turned to parched plains, rivers dwindled to steam, and once-proud cities crumbled under the relentless heat. Phaethon’s pleas for guidance went unanswered. The celestial steeds, sensing his fear and inexperience, bolted across the sky, their fiery hooves threatening to ignite the very fabric of the cosmos.

Witnessing the devastation wrought by his son’s recklessness, Zeus, the king of gods, was forced to intervene. With a mighty thunderbolt, he struck Phaethon down, extinguishing the mortal life that dared to tamper with the divine order. Helios, grief-stricken and filled with remorse, abandoned his chariot for a time, plunging the world into an unnatural darkness. Only after the pleas of mortals and other gods did he resume his daily journey, forever marked by the memory of his son’s tragic demise.

Art