![]() ![]() 380.) Later poets have marvellously embellished this simple notion: they tell of a most magnificent palace of Helios in the east, containing a throne occupied by the god, and surrounded by personifications of the different divisions of time (Ov. Homer describes Helios as giving light both to gods and men: he rises in the east from Oceanus, though not from the river, but from some lake or bog (limnê) formed by Oceanus, rises up into heaven, where he reaches the highest point at noon time, and then he descends, arriving in the evening in the darkness of the west, and in Oceanus. 191.) In the Homeric hymn on Helios, he is called a son of Hyperion and Euryphaëssa. 371, &c.) From his father, he is frequently called Hyperionides, or Hyperion, the latter of which is an abridged form of the patronymic, Hyperionion. He is described as the son of Hyperion and Theia, and as a brother of Selene and Eos. HE′LIOS (Hêlios or Êelios), that is, the sun, or the god of the sun. HYPERION (Homer Odyssey 12.168, Homeric Hymn to Demeter 19, Homeric Hymn to Athena 12, Mimnermus Frag 12, Pindar Olympian 7 str3, Ovid Metamorphoses 4.170) OFFSPRING HYPERION & EURYPHAESSA (Homeric Hymn 31) HYPERION & THEIA (Hesiod Theogony 371, Apollodorus 1.8) Helios was identified with several other gods of fire and light such as Hephaistos (Hephaestus) and light-bringing Phoibos Apollon (Phoebus Apollo). His sun-chariot was drawn by four, sometimes winged, steeds. Helios was depicted as a handsome, usually beardless, man clothed in purple robes and crowned with the shining aureole of the sun. Zeus struck the boy down with a thunderbolt. Once his son Phaethon tried to drive the chariot of the sun, but he lost control and set the earth ablaze. When he reached the the land of the Hesperides in the far West he descended into a golden cup which bore him through the northern streams of Okeanos back to his rising place in the East. He dwelt in a golden palace in the River Okeanos (Oceanus) at the far ends of the earth from which he emerged each dawn, crowned with the aureole of the sun, driving a chariot drawn by four winged steeds. HELIOS (Helius) was the Titan god of the sun, a guardian of oaths, and the god of sight. ![]() It was not the success that Volkswagen hoped for.Sun ( hêlios) Helius god of the sun, Athenian red-figure krater C5th B.C., British Museum ![]() In 2002, Volkswagen took the interesting decision to name a car after Phaeton, in an attempt to compete in the luxury market dominated by its rivals Mercedes and BMW. It has inspired a number of composers, including Jean-Baptiste Lully, Camille Saint-Saëns, Paul Hindemith and Benjamin Britten. This myth of youthful courage and tragedy is referenced in four of Shakespeare’s dramas: Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Henry VI. And though greatly he failed, more greatly he dared.’ The epitaph of the fallen Phaeton reads: ‘Here Phaeton lies who in the sun god’s chariot fared. Revealing the influence of Michelangelo and Tintoretto, Rubens depicts Phaeton falling from the chariot, his hair on fire, mirroring a blazing earth, which terrifies the deities of the seasons portrayed on the left of the painting. In order to preserve her, Zeus struck the chariot with a thunderbolt. Mother Earth, in danger of burning up, appealed in desperation to Zeus for help. The horses, driven wild, scorched the earth, reducing Africa to a desert. Confused, they reared and Phaeton lost control. When Phaeton stepped into the chariot, the horses, used to the great weight of the sun god, thought it empty. But Phaeton was adamant in his demands and Helios finally granted him his wish. According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Helios tried to dissuade him, warning his son that not even Jupiter (Zeus), king of the gods, could control the fiercely hot chariot pulled by fire-breathing horses. Phaeton asked to drive the sun god’s chariot. In order to confirm that he really was his father, Helios promised by the river Styx to grant Phaeton any wish. Phaeton (or Phaethon, the ‘shining one’) was the son of a water nymph, Clymene, and, allegedly, the sun god Helios. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |