Helios
Reference page: Repertory of Cults and Myths
Helios belongs to the generation of pre-Olympic gods, he is the personification of the sun, just as Horus was for the Egyptians. Brother of Eos (the dawn) and of Selene (the moon), he is often represented as a young man of extreme beauty and with his head surrounded (obviously) by rays. Awakened by a rooster and announced by Eos, every day he travels the sky on a horse-drawn chariot of fire, starting from the country of the Indians and arriving as far as the ocean, where the weary horses rest. The way back is the underground or the Ocean that surrounds the world. The way back was considered much shorter than the outward one according to the ancient conception that the ancients had of the shape of the world and which, thanks to the evolution of astronomy, was gradually abandoned.
In Sicily the cult of Elios was not very widespread and it does not seem that there are traces of it in the stories of ancient writers, even if a particularity of his cult would seem to concern Sicily. In fact, his herds were famous, consisting of seven flocks of heifers and the same number of sheep. Each flock was always made up of 50 animals guarded by two nymphs daughters of the same god who had their headquarters on the island of Trinacria; and it is known that Sicily was called with this name because of its three-pointed shape.
However, the cult of Helios would seem to be demonstrated by the discovery of coins depicting him in some Sicilian cities: Syracuse, Inessa, and Entella and Agrigento [Ciaceri Emanuele: Culti e Miti dell'Antica Sicilia p. 233].
In Selinunte, not many years ago, a Metope depicting Helios was found which is now kept in the Archaeological Museum of Palermo.
It is probable that the cult of Helios was imported into Syracuse by the first settlers from the Greek city of Corinth, where it was widespread, and that it was later transmitted from Syracuse to other Sicilian centres, including Inessa, Entella and Selinunte.
Metope depicting Helios coming out of the sea - Pergamonmuseum in Berlin
Decadrama of Akragas [website: http://www.lamoneta.it/topic/86067-il-decadramma-di-akragas/]
Extract from the Book ” Cults of Ancient Sicily” by Ignazio Caloggero ISBN: 9788832060102 © 2022 Centro Studi Helios srl
