Ancient Greek Myth for Kids: The Greek God Helios Illustration

The Greek God Helios

Helios - The Sun God
Roman name: Helius
Ancient Greek Gods for Kids

Some people say it was Apollo who brought up the sun each day. Some people insist it was Helios. Still others believe Helios and Apollo were the same god. From what we learned from our professors, Helios was not the same god as Apollo. Helios was considered the sun god. Apollo was the god of light, music, poetry, and fortune telling.

Helios was tall and strong, with golden curly hair and eyes that changed from gray to green depending upon the day and his mood.  He was happily married and had a couple of kids. He was so proud of them all. He was a really nice god. In the ancient Greek world, no one had any bad things to say about Helios.

Each morning, very early, Helios would climb aboard his magical golden chariot and bring out the sun. Obviously, this was a vey important job because without the sun, the crops would not grow. The farmers especially in ancient Greece were most grateful to this powerful god.

But things went wrong for Helios. He lost his beloved son. In despair, he retired, no longer interested in his important job.  Zeus hoped he would change his mind as Helios was one of his favorites. But Helios was too depressed to do his job well.  Each time he brought out the sun, he flew too high. He flew higher and higher. The days  became gloomy and darker and darker. Finally, Zeus gave up. He handed the job of pulling up the sun each day to Apollo.

For a long time, Helios stayed home in the sky, not much interested in what was going on about him.

But things changed for the better one day, when Hercules came knocking.

The Sun Chariot - ancient myth retold