Heliades

For the moth genus of the family Pyralidae, see Heliades (moth). For another set of Helios' children, see Heliadae.

The Sisters of Phaeton Transformed into Poplars by Santi di Tito (2nd half of 16th century)

In Greek mythology, the Heliades (Ancient Greek: Ἡλιάδες, lit. 'daughters of the sun'; pronounced /hiːˈlaɪ.ədiːz/, hee-LYE-uh-deez) were the daughters of Helios and Clymene, an Oceanid nymph. They were also called Phaethontides^[1] (Ancient Greek: Φαεθοντίδες, lit. 'daughters of Phaethon'), due to "Phaethon" being a common epithet for Helios.

Heliades by Rupert Bunny, 1920s

Names

According to one version recorded by Hyginus, there were seven Heliades: Merope, Helie, Aegle, Lampetia, Phoebe, Aetherie and Dioxippe.^[2] Aeschylus's fragmentary Heliades^[3] names Phaethousa and Lampetia, who are otherwise called daughters of Neaera and have a different role in myth, being in charge of their father's sheep and cattle.^[4][5] A scholiast on the Odyssey gives their names as Phaethusa (Φαέθουσα), Lampetia (Λαμπετίην) and Aegle (Αἴγλην).^[6]

Mythology

Their brother, Phaëthon, died after attempting to drive his father's chariot (Helios the sun) across the sky. He was unable to control the horses and fell to his death (according to most accounts, Zeus struck his chariot with a thunderbolt to save the Earth from being set afire). The Heliades grieved enormously, and through this grief they turned themselves into poplar trees, and as they kept crying, their tears turned into amber.^[7] According to some sources, their tears (amber) fell into the river Eridanus, in which Phaethon had fallen.^[8]

According to Hyginus, the Heliades were turned to poplar trees because they yoked the chariot for their brother without their father Helios' permission.^[9]

A proverb preserved in Plutarch associates the tears of the Heliades with great wealth.^[10]

Notes

1. Smith, s.v. Phaethontiades
2. Hyginus, Fabulae 154
3. Aeschylus, Heliades (play survived only in brief fragments); Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.340
4. Homer, Odyssey 12.128
5. Apollonius Rhodius, 4.922-981
6. Scholia ad Homer, Odyssey 17.208
7. Diodorus Siculus, 5.23.2; Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.262 ff
8. Pliny, Natural History 37.11.2; Pausanias, 1.4.1; Quintus Smyrnaeus, 5.627 ff
9. Hyginus, Fabulae 152A
10. Plutarch, De Proverbiis Alexandrinorum 43

References

• Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
• Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy translated by Way. A. S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 19. London: William Heinemann, 1913. Online version at theio.com
• Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy. Arthur S. Way. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1913. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pliny the Elder, Pliny – Natural History, 10 volumes. Translated by Rackham, H.; Jones, W. H. S.; Eichholz, D. E. Loeb Classical Library. 1938–1962.
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Heliadae and Heliads"

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• Media related to Heliades at Wikimedia Commons
• HELIADES from The Theoi Project