God · Character in Homer’s Odyssey
Helios Hyperion
Sun-god who owns the cattle
Proprietary and unappeasable; will darken the world over stolen cattle.
His sacred herds pasture on Thrinacia, watched by his daughters, and the starving crew kill them while Odysseus sleeps. He demands satisfaction from Zeus, threatening to shine among the dead instead, and Zeus wrecks the ship with a thunderbolt.
Bonds
- Helios persecutes Odysseus — demands Zeus avenge his herd
- Thrinacia home of Helios — pasture of his sacred cattle
- Helios brother of Eos — dawn and sun, children of one Titan
Appears in
- Book XII The Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis
Scenes
- Invocation to the Muse — Book I. Poet invokes Muse to sing of Odysseus
- Hephaestus’s Snare — Book VIII. Hephaestus forges net to trap lovers
- Landing at Aeaea — Book X. Survivors land, Odysseus kills stag
- Tiresias’s Prophecy — Book XI. Tiresias warns of Poseidon, cattle, death
- Funeral and Return — Book XII. Crew buries Elpenor, Circè arrives
- Circè’s Farewell Feast — Book XII. Circè feasts them, pledges to warn
- Circè’s Final Warnings — Book XII. Circè warns to spare Helios’ cattle
- Bound Against the Mast — Book XII. Bound Odysseus strains as crew rows
- Sighting Thrinacia — Book XII. Odysseus urges crew past lowing herds
- Trapped by Storm — Book XII. Zeus’ storm traps crew, who mourn
- Slaughter of the Oxen — Book XII. Eurylochus leads slaughter, Odysseus prays
- Helios’ Wrath — Book XII. Helios spurs Zeus to wreck the ship
- The Fatal Tempest — Book XII. Zeus’ bolt drowns entire crew
- Feast and Farewell — Book XIII. Odysseus feasts, asks to sail home
- Testing With Tokens — Book XIX. Penelope quizzes him on the cloak, convinced
- Night of Shared Tales — Book XXIII. Penelope, Odysseus share their tales
- Hermes Leads Souls — Book XXIV. Hermes guides ghosts to asphodel