HELIOS was the Titan god of the sun.

This page describes his offspring. Most of these children were simply listed as such in the ancient genealogies with no specific stories describing their birth or otherwise connecting them with the god.

The references below are ordered geographically by the kingdoms of myth.

GENEALOGICAL LISTING

FAMILY IN RIVER OKEANOS (EARTH-ENCIRCLING)

LOVED: KLYMENE Okeanis Nymphe; AIGLE Okeanis Nymphe; SELENE Goddess
SIRED: PHAETHON Godling; HELIADES Nymphai; KHARITES Godddesses; HORAI Goddesses

I) PHAETHON & THE HELIADES

II) THE FOUR HORAI

"Seated at her [Hera's] side were handmaids four whom radiant-faced Selene (the Moon) bare to Helios (the Sun) to be unwearying ministers in Heaven, in form and office diverse each from each; for of these Horai (Seasons) one was summer's queen, and one of winter and his stormy star, of spring the third, of autumn-tide the fourth." - Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 10.334

"The rosycheek Horai (Seasons), daughters of the restless lichtgang their stormfoot father [Helios], made a hast to the house of Helios (the Sun). One [Winter] wore a snowy veil shadowing her face ... Another [Spring] puffed out from her lips the swallow-wind’s breath ... Another [Summer], the harvest-home Season (Hora) ...
Another [Autumn] leading the dance for an easy plowing, had bound about her hairless temple shoots of olive." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 11.486

III) THE TWELVE HORAI

"Erigeneia (the Child of the Mist) [Eos the Dawn] in her chariot through the sky she rode. Marvelled the Daughters of the Sun (Helioio Thugatres) [Horai] who stood near her, around that wondrous splendour-ring traced for the race-course of the tireless sun by Zeus." - Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 2.490

"Eos (the Lady of the Morn) ... Twelve maidens [the twelve Horai] shining-tressed attended her, the warders of the high paths of the sun for ever circling." - Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 2.549

IV) THE KHARITES

"Antimakhos [poet C5th BC], while giving neither the number of the Kharites nor their names, says that they are daughters of Aigle and Helios." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 9.35.1

"Aigles Kharites (Radiant Graces): They have plausibly traced the lineage of the Kharites (Graces). Helios is also from Aigle, since, it seems, the Kharites are radiant [beautiful]." - Suidas "Aigles Kharites"

V) IKHNAIE

Lycophron, Alexandra 128 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"A doer of justice and arbiter of Helios’ (the Sun's) daughter Ikhnaie."

"Children of Sol [Helios]. Circe by Persis, daughter of Oceanus, and Pasiphae. By Clymene, daughter of Oceanus, Phaethon, Lampetie, Aegle, Phoebe." - Hyginus, Fabulae 156

FAMILY IN THRINAKIE (MYTHICAL)

LOVED: NEAIRA Nymphe
SIRED: LAMPETIA Nymphe; PHAETHOUSA Nymphe

FAMILY IN ELIS (SOUTHERN GREECE)

LOVED: NAUSIDAME Princess of Elis
SIRED: AUGEIAS King of Elis

"Augeias was king of Elis, in some accounts a son of Helios, in others of Poseidon, and in still others of Phorbas." - Apollodorus, The Library 2.88

"Augeias also came [on the voyage of the Argonauts] whose father was believed to be Helios." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.172

"[Argos one of the Argonauts addresses King Aeetes of Kolkhis, son of Helios] ‘In case you have heard that we have a son of Helios with us, behold the man, Augeias." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.362

"Eleios [Eponymous King of Elis] had a son Augeas. Those who exaggerate his story give a turn to the name 'Eleios' and make Helios to be the father of Augeas." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 5.1.9

"Augeas, son of Sol [Helios] and Nausidame, daughter of Amphidmas; he was Elean." - Hyginus, Fabulae 14

FAMILY IN KORINTHOS (SOUTHERN GREECE)

SIRED: ALOIOS King of Korinthos

"Eumelos ... of the family called Bakkhidai, who is said to have composed the epic poem, says in his Korinthian History (if indeed the history be his) that Ephyra, the daughter of Oceanus, dwelt first in this land [Korinthos]; that afterwards Marathon, the son of Epopeus, the son of Aloeus, the son of Helius (Sun), fleeing from the lawless violence of his father [the King of Korinthos] migrated to the sea coast of Attica." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 2.1.1

"Eumelos [poet C8th BC] says that Helios gave the Asopian land [Korinthos] to Aloios and Ephryraia to Aeetes." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 2.3.9

FAMILY IN ANDROS (GREEK AEGEAN)

LOVED: LEUCOTHOE Andrian Princess
SIRED: THERSANOR Andrian Lord

"Argonauts Assembled ... Thersanon, son of Sol [Helios] and Leucothoe, from Andros." - Hyginus, Fabulae 14

FAMILY IN KRETE (GREEK AEGEAN)

LOVED: KRETE Island Nymphe
SIRED: PASIPHAE Witch-Queen of Krete; AIX Goat-Nymphe

I) AIX Gorgon Nymphe

"Some have called Aex [a Gorgon] the daughter of Sol [Helios], who surpassed many in beauty of body, but in contrast to this beauty, had a most horrible face. Terrified by it, the Titanes begged Terra [Gaia] to hide her body, and Terra is said to have hidden her in a cave in the island of Crete. Later she became nurse of Jove [Zeus]." - Hyginus, Astronomica 2.13

II) PASIPHAE Queen of Krete

"The son-in-law of Helios [Minos who married Helios' daughter Pasiphae]." - Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Frag 17

"The Kholkians who were ruled by Aeetes, the son of Helios and Perseis, and brother of Kirke and Minos’ wife Pasiphae." - Apollodorus, The Library 1.80

"Pasiphae, who was a daughter of Helios." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.997

"[At Olympia] the figure with the cock emblazoned on the shield is Idomeneus the descendant of Minos. The story goes that Idomeneus was descended from Helios (the Sun), the father of Pasiphae, and that the cock is sacred to Helios and proclaims when he is about to rise." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 5.25.9

"[Minos] married Pasiphae, the daughter of Helios and Krete." - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.60.4

"His [King Minos'] wife Pasiphae, daughter of Helios the Sun, was immortal." - Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 41

"Are Circe and Pasiphae and Aeetes, the children of Perseis the daughter of Oceanus by Sol [Helios the Sun], to be not counted in the list of gods?" - Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.19

"Pasiphae, daughter of Sol [Helios], from Crete." - Hyginus, Fabulae 14

"[Pasiphae] the daughter of Sol [Helios the Sun] once loved a Bull." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.735

Ovid, Heroides 10. 91 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"I [Ariadne], whose father is Minos, whose mother [Pasiphae] the child of Phoebus [Helios the sun]."

"I recognize my wretched mother [Pasiphae] ... the offspring of the Sol [Helios the Sun]." - Seneca, Phaedra 112

FAMILY IN RHODES (GREEK AEGEAN)

LOVED: RHODE Goddess Nymphe of Rhodes; ATHENA Goddess
SIRED: HELIADAI Seven Kings of Rhodes; ELEKTRYONE Princesss of Rhodes;
TELKHINES- KORYBANTES Daimones of Rhodes

"[Helios was given divine dominion over the island of Rhodes by Zeus] ... There long ago he lay with Rhodes and begot seven sons, endowed beyond all men of old with genius of thoughtful mind. And of these one begot the eldest Ialysos, and Kamiros and Lindos; and in three parts they divided their father’s land, and of three citadels the brothers held each his separate share, and by their three names are the cities called." - Pindar, Odes Olympian 7 ep3-ep4

"Then was it too that the great god Hyperionides, giver of light to mortal men, this task to his beloved sons [his sons by Rhodes] enjoined to ensure well hereafter: that they first to the goddess [Athene after her birth] built a shining altar, and founding holy rites of sacrifice." - Pindar, Odes Olympian 7 str3

"After the Telkhines, the Heliadai (Sons of Helios), according to the mythical story, took possession of the island [of Rhodes]; and to one of these, Kerkaphos, and to his wife Kydippe, were born children who founded the cities that are named after them, 'Lindos, Ialysos, and Kameiros white with chalk." - Strabo, Geography 14.2.8

"Some say that, of the nine Telkhines who lived in Rhodes, those who accompanied Rhea to Krete and reared Zeus in his youth (kouros) were named Kouretes ... the Prasians saying among the Rhodians that the Korybantes were certain Daimones, sons of Athena and Helios [Rhode bride of Helios was identified with Athena Lindia and the Telkhines with the Heliadai]." - Strabo, Geography 14.1.18

"Helios, the myth tells us, becoming enamoured of Rhodos [daughter of Poseidon & Halia], named the island Rhodes after her and caused the water which had overflowed it to disappear. But the true explanation is that while in the first forming of the world the island was still like mud and soft, the sun dried up the larger part of its wetness and filled the land with living creatures, and there came into being the Heliadai (sons of Helios), who were named after him, seven in number ,and other peoples who were, like them, sprung from the land itself. In consequence of these events the island was considered to be sacred to Helios, and the Rhodians of later times made it their practis to honour Helios above all the other gods, as the ancestor and founder from whom they were descended. His seven sons were Okhimos, Kerkaphos, Makar, Aktis, Tenages, Triopas, Kandalos, and there was one daughter, Elektryone, who quite this life while still a maiden and attained at the hands of the Rhodians to honours like those accorded to the heroes. And when the Heliadai attained to manhood they were told by Helios that the first people to offer sacrifice to Athene would ever enjoy the presence of the goddess; and the same thing, we are told, was disclosed by him to the inhabitants of Attika." - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5.56.3

"Aktis [son of Helios and Rhode], sailing off to Aigyptos (Egypt), founded there the city men call Heliopolis, naming it after his father; and it was from him that the Aigyptians learned the laws of astrology." - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5.57.2

"Camirus son of Sol [Helios], founded Camira [city in Rhodes]." - Hyginus, Fabulae 275

"Aithon (Blazing): Violent hunger. [So called] from a certain Aithon son of Helios, who chopped down Demeter's sacred grove and suffered due punishment and for this was was ever famished." - Suidas "Aithon"

FAMILY IN KOLKHIS & TAUROS (EASTERN BLACK SEA)

LOVED: PERSEIS Okeanis Nymphe; OKYRHOE Okeanis Nymphe
SIRED: AEETES Witch-King of Kolkhis; PERSES King of the Tauros & Kolkhis; PHASIS Kolkhian Lord

"And Perseis, the daughter of Okeanos, bare to unwearying Helios Kirke and Aeetes the king." - Hesiod, Theogony 956

"Kirke, a goddess with braided hair, with human speech and with strange powers; the magician Aeetes was her brother, and both were the radiant sun-god Helios’ children; their mother was Perse, Okeanos’ daughter." - Homer, Odyssey 10.134

"The ship [of Odysseus] in due course left the waters of the river Okeanos and reached the waves of the sea and the island of Aiaia [the home of Kirke, daughter of Helios]; it is there that Eos (Dawn) the early comer has her dwelling-place and her dancing-grounds, and Helios the sun himself has his risings." - Homer, Odyssey 12.1

"Aietes, that wondrous son of Helios." - Pindar, Odes Pythian 4 ant11

"The Kholkians who were ruled by Aeetes, the son of Helios and Perseis, and brother of Kirke and Minos’ wife Pasiphae." - Apollodorus, The Library 1.80

"Eumelos [poet C8th BC] says that Helios gave the Asopian land [Korinthos] to Aloios and Ephryraia to Aeetes." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 2.3.9

"We are told that Helios had two sons, Aeetes and Perses, Aeetes being the king of Kolkhis and the other king of the Tauric Chersonese, and that both of them were exceedingly cruel." - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.45.1

"Perses, son of Sol [Helios], Aeetes’ brother." - Hyginus, Fabulae 27

"Are Circe and Pasiphae and Aeetes, the children of Perseis the daughter of Oceanus by Sol [Helios the Sun], to be not counted in the list of gods?" - Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.19

"Once I [Medea] had glory from my noble father [Aeetes], and from my grandsire, Sol [Helios the sun], traced illustrious descent." - Seneca, Medea 208

FAMILY IN PERSIA (WEST ASIA)

LOVED: LEUKOTHOE Princess of Persia

FAMILY IN INDIA (SOUTH ASIA)

LOVED: KETO Sea-Nymphe
SIRED: ASTRIS Star-Nymphe Wife of the River Hydaspes

"[Deriades] t he emperor of the Indians, son of [the River] Hydaspes the watery lover in union with Astris daughter of Helios, happy in her offspring - men say that her mother was Keto, a Naias daughter of Okeanos - and Hydaspes crept into her bower till he flooded it, and wooed her to his embrace with conjugal waves." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 26.350

"He [Orontes the Indian chief] stept back and turned his gaze to the eastern expanse, and uttered his last words to Phaethon [Helios the sun] opposite: ‘O Helios (Sun), cutting the air in your fiery chariot, pouring your light on the Kaukasian plowland so near, stay your car I pray, and announce to Deriades [king of the Indians, grandson of Helios] how the Indian peoples are slaves [in the war with Dionysos] ... And if you have not forgotten your Klymene’s bed [mother of Astris], protect Deriades, a sprout of your own stock, who has in him the blood of Astris (Sidereal Maiden) [wife of Hydaspes & mother of King Deriades] said to be your daughter. I never obeyed Bromios [Dionysos] the womanhearted. I bring as witnesses Helios (the Sun), and boundless Gaia (the Earth), and India’s god, holy Water [the river Hydaspes]." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 17.269

Sources:

• Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC
• Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC
• Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th BC
• Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th BC
• Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC
• Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd BC
• Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C.
• Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th AD
• Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st BC - C1st AD
• Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD
• Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st BC
• Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd AD
• Hyginus, Astronomica - Latin Mythography C2nd AD
• Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
• Ovid, Heroides - Latin Poetry C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
• Cicero, De Natura Deorum - Latin Philosophy C1st BC
• Seneca, Medea - Latin Tragedy C1st AD
• Seneca, Phaedra - Latin Tragedy C1st AD
• Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica - Latin Epic C1st AD
• Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD
• Suidas - Byzantine Lexicographer C10th AD