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CounterPunch Exclusives

Light and Life from the Sun God Helios

Silver tetradrachm (4 drachmas) of the island of Rhodes depicting Sun god Helios, 205-190 BCE. Courtesy Ebedokle Collection, Numismatic Museum, Athens.

A Greek friend from Canada, Dr. Nikos Chrystodoulou, sent me an article about an American company, Cambrian Nuclear, working with Athlos Energy, a Greek nuclear company founded in 2024, and the Greek government, potentially planning to build a nuclear power factory in Greece. But because Greece is not free of earthquakes, most likely these companies are recommending to Greek government officials a floating nuclear power plant on the waters of the Aegen Sea. Dr. Chrystodoulou, a nuclear power engineer with 22 years of working experience for the Chalk River Nuclear Labs and 6 years for Canada’s Nuclear Safety Commission, said to me in an email that the announcement about nuclear power plants in Greece must have been some kind of a joke. However, before I address the irresponsible and dangerous nuclear electricity proposal, I will travel back in time to see how the ancient Greeks treated the Sun, source for life-giving, inexhaustible and harmless energy.

For thousands of years, the Greeks expressed their ευσέβεια / eusebeia / respect / veneration for several gods. Homer and Hesiod, great epic poets of the late 13th century BCE, defined the gods. They were divine anthropomorphic beings, icons of the enormous powers of nature and the Cosmos. They were human-like polymaths, which sometimes specialized in a major interest or field of knowledge or what Greeks called πολιτισμός / civilization.

For example, the chief god and father of the Olympian gods, Zeus, mirrored immense power and everlasting justice. He protected the family, foreigners visiting Greece, Panhellenic games like the Olympics, and civilization. His daughter, Athena, was the goddess of intelligence, war and freedom. She protected Athens. Hephaistos was the personification of metallurgy, engineering and advanced technology. Demetra, sister of Zeus, was the Earth herself, Gaia / Ge. She inspired and helped Greeks to cultivate wheat and other bread-making crops. She was family farming and prosperous countryside. The Greeks credited her for their agriculture and the Eleusinian Mysteries. Dionysos, son of Zeus, was, like Demetra, a pillar of rural life and Hellenic civilization. He was wine, theater, tragedy and freedom. The theater of Dionysos was for centuries a school of democracy and freedom. Other gods included Apollo, god of light, prophesy and music; Aphrodite, goddess of love; Artemis, goddess of wildlife and the natural world; Hermes, god-messenger and god of music, and Ares, god of war.

In addition to these Olympian gods, there were demi-gods like Herakles and countless lesser divinities all over the land and waters. The Greeks also worshipped the natural world and the Cosmos. The stars were gods. This devotion to the stars also explains the Antikythera Mechanism for an exact knowledge of the eclipses of the Sun god Helios and the Moon. More about the celestial computer bellow.

The Sun god Helios was by far the most important of all gods. He gave light and life to humans, the natural world of the Earth and the Cosmos. Helios married the Nymph Rhodos, daughter of the goddesses Amphitrite or Aphrodite. Helios moved to Rhodes with his wife. The island Rhodes honored Helios. It adopted the name of his wife, Rhodos. It built a colossal metal statue........

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