| Halia | |
|---|---|
| Abode | Rhodes |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | Thalassa |
| Siblings | Telchines |
| Consort | Poseidon |
| Children | Rhodos and six sons |
InGreek mythology,Halia (Ancient Greek:Ἁλία,romanized: Halía,lit. 'dweller in the sea',[1] also spelledἉλίη) was a woman who according toRhodian tradition became the sea-goddessLeucothea.[2] She was a lover of the sea-godPoseidon to whom she bore seven children.
Halia was a daughter ofThalassa (the personification of thesea), and sister to theTelchines; it is not clear who her father was, if she had one at all.[3]
The sea-godPoseidon fell in love with Halia, and fathered six sons and one daughter,Rhodos, on her,[4] who later became the wife of the sun-godHelios and the one after whom the island ofRhodes was named.
According to the account byDiodorus Siculus, Halia's brother the Telchines nurtured the infantPoseidon, entrusted on them by his motherRhea.[5] When Poseidon grew up, he fell in love with his tutors' sister Halia, and had six sons and one daughter by her.[3]
Years later, while the goddessAphrodite was journeying fromCythera toCyprus, she attempted to make a stop at Rhodes. However, the sons of Poseidon and Halia, who were arrogant and insolent men, drove the goddess away. In anger, Aphrodite cursed them with madness so they raped their own mother, Halia, and committed many acts of violence upon the natives. When Poseidon learnt of this, he buried his children deep beneath the soil as Halia cast herself at the sea. She then became the goddessLeucothea, who is usually in other traditions identified with theTheban queenIno instead, the daughter of kingCadmus.[3] She was worshipped as a divine being by the Rhodians.[2]
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