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InGreek mythology, theCattle of Helios (Greek:Ἠελίοιο βόες,Ēelíoio bóes[1]), also called theOxen of the Sun, arecattle pastured on the island ofThrinacia, orThrinakia (in later sources identified withSicily orMalta).[2]
Helios, who in Greek mythology is thegod of the Sun, is said to have had seven herds of oxen and seven flocks of sheep, each numbering fifty head.[3] In theOdyssey, Homer describes these immortal cattle as handsome (ἄριστος), wide-browed (εὐρυμέτωπος), fat, and straight-horned (ὀρθόκραιρος).[4] The cattle were guarded by Helios's daughters,Phaëthusa andLampetië, and it was known by all that any harm to any single animal was sure to bring down the wrath of the god.
Tiresias andCirce both warnOdysseus to shun the isle of Helios (Thrinacia). Odysseus and his crew arrive at Thrinacia after passingScylla andCharybdis. WhenEurylochus begs to be allowed to land to prepare supper, Odysseus grudgingly agrees on condition that the crew swear that if they come upon a herd of cattle or a great flock of sheep, no one will kill any of them. They are held on the isle for a month by an unfavorable storm sent byPoseidon.
When Odysseus goes up the island to pray to the gods and ask for extra help, Eurylochus convinces the crew to drive off the best of the cattle of Helios and sacrifice them to the gods: "if he be somewhat wroth for his cattle with straight horns, and is fain to wreck our ship, and the other gods follow his desire, rather with one gulp at the wave would I cast my life away, than be slowly straitened to death in a desert isle." When he returns to the ship, Odysseus rebukes his companions for disobeying his orders. But it is too late; the cattle are dead and gone.
Lampetië tells Helios that Odysseus's men have slain his cattle. In turn, Helios orders the gods to take vengeance on Odysseus's men. He threatens that if they do not pay him full atonement for the cattle, he will take the sun to theUnderworld and shine it among the dead. Zeus promises Helios to smite their ship with a lightning bolt and cleave it in pieces in the midst of the ocean.
Soon the gods show signs and wonders to Odysseus's men. The skins begin creeping and the flesh bellowing upon the spits, both the roast and raw, and there is a sound like the voice of cattle. For six days, Odysseus's company feast on thekine of Helios. On the seventh day, the wind changes. After they set sail, Zeus keeps his word and the ship is destroyed by lightning during a storm and all of his men die. Odysseus escapes by swimming toCalypso's island. Odysseus is spared but, as forewarned by Circe and Tiresias, is himself punished when his return to Ithaca is delayed by a seven-year sojourn onOgygia.
Thrinacia (Homeric GreekΘρινακίαThrinakíā, fromθρῖναξ "trident"; English pronunciation/θrɪˈneɪʃə,θraɪ-/) is theisland home of the Cattle of Helios in Book XII ofHomer'sOdyssey, guarded by Helios' daughtersLampetia andPhaethusa, born to him byNeaera. HomericThrinacia was later identified withSicily, and its name re-interpreted asTrinakria (Τρινακρία, from τρεῖς and ἄκραι, as "[island] with three headlands").[5] But Homeric Thrinacia is also associated withMalta, and Sicily is instead also identified with the episode of theCyclopsPolyphemus, son of Poseidon.
In theArgonautica ofApollonius Rhodius, the sailors pass by the island of Thrinacia and see the daughters tending the sheep and cattle of Helios, “not one of them was dark in hue but all were white as milk and glorying in their horns of gold.”[6]
