The Halieia (, ) or Halia was one of the principal festivals celebrated on the island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

in honour of their patron god

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...

, the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

.Smith, s. v
Halia
/ref> It was held every year in

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

, with gymnic and musical contests and a great procession.

Name

The name of the festival derives from ''Halios'', the Doric spelling of Helios' name.

Description

The festival included games of horse-racing and chariot-racing, gymnastic contests for men and boys, as well as music contests,Torr, p
7374
/ref> and a sacrifice. The prize offered for the victors was a wreath of white poplar, a tree which was sacred to the god, due to the brilliance of its shining leaves. According to Festus (s. v. October Equus),Parker, p
138
/ref> the Halieia also included a ritual, that took place on the 24th day of the summer month of Gorpiaeus, where the Rhodians sacrificed to the god a team of four white

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s, by driving a four-horse chariot, representing the chariot of the sun, into the sea.Seyffert
s.v. Helios
/ref>Gardner and Jevons, p
247
/ref> This ritual symbolised the setting of the sun as it sinks into the sea, and in that way the Rhodians honoured his role as the celestial charioteer.Farnell, p
20, note b
/ref> The Halieia drew athletes and musicians from all over the Greek world, and when the Colossus of Rhodes was erected in the harbour, the cult gained even more fame; the festival attracted great athletes from abroad, and victors of games such as the

Pythia Pythia (; ) was the title of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as th ...

, the Isthmia and the

Nemea Nemea (; ; ) is an ancient site in the northeastern part of the Peloponnese, in Greece. Formerly part of the territory of Cleonae (Argolis), Cleonae in ancient Argolis, it is today situated in the regional units of Greece, regional unit of Corin ...

found it worthwhile to compete in the Halieia. In the glory days of Rhodes, the neighbouring kingdoms, such as

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; ), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north s ...

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, would send envoys to the festival, and it was still flourishing even centuries after that. In the fictional work '' Ephesian Tale'' by Xenophon of Ephesus, the protagonists find themselves at Rhodes during a festival in honour of Helios, described thus:

e next Day was a Festival dedicated to the Sun, and celebrated by the Rhodians, with the utmost publick Magnificence, the Pomp, the Sacrifices, and the Concourse of the Citizens, being exceeding great. Xenophon of Ephesus, '' Ephesian Tale'' pp
107-108
Nilsson 1906, p
427, especially note 4
/ref>

The protagonist of the story, Anthia, cuts and dedicates some of her hair in Helios' temple with the inscription ''Anthia dedicated this hair to the god on behalf of Habrokomes''. The Games dial on the

Antikythera mechanism The Antikythera mechanism ( , ) is an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek hand-powered orrery (model of the Solar System). It is the oldest known example of an Analog computer, analogue computer. It could be used to predict astronomy, astronomical ...

, an Ancient Greek hand-powered

orrery An orrery is a mechanical Solar System model, model of the Solar System that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the planets and natural satellite, moons, usually according to the heliocentric model. It may also represent ...

, is divided into four sectors, one of which is inscribed with the word ''Halieia'', as it was possibly used to track the cycle of various athletic games in antiquity.

Connections

Rituals involving the sacrifice of horses in a similar manner to the sea-god

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

Hippios are also attested, and might have influenced the horse-sacrificing rituals to Helios. The Argives drowned horses in Poseidon's honour, in

Illyria In classical and late antiquity, Illyria (; , ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; , ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyrians. The Ancient Gree ...

horses were offered to him every four years in the same manner as during the Halieia, while he was worshipped as Hippios, god of horses, in Lindos, one of the principal Rhodian cities. Scholars have associated these rites, along with those of another Rhodian festival, the Hippokathesia.

Notes

References

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

, '' Deipnosophists, Books 1-9 translated by Charles Burton Gulick (1868-1962)'', from the

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

edition of 1927-41, books 10- end by Charles Duke Yonge (1812-1891). * Decharme, Paul, ''Mythologie de la Grèce antique'', Garnier Frères, 1884
Google books
(in French). * * Farnell, Lewis Richard, ''The Cults of the Greek States vol. ΙV'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 2010, . * Gardner, Percy; Jevons, Frank Byron, ''A Manual of Greek Antiquities'',

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, 1895, Charles Scribner's Sons. * * * * Nilsson, Martin, ''Griechische Feste von religiöser Bedeutung, mit Ausschluss der attischen'', 1906
Internet Archive
(in German). * Parker, Robert, ''Polytheism and Society at Athens'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2005. . * Seyffert, Oskar, ''A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, Mythology, Religion, Literature and Art'', from the German of Dr. Oskar Seyffert, S. Sonnenschein, 1901
Internet Archive
* Smith, William, '' A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities''. William Wayte. G. E. Marindin. Albemarle Street, London. John Murray. 1890. * Torr, Cecil, ''Rhodes in Ancient Times'',

, 1885. *

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

’s ''Ephesian History: or the Love-Adventures of Abrocomas and Anthia, in Five Books''. Translated from the Greek by Mr. Rooke he Second Edition London: Printed for J. Millan at Locke’s Head in Shug-Lane; 1727, pp. 87-112. {{Authority control Festivals in ancient Greece July observances Rhodes Helios Ancient Greek athletic festivals Ancient Greek festivals by deity Greek animal sacrifice Ancient Greek religion Ancient Greek festivals by region Religion in ancient Rhodes Ancient chariot racing Horses in religion

Name

Description

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See also

Notes

References