Private

1.  Leucothoë: a princess, daughter of Orchamus and sister of Clytia, Leucothoë was loved by Helios, who
disguised himself as Leucothoë's mother to gain entrance to her chambers. Clytia, jealous of her sister because
she wanted Helios for herself, told Orchamus the truth, betraying her sister's trust and confidence in her.
Enraged, Orchamus ordered Leucothoë, who claimed Helios had forced her to succumb to his desires, buried
alive. Helios changed Leucothoë's lifeless body into an incense plant. Helios refused to forgive Clytia for
betraying his beloved, and a grieving Clytia wilted and slowly turned into a heliotrope, which follows the sun
every day.[4]
 Helios, having loved her, abandoned her for Leucothea and left her deserted. She was so angered by his
treatment that she told Leucothea's father, Orchamus, about the affair. Since Helios had defiled Leucothea,
Orchamus had her put to death by burial alive in the sands. Clytie intended to win Helios back by taking
away his new love, but her actions only hardened his heart against her. She stripped herself and sat naked,
with neither food nor drink, for nine days on the rocks, staring at the sun, Helios, and mourning his
departure. After nine days she was transformed into the turnsole, also known as heliotrope (which is known
for growing on sunny, rocky hillsides),[3]
which turns its head always to look longingly at Helios' chariot of the
sun. The episode is most fully told in Ovid,Metamorphoses iv. 204, 234–56.
 Modern traditions substitute the turnsole with a sunflower, which according to (incorrect) folk wisdom turns in
the direction of the sun (the original French form tournesol primarily refers to sunflower, while the
English turnsole is primarily used for heliotrope).
 Helios (/ˈhiːli.ɒs/; Ancient Greek: Ἥλιος Hēlios; Latinized as Helius; Ἠέλιος in Homeric Greek) was the
personification of the Sun inGreek mythology. He is the son of the Titan Hyperion and the
Titaness Theia (Hesiod) (also known as Euryphaessa (Homeric Hymn 31)) and brother of the
goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn.
 Helios was described as a handsome titan crowned with the shining aureole of the Sun, who drove
the chariot of the sun across the sky each day to earth-circling Oceanus and through the world-ocean
returned to the East at night. In the Homeric hymn to Helios, Helios is said to drive a golden chariot drawn
by steeds (HH 31.14–15); and Pindar speaks of Helios's "fire-darting steeds" (Olympian Ode 7.71). Still
later, the horses were given fiery names: Pyrois, Aeos, Aethon, and Phlegon.
 As time passed, Helios was increasingly identified with the god of light, Apollo. However, in spite of their
syncretism, they were also often viewed as two distinct gods/titan (Helios was a Titan, whereas Apollo was
an Olympian). The equivalent of Helios in Roman mythology was Sol, specifically Sol Invictus.

2. This article is about the Greek and Roman god. For other uses, see Apollo (disambiguation) and Phoebus
(disambiguation).
"Phoebus" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Phobos (mythology).
Apollo
God of music, poetry, art, oracles, archery, plague,
medicine, sun, light and knowledge
Apollo Belvedere, ca. 120–140 CE
Abode Mount Olympus
Symbol Lyre, laurel wreath,python, raven, bow
and arrows
Parents Zeus and Leto
Siblings Artemis
Children Asclepius,Troilus,Aristaeus,Orpheus
Roman equivalent Apollo

3. Part of a series on
Ancient Greek religion
Features[show ]
Godheads[show ]
Ethics[show ]
Practices[show ]
Sacredplaces[show ]
Texts[show ]
History[show ]
Hellenismos portal
 v
 t
 e
This article contains special characters.Without
proper rendering support,you may see question marks,
boxes, or other symbols.
Apollo (Attic, Ionic, and Homeric
Greek: Ἀπόλλων, Apollōn (GEN Ἀπόλλωνος); Doric: Ἀπέλλων, Apellōn; Arcadocypriot: Ἀπείλων,Apeilōn; Aeolic: Ἄπ
λουν, Aploun; Latin: Apollō) is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical
Greekand Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros (a beardless, athletic youth),
Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague,
poetry, and more. Apollo is the son ofZeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Apollo is
known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology asApulu.
As the patron of Delphi (Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle.
Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his

4. son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst the god's
custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, and as the patron defender of herds and
flocks. As the leader of the Muses (Apollon Musegetes) and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron
god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became a common attribute of Apollo.
Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans.
In Hellenistic times, especially during the 3rd century BCE, as Apollo Helios he became identified among Greeks
with Helios, Titangod of the sun, and his sister Artemis similarly equated with Selene, Titan goddess of the
moon.[1]
In Latin texts, on the other hand,Joseph Fontenrose declared himself unable to find any conflation of Apollo
with Sol among the Augustan poets of the 1st century, not even in the conjurations
of Aeneas and Latinus in Aeneid XII (161–215).[2]
Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and
mythological texts until the 3rd century CE.

5. THE SUN-FLOWER
There was a nymph named Clytie, who was so beautiful that Apollo fell in love with her. She was very proud
and glad of being loved by the god of the Sun, and loved him a great deal more than he loved her. But she
believed that his love was as great as her own: and so she lived happily for a long time.
But one day, Apollo happened to see a king's daughter, whose name was Leucothoe. He thought she was the
most beautiful creature he had ever seen: so he fell in love with her, and forgot Clytie as much as if there was
nobody but Leucothoe in the world. Clytie, however, knew nothing of all this, and only wondered why Apollo
never came to see her any more.
Now the king, whose name was Orchamus, kept his daughter very strictly: and did not wish her to have
anything to do with Apollo. I suppose he was afraid of Apollo's loving her for a time, and then leaving her to be
miserable and unhappy, as happened to many nymphs and princesses in those days besides Clytie. So when
King Orchamus found that Apollo was making love to Leucothoe, he shut her up in his palace, and would not
allow her to go out or anybody else to go in.
But Apollo was much too clever to be beaten in that way. He disguised himself as Leucothoe's own mother,
and so came to see her whenever he pleased, without anybody being anything the wiser. And so everything
went on just as he wished, if it had not been for Clytie, whom he had treated just as King Orchamus was afraid
he would treat Leucothoe.
Clytie wondered why Apollo never came to see her till she could bear it no longer; and she watched him, to find
out what was the reason of it all. She watched till at last she saw somebody who looked like a queen go into
the palace of King Orchamus. But she knew Apollo much too well to be taken in by any disguise. She secretly
followed him into the palace, and found him making love to Leucothoe.
In her misery and jealousy, she went straight to King Orchamus, and told him what she had seen. Perhaps she
hoped that the king would send his daughter away altogether, so that Apollo would then come back to her. She
could not possibly foresee what would really happen. King Orchamus was so enraged with his daughter for
receiving Apollo's visits against his commands that he ordered Leucothoe to be buried alive. Of course he
could not punish Apollo: because Apollo was a god, while he was only a king.
Perhaps you will think that Apollo might have managed to save Leucothoe from such a terrible death as her
father had ordered for her. As he did not, I suppose that King Orchamus had her buried before anybody could
tell the news—at any rate she was dead when Apollo arrived at her grave. All he could do for her was to show
his love and his sorrow by turning her into a tree from which people take a sweet-smelling gum called myrrh.
As to Clytie, whose jealousy had caused the death of the princess, he refused ever to speak to her or look at
her again: and he turned her into a sunflower, which has no perfume like the myrrh-tree into which he had
changed Leucothoe. But, in spite of his scorn and of everything he could do to her, Clytie loved him still: and
though he would not look at her, she still spends her whole time in gazing up at him with her blossoms, which
are her eyes. People say that the blossoms of the sunflower always turn toward the sun—towards the east
when he is rising, towards the west when he is setting, and straight up at noon, when he is in the middle of the
sky. Of course, like all other blossoms, they close at night, when he is no longer to be seen. As for the sun
himself, I suspect he has forgotten both Clytie and Leucothoe long ago; and sees no difference between them
and any other trees or flowers.

6. Clytie and the Sunflowers
Updated on February 5, 2013
Statue of Oceanus, father of Clytie
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Believe Me (If All Those Endearing Young Charms)
Buy Now
Have you ever wondered about this?
The heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But truly loves unto the close,

7. As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look that she gave when he rose
- Thomas Moore, Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms
Moore’s source for this part of the song was taken from Greek mythology. Clytie, along with several thousand other
nymphs known as the Oceanids, was the product of an incestuous relationship between the Titaness Tethys and
Oceanus. Clytie’s unrequited love for the sun god caused her to pine away until she was changed into a flower
which always turns its face towards the sun. For modern readers, the primary source of this myth is in
Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Metamorphoses (Penguin Classics)
Buy Now

8. Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”
Unfortunately, Ovid being a Roman has also helped to garble the myth in some ways. In Book 4 of
theMetamorphoses, the sun god (referred to only as “Hyperion’s son”, but who is obviously meant to be Apollo),
after ratting out Venus/Aphrodite during one of her own escapades has a curse put on him. He falls head over heels
in love with a sea goddess named Leucothea (sometimes spelled Leucothoe), to the point the he causes the sun to
set and rise at abnormal times. He forgets about Clytie, his former love, and disguises himself as Eurynome,
Leucothea’s mother, so he can have an opportunity for a tumble.
Clytie becomes furiously jealous and tells Orchamus, Leucothea’s father, that his daughter has been defiled.
Orchamus buries Leucothea alive. Apollo, after vainly trying to bring her back to life, douses her grave in perfume so
that she will evaporate with the rays of the sun and return to the heavens with him.
When she realizes that what she has done will not return Apollo to her, Clytie goes insane. For nine days, she sits
with her gaze fixed on the sun until the gods take pity on her and turn her into a flower.

9. Clytie by Frederic, Lord Leighton
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Helios vs. Apollo
Thanks to Ovid and all the other Romans who plagiarized the Greek myths, there is a bit of a dispute about the god
who led Clytie to her ruin. Eventually, it was narrowed down that despite the Metamorphoses as well as other
versions of the story, Clytie’s love was not Apollo, but a god name Helios.
The mistake is forgivable because, for a long time, it was thought that Helios and Apollo were different names for
the same god. The misunderstanding was largely caused by Euripides when he used the word “apollo” –
contextually in another sense – when referring to Helios.
Helios, like Apollo, was referred to as the “sun god”. However, both Helios and Clytie were descended from the
Titans, thus making their earlier romance more logical. Apollo was a god from Mount Olympus.
The mistaken identity, however, does make for a rather interesting – if inaccurate – connection: Clytie’s
grandmother was Gaia, the earth goddess. Although it is not spelled out, it is to be assumed that it was Gaia who
took pity on the deranged nymph and turned her into a flower. Gaia had previously been called upon to rescue
Daphne during the famous scene when the latter is chased by Apollo. Gaia turned Daphne into a tree and ended
her suffering, the same way she rescued Clytie when, according to Ovid, she was brought to grief by Apollo.
Heliotropium
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The Flower Dispute
Largely due to Thomas Moore’s gorgeous poem, everyone thinks Clytie was turned into a sunflower. This is not
possible, however, as sunflowers did not exist until the founding of the New World. In theMetamorphoses and in
other earlier versions of the myth, Clytie is turned into a flower called a heliotrope. This flower typically produces
purple blossoms and is unlike the sunflower in every way, except that both plants – like Clytie – turn their faces
towards the sun.