Rhode

Rhode (Rhodos) was the nymph of the island of Rhodes in Greek mythology, the wife of the sun god Helios. By him she became the mother of seven sons, the Heliadae, and one daughter, Electryone. Sources disagree about her parents: she is the daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite or Halia, or of Aphrodite.

Family

The ancient authors name different parents for Rhode:

• Apollodorus says that Poseidon wedded Amphitrite, daughter of Oceanus, and that Triton and Rhode were born to them, and that Rhode married the Sun (Apollodorus, Library 1.4.5).
• Diodorus tells of the sea god Poseidon falling in love with Halia, sister of the Telchines, and begetting six sons and one daughter, Rhodos, after whom the island was named (Diodorus 5.55.4).
• Pindar calls her the child of Aphrodite and the bride of Helios (Pindar, Olympian 7.13–14).

Rhode and Helios

The Island Rises from the Sea

Pindar tells how the gods divided the earth by lot when Zeus was apportioning it, and Helios, who was absent, was left without a share. When Zeus offered to cast the lots again, Helios refused, saying he could see a land rising from the depths of the grey sea; at his request Lachesis and the son of Cronus swore the great oath of the gods that the island would be his. It rose, and the father of the sun’s rays took it as his own. He lay with Rhodos there and she bore him seven sons (Pindar, Olympian 7.54–71).

The Naming of the Island

Diodorus gives a different story. The island was once overrun by a flood, and the Telchines, who had foreseen it, left. When the flood came, only a few people, including the sons of Zeus, escaped to the high ground. Helios, the myth says, became enamoured of Rhodos, named the island Rhodes after her, and made the water that covered the island disappear (Diodorus 5.56.1–3). The Rhodians afterwards honoured Helios above all other gods, as the founder from whom they were descended (Diodorus 5.56.4).

Children: the Heliadae

Diodorus names the seven sons of Helios and Rhodos as Ochimus, Cercaphus, Macar, Actis, Tenages, Triopas and Candalus, and gives them one sister, Electryone, who died while still a maiden and received honours like those of the heroes from the Rhodians (Diodorus 5.56.5). Pindar also gives seven sons, who were wiser than any men of earlier times. From one of them came Cameirus, Ialysus (the eldest) and Lindus, who divided their father’s land into three shares, with cities named after them (Pindar, Olympian 7.71–76).

Diodorus says the Heliadae were told by Helios that the first people to sacrifice to Athena would have the goddess dwelling with them. The Heliadae hurried and put the victims on the altar without fire, while Cecrops in Athens sacrificed with fire but later; this is why the Rhodians keep that peculiar rite and why the goddess lives on their island (Diodorus 5.56.5–7).

Tenages was the most gifted of the brothers, and the others killed him from envy. Macar then fled to Lesbos, Candalus to Cos, and Actis to Egypt, where he founded Heliopolis, naming it after his father, and taught the Egyptians astrology (Diodorus 5.57.2). Triopas also fled and, after being purified, sailed to Thessaly and later founded Triopium near Cnidus (Diodorus 5.61).

Rhode Sources

Pindar, Olympian 7.13–14, 7.54–76; Apollodorus, Library 1.4.5; Diodorus Siculus 5.55–57, 5.61.

See Also: Poseidon, Helios, Heliadae, Amphitrite, Aphrodite, Cecrops