Celestial God Helios from the NCMA

The original marble statue of the celestial god Helios (which means “sun” in Greek) represents a young male figure wearing a clāmys (clam-mis), a rectangular cloak draped over the left shoulder and fastened at the right side. Dating from the Roman period, specifically the 2nd to early 3rd century, it is housed at the North Carolina Museum of Art. The statue is supported by a figure of a horse’s head at its feet and originally wore a solar crown, from which the 12 bronze rays are now missing. Additionally, it lacks both arms, the nose, and the lips. Remnants of a flame on the upper left arm suggest that it once held a torch in the left hand. Despite the missing arms, these details helped archaeologists and art historians identify the figure as the Greek sun god Helios. According to Greek culture, Helios moves the sun across the sky each day.

In Greek culture, the celestial god Helios is responsible for the sun’s movement across the sky each day, from east to west, as he rides across the heavens in his golden chariot drawn by horses. He is commonly depicted as a young man crowned with the sun who drives a chariot pulled by four winged horses across the sky.

One of our top sculptors at www.hephaisteion.com has restored the face and the solar crown, which originally had 12 bronze rays framing the face. The sculptor has also restored the two arms: the right one, which gestures his route across the sky, and the left one, which holds a torch attached to the surviving flame on the upper left. These restorations are based on evidence suggesting that, in the Roman era, the statue of Helios once held a torch in his left hand. Additionally, the horse-drawn chariot is represented by the figure of a horse’s head next to his left foot, which has also been cleaned by our sculptor to highlight all its details.

In the 4th century BCE, Alexander the Great adopted Helios as his favored god, likely because he had conquered Mesopotamia, Parthia, Bactria, and northwest India (known as the “lands of the rising sun”). He preferred Helios as a symbol of power and military success. Alexander the Great was sometimes depicted in art (especially in marble sculptures) as Helios. This statue of Helios, for example, features Alexander the Great’s distinctive hairstyle