August 17: Summer Month

When sun god Helios revealed Aphrodite’s affair with Ares to her husband, the love goddess was livid. She took revenge by igniting in Helios’ heart a passion for a mortal princess, Leukothoé. She probably didn’t reckon with the tragic events that would follow. As the ocean nymph Clytie had been trying to get Helios’ attention for centuries, she was furious to be surpassed by a little human. So she told the king about Leukothoé’s “indiscretion”, and he ruthlessly disposed of his own daughter. To Clytie’s bewilderment, the elimination of the competition didn’t gain her Helios’ affection. For nine days she followed him around, begging him to give her a chance. Eventually, she transformed into a heliotrope (literally: “turning to the sun”). Its English name is turnsole. This explains why in later times, the Clytie-myth was associated with the French “tournesol” or sunflower. This impressive plant fits the dramatic story so much better than the humble heliotrope. Even if in ancient Greece, sunflowers didn’t grow.

Helios/Sol, Johannes Benk, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Austria.

Tanagra figurine, Antikensammlung Berlin, Germany

Did you know?

• About Helios/Sol: cfr. ‘Party Island”, “All that Shines”, “Joyride”, “Feel the Static”, “Too little, too late”, “Blind Tasting”, “To the End of the World”.

• About Helios’/Sol’s romance with Leukothoë: cfr. “Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh”.

• About Aphrodite’s/Venus’ affair with Ares/Mars: cfr. “Opposites Attract”.