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LegendUndated

The Cattle of the Sun

Also called: Cattle of Helios, Thrinacia

A legend handed down over the centuries.

A Greek myth told in Book 12 of the Odyssey. Stranded by the winds on the island of Thrinacia, Odysseus’ starving men slaughter the cattle of the sun god Helios, and Zeus smashes their ship with a thunderbolt; only Odysseus survives.

The companions of Odysseus rob the cattle of Helios — fresco by Pellegrino Tibaldi, 16th century, Palazzo Poggi, Bologna
The companions of Odysseus rob the cattle of Helios — fresco by Pellegrino Tibaldi, 16th century, Palazzo Poggi, Bologna

Pellegrini Tiballdi · Public domain · Source

This Greek myth is told in Book 12 of Homer’s Odyssey. Tiresias and Circe had warned Odysseus not to land on Thrinacia, where the cattle of the sun god Helios grazed, but his weary men insisted, and he landed only after making them swear not to touch the herds. When the south wind blew for a whole month and their food ran out, the men slaughtered the finest cattle while Odysseus slept, offered them in sacrifice and ate them.

Helios appealed to Zeus, and when the ship put to sea Zeus struck it with a thunderbolt; it broke apart and all the men drowned. Clinging to the mast and keel, Odysseus passed Charybdis once more and drifted for nine days before reaching Calypso’s island. Since antiquity Thrinacia has been identified with Sicily.

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Themes that include this event

  • The Trojan War and the Odyssey1200 BC – 1876

    From the apple of discord to the Trojan Horse and the homecoming of Odysseus — the Greek myth in story order, alongside the real site of Troy, the making of the epics, the Laocoön group and Schliemann’s excavations