View source for Helle (Greek mythology)

{{Short description|Ancient Greek mythological figure}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Helle
| deity_of = [[Boeotia|Boeotian princess]] and Eponym of [[Hellespont]]
| member_of = the Athamantian Royal House
| image = Phrixos und Helle.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = Phrixus and Helle (after a fresco from Pompeii)
| other_names = Athamantis|
| abode = [[Athamantis]] in [[Boeotia]] later [[Colchis]]
| consort = [[Poseidon]]
| parents = [[Athamas]] and [[Nephele]]
| siblings = {{hlist|[[Phrixus]]| [[Learches]]|[[Melicertes]]|[[Schoeneus]]|[[Leucon]]|[[Ptous]]}}
| offspring = {{hlist|[[Almops]]|[[Paeon (son of Poseidon)|Paeon]]}}
| Roman_equivalent = 
| Etruscan_equivalent = 
}}
'''Helle''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɛ|l|i}}; {{Langx|grc|Ἕλλη|Héllē}}), or '''Ellie''', sometimes also called '''{{Lang|grc-Latn|Athamantis|italic=no}}''' ({{Langx|grc|Ἀθαμαντίς}}, "daughter of Athamas"), was a character in [[Greek mythology]] who figured prominently in the story of [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]]. Helle is known for giving her name to the strait of [[Dardanelles|Hellespont]] ("sea of Helle"), in which she fell while crossing it along with her brother [[Phrixus]].

==Mythology==
[[Phrixus]], son of King [[Athamas]] of [[Boeotia]] and the half-[[nymph]] [[Nephele]], along with his younger sister, Helle, were hated by their stepmother, [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]]. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the children, roasting all the town's crop seeds so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the [[oracle]] to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus.

Yet before he was killed, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. For reasons unknown, Helle fell off the ram into the [[Hellespont]] (which was subsequently named after her) and either drowned or was rescued by [[Poseidon]]{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} and turned into a sea-goddess, but Phrixus survived all the way to [[Colchis]], where King [[Aeetes]] took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter, [[Chalciope]], in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the [[golden fleece]] of the ram, which [[Aeetes]] placed in a consecrated grove, under the care of a sleepless dragon.

With the Greek god Poseidon, Helle was the mother of the giant [[Almops]] and [[Paeon (son of Poseidon)|Paeon]] (called Edonus in some accounts).<ref>{{cite book  | last = Bell  | first = Robert E.  | title = Women of Classical Mythology  | publisher = [[ABC-CLIO]]  | date = 1991  | pages = [https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/230 230]  | url = https://archive.org/details/womenofclassical00bell/page/230  | isbn = 0-87436-581-3  | url-access = registration  }}</ref><ref name="DGRBM2">{{cite encyclopedia | last = Smith | first = William | author-link = William Smith (lexicographer) | title = Paeon | editor = William Smith | editor-link = William Smith (lexicographer) | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]] | volume = 3 | pages = 83 | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]] | location = Boston | year = 1867 | url = http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;idno=acl3129.0003.001;q1=paeon;size=l;frm=frameset;seq=91}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==

* Bell, Robert E., ''Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary''. [[ABC-Clio]]. 1991. {{ISBN|9780874365818|0874365813}}.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Family of Athamas]]
[[Category:Mythological Boeotians]]

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