Rhodos (also spelt as Rhodus and Rhode) is a Nymph and the Goddess and personification of the island Rhodes.
Genealogy and Family[]
Most accounts identify her as the daughter of Amphitrite and Poseidon. She became the wife of Helios, God of the Sun and by him the mother of The Heliadae and Electryone.
Role and Significance[]
As well as the goddess and personification of Rhodes, she was the protector of the island itself. Her symbol is a rose.
While Rhodian coins were known for displaying the magnificent head of Helios, some of them showed the head of Rhodos; additionally, the rose (Greek rhodon) became the island's symbol. During the Hellenistic period, she was worshipped in Rhodes as the island's tutelary goddess.
Story[]
When Zeus decided to appoint lands to different Gods, Helios got nothing and complained to Zeus for this. Zeus asked Helios if he wanted to him to proceed with the divisions again, but Helios turned down the offer as he noticed an island that had not yet risen from the sea. So Helios, with Zeus' consent, claimed the new island called Rhodes for himself, and after it rose from the sea he lay with her and produced seven sons. According to another source, it was Helios himself who caused the water overflowing the island to disappear, and after that he named this island "Rhodes" after the goddess.
Rhode's sons with Helios were the Heliadae: Actis, Candalus, Cercaphus, Macareus, Ochimus, Tenages and Triopas, who succeeded the Telchines as the rulers of Rhode and Electryone, a sun Goddess.
Trivia[]
Her name means "of Rhodes".