Rhode
Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Rhode (Ῥόδη) also known as Rhodos (Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

: Ῥόδος) was the sea nymph or goddess of the island of Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...

.

Though she does not appear among the lists of nereids in Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...

XVIII or Bibliotheke 1.2.7, such an ancient island nymph
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...

 in other contexts might gain any of various Olympian parentages: she was thought of as a daughter of Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

 with any of several primordial sea-goddesses— with whom she might be identified herself— notably Halia or Amphitrite
Amphitrite
In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite was a sea-goddess and wife of Poseidon. Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became merely the consort of Poseidon, and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic representation of the sea...

. Pindar
Pindar
Pindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian described him as "by far the greatest of the nine lyric poets, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich...

 even urges his hearers to "Praise the sea maid, daughter of Aphrodite
Aphrodite
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.Her Roman equivalent is the goddess .Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia....

, bride of Helios
Helios
Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...

, this isle of Rhodes." "All three names— Halia, Aphrodite, Amphitrite, and furthermore also Kapheira— must have been applied to one and the same great goddess
Great Goddess
Great Goddess refers to the concept of an almighty goddess, or to the concept of a mother goddess, including:*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Latin Magna Dea*Great Goddess, anglicized form of the Sanskrit Mahadevi, the Shakti sum of all goddesses...

", Karl Kerenyi
Karl Kerényi
Károly Kerényi was a Hungarian scholar in classical philology, one of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology.- Hungary 1897–1943 :...

 observes.

In Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...

, to which she gave her name, she was the consort of Helios
Helios
Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...

, as Pindar says, and a co-protector of the island, which was the sole center of her cult. Her name was applied to the rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

, which appeared on Rhodian coinage.

The first inhabitants of Rhodes were identified by Hellenes as the Telchines
Telchines
In Greek mythology, the Telchines were the original inhabitants of the island of Rhodes, and were known in Crete and Cyprus....

. Helios made the island rise from the sea and with Rhode, fathered seven sons there, the Heliadae: Ochimus
Ochimus
In Greek mythology, Ochimus was the eldest of the Heliadae, sons of Helios and Rhodos. One of his brothers, Tenages, was murdered by four others: Actis, Macareus, Candalus and Triopas, and they had to leave their native island of Rhodes...

, Cercaphus
Cercaphus
In Greek mythology, Cercaphus was one of the Heliadae, sons of Helios and Rhodus. He and his brother Ochimus were the only to stay at the island of Rhodes, after their brother Tenages was killed by the other four and the murderers had to escape....

, Macareus
Macareus (son of Helios)
In Greek mythology, Macareus was one of the Heliadae, sons of Helios and Rhodos. Macareus and his brothers, Triopas, Actis and Candalus, were jealous of a fifth brother, Tenages's, skill at science, so they killed him and had to escape from Rhodes upon discovery of their crime...

, Actis
Actis
In Greek mythology, Actis was one of the Heliadae, a son of Rhodos and Helios. Actis, along with his brothers, Triopas, Macar and Candalus, were jealous of a fifth brother, Tenages's, skill at science. They killed him and Actis escaped to Egypt. According to Diodorus Siculus, Actis built the city...

, Tenages
Tenages
In Greek mythology, Tenages was one of the Heliadae, a son of Rhodos and Helios. He was murdered by his brothers, Actis, Triopas, Macar and Candalus, who were jealous of Tenages's skill at science....

, Triopas
Triopas
In Greek mythology, Triopas, Triophas or Triops was the name of several characters, whose relations are unclear. He belonged to the house of Phoroneus....

, and Candalus
Candalus
In Greek mythology, Candalus was one of the Heliadae, a son of Rhodos and Helios. Candalus, along with his brothers, Triopas, Macar and Actis, were jealous of a fifth brother, Tenages's, skill at science. They killed him and Candalus escaped to Cos....

) and one daughter, Electryone
Electryone
In Greek mythology, Electyrone or Electryo or Alectrona was a daughter of Helios and Rhode, sister to the Heliadae. She died a virgin and was worshipped as a heroine on the island of Rhodes....

. Electryone died a virgin and the sons became legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...

ary astronomers and rulers of the island, accounting for the cities among which it was divided. Rhode was worshipped on Rhodes in her own name, as well as Halia, the embodiment of the "salt sea" or as the "white goddess", Leucothea
Leucothea
In Greek mythology, Leucothea , "white goddess") was one of the aspects under which an ancient sea goddess was recognized, in this case as a transformed nymph....

.
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