HELIOS Seen as another facet of Apollo, Helios was the Greek god of the sun, and every day he drove his sun-chariot across the sky, pulled by magical horses, shedding light over the face of the world, and disappearing at night. The most famous story concerning Helios is that of his son Phaeton, who, on engaging in an argument with Epaphos, a sonof Zeus and Io, as to who Phaeton's father was, implored Helios to prove his parentage of the boy by allowing him to drive the chariot of the sun across the sky for one day. After much wheedling and trying to change the boy's mind, Helios gave in to Phaeton's request, with the tragic result that the sun god's son lost control of the chariot, causing widespread damage upon the Earth, for which he had to be slain by Zeus.