Cattle of Helios

[3] In the Odyssey, Homer describes these immortal cattle as handsome (ἄριστος), wide-browed (εὐρυμέτωπος), fat, and straight-horned (ὀρθόκραιρος).

[4] The cattle were guarded by Helios's daughters, Phaëthusa and Lampetië, and it was known by all that any harm to any single animal was sure to bring down the wrath of the god.

When Eurylochus begs to be allowed to land to prepare supper, Odysseus grudgingly agrees on condition that the crew swear that if they come upon a herd of cattle or a great flock of sheep, no one will kill any of them.

Odysseus is spared but, as forewarned by Circe and Tiresias, is himself punished when his return to Ithaca is delayed by a seven-year sojourn on Ogygia.

In the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, the sailors pass by the island of Thrinacia and see the daughters tending the sheep and cattle of Helios, “not one of them was dark in hue but all were white as milk and glorying in their horns of gold.”[6]