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79-412: Ex Machina is a portion of the phrase deus ex machina , meaning "god from the machine". It may refer to: Fiction [ edit ] Ex Machina (comics) , a comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris Ex Machina ( Star Trek ) , a 2004 Star Trek novel by Christopher L. Bennett Films [ edit ] Appleseed Ex Machina ,

158-409: A deus ex machina in their resolution and some critics claim that Euripides invented it, not Aeschylus. A frequently cited example is Euripides' Medea in which the deus ex machina is a dragon-drawn chariot sent by the sun god Helios , used to convey his granddaughter Medea away from her husband Jason to the safety of Athens. In Alcestis , the heroine agrees to give up her own life to spare

237-416: A 2007 anime film and the sequel to the 2004 film Appleseed Ex Machina (film) , a 2014 British science fiction film Music [ edit ] Ex Machina , a 1998 EP by American surf rock group Man or Astro-man? Ex machina (group) , German music group Other uses [ edit ] Ex Machina (role-playing game) , a post cyberpunk role-playing game Ex Machina (theatre company) ,

316-476: A Greek term equivalent to the Latin phrase deus ex machina to describe the technique as a device to resolve the plot of tragedies. It is said by one person to be undesirable in writing and often implies a lack of creativity on the part of the author. The reasons for this are that it damages the story's internal logic and is often so unlikely that it challenges the reader's suspension of disbelief . In medicine ,

395-464: A crane ( mechane ) used to lower actors from above or a riser that brought them up through a trapdoor. Aeschylus introduced the idea and it was used often to resolve the conflict and conclude the drama. The device is associated mostly with Greek tragedy, although it also appeared in comedies. Aeschylus used the device in his Eumenides but it became an established stage machine with Euripides . More than half of Euripides' extant tragedies employ

474-553: A feeling of wonder and astonishment at the appearance of the gods, which would often add to the moral effect of the drama. Shakespeare uses the device in As You Like It , Pericles, Prince of Tyre , and Cymbeline . John Gay uses it in The Beggar's Opera where a character breaks the action and rewrites the ending as a reprieve from hanging for MacHeath. During the politically turbulent 17th and 18th centuries,

553-529: A god driving his chariot from east to west each day, rising from the Oceanus River and setting in the west under the earth. It is unclear as to whether this journey means that he travels through Tartarus . Athenaeus in his Deipnosophistae relates that, at the hour of sunset, Helios climbs into a great cup of solid gold in which he passes from the Hesperides in the farthest west to the land of

632-515: A golden boat. In them evident is the Indo-European grouping of a sun god and his sister, as well as an association with horses. Helen of Troy's name is thought to share the same etymology as Helios, and she may express an early alternate personification of the sun among Hellenic peoples. Helen might have originally been considered to be a daughter of the Sun, as she hatched from an egg and

711-517: A great number of details that vary by version, including the identity of Phaethon's mother, the location the story takes place, the role Phaethon's sisters the Heliades play, the motivation behind Phaethon's decision to ask his father for such thing, and even the exact relation between god and mortal. Traditionally, Phaethon was Helios' son by the Oceanid nymph Clymene , or alternatively Rhode or

790-533: A result of the plot itself, and not from a contrivance, as in the Medea and in the passage about sailing home in the Iliad . A contrivance must be used for matters outside the drama — either previous events, which are beyond human knowledge, or later ones that need to be foretold or announced. For we grant that the gods can see everything. There should be nothing improbable in the incidents; otherwise, it should be outside

869-490: A role in Proto-Indo-European poetry. The imagery surrounding a chariot-driving solar deity is likely Indo-European in origin. Greek solar imagery begins with the gods Helios and Eos, who are brother and sister, and who become in the day-and-night-cycle the day ( hemera ) and the evening ( hespera ), as Eos accompanies Helios in his journey across the skies. At night, he pastures his steeds and travels east in

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948-422: A single day. Helios does his best to dissuade him, arguing that sons are not necessarily fit to step into their fathers' shoes. But under pressure of Phaethon and Clymene's begging both, he eventually gives in. As per all other versions of the myth, Phaethon's ride is catastrophic and ends in his death. Hyginus wrote that Phaethon secretly mounted his father's car without said father's knowledge and leave, but with

1027-647: A theatre company founded by director Robert Lepage in Quebec City, Canada See also [ edit ] Deus ex machina (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Ex Machina . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ex_Machina&oldid=1247202121 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

1106-425: A throne of bright emeralds . In ancient artefacts (such as coins, vases, or reliefs) he is presented as a beautiful, full-faced youth with wavy hair, wearing a crown adorned with the sun's rays. Helios is said to drive a golden chariot drawn by four horses: Pyrois ("The Fiery One", not to be confused with Pyroeis , one of the five naked-eye planets known to ancient Greek and Roman astronomers ), Aeos ("He of

1185-490: A thunderbolt, killing everyone, except for Odysseus himself, the only one who had not harmed the cattle, and was allowed to live. Due to his position as the sun, he was believed to be an all-seeing witness, and thus was often invoked in oaths. He also played a significant part in ancient magic and spells. In art he is usually depicted as a beardless youth in a chiton holding a whip and driving his quadriga , accompanied by various other celestial gods such as Selene , Eos , or

1264-427: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Deus ex machina Deus ex machina is a Latin calque from Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apò mēkhanês theós)  'god from the machine'. The term was coined from the conventions of ancient Greek theater, where actors who were playing gods were brought on stage using a machine. The machine could be either

1343-494: Is likely Indo-European in origin and is common to both early Greek and Near Eastern religions. Helios is seen as both a personification of the Sun and the fundamental creative power behind it, and as a result is often worshiped as a god of life and creation. His literal "light" is often assorted with a metaphorical vitality, and other ancient texts give him the epithet "gracious" ( ἱλαρός ). The comic playwright Aristophanes describes Helios as "the horse-guider, who fills

1422-483: Is not irrational, since it is probable that improbable things will happen. Such a device was referred to by Horace in his Ars Poetica (lines 191–2), where he instructs poets that they should never resort to a "god from the machine" to resolve their plots "unless a difficulty worthy of a god's unraveling should happen" [ nec deus intersit, nisi dignus uindice nodus inciderit; nec quarta loqui persona laboret ]. Following Aristotle, Renaissance critics continued to view

1501-438: Is often criticized as inartistic, too convenient, and overly simplistic. However, champions of the device say that it opens up ideological and artistic possibilities. Antiphanes was one of the device's earliest critics. He believed that the use of the deus ex machina was a sign that the playwright was unable to properly manage the complications of his plot. when they don't know what to say and have completely given up on

1580-502: Is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") and Phaethon ("the shining"). Helios is often depicted in art with a radiant crown and driving a horse-drawn chariot through the sky. He was a guardian of oaths and also the god of sight. Though Helios was a relatively minor deity in Classical Greece, his worship grew more prominent in late antiquity thanks to his identification with several major solar divinities of

1659-413: Is said to have seen and stood witness to everything that happened where his light shone. When Hades abducts Persephone , Helios is the only one to witness it. In Ovid's Fasti , Demeter asks the stars first about Persephone's whereabouts, and it is Helice who advises her to go ask Helios. Demeter is not slow to approach him, and Helios then tells her not to waste time, and seek out for "the queen of

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1738-522: Is the inherited word for the Sun from Proto-Indo-European * seh₂u-el which is cognate with Latin sol , Sanskrit surya , Old English swegl , Old Norse sól , Welsh haul , Avestan hvar , etc. The Doric and Aeolic form of the name is Ἅλιος , Hálios . In Homeric Greek his name is spelled Ἠέλιος , Ēélios , with the Doric spelling of that being Ἀέλιος , Aélios . In Cretan it

1817-515: Is the story of his mortal son Phaethon . In the Homeric epics , his most notable role is the one he plays in the Odyssey , where Odysseus ' men despite his warnings impiously kill and eat Helios's sacred cattle that the god kept at Thrinacia , his sacred island. Once informed of their misdeed, Helios in wrath asks Zeus to punish those who wronged him, and Zeus agreeing strikes their ship with

1896-416: Is unclear, but it has been suggested she is saved by some deus ex machina . A number of deities have been proposed for the identity of this possible deus ex machina, with Helios among them. In Ovid's account, Zeus' son Epaphus mocks Phaethon's claim that he is the son of the sun god; his mother Clymene tells Phaethon to go to Helios himself, to ask for confirmation of his paternity. Helios promises him on

1975-562: Is usually depicted as a handsome young man crowned with the shining aureole of the Sun, which traditionally had twelve rays, symbolising the twelve months of the year. Beyond his Homeric Hymn, not many texts describe his physical appearance; Euripides describes him as χρυσωπός (khrysо̄pós) meaning "golden-eyed/faced" or "beaming like gold", Mesomedes of Crete writes that he has golden hair, and Apollonius Rhodius that he has light-emitting, golden eyes. According to Augustan poet Ovid , he dressed in tyrian purple robes and sat on

2054-418: The deus ex machina as an inept plot device, although it continued to be employed by Renaissance dramatists. Toward the end of the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche criticized Euripides for making tragedy an optimistic genre by use of the device, and was highly skeptical of the "Greek cheerfulness", prompting what he viewed as the plays' "blissful delight in life". The deus ex machina as Nietzsche saw it

2133-466: The deus ex machina was sometimes used to make a controversial thesis more palatable to the powers of the day. For example, in the final scene of Molière 's Tartuffe , the heroes are saved from a terrible fate by an agent of the compassionate, all-seeing King Louis XIV – the same king who held Molière's career and livelihood in his hands. Aristotle (in the Poetics 15 1454b1) was the first to use

2212-466: The deus ex machina . Nietzsche argued that the deus ex machina creates a false sense of consolation that ought not to be sought in phenomena. His denigration of the plot device has prevailed in critical opinion. In Euripides the Rationalist (1895), Arthur Woollgar Verrall surveyed and recorded other late 19th-century responses to the device. He recorded that some of the critical responses to

2291-475: The Dawn"), Aethon ("Blazing"), and Phlegon ("Burning"). In a Mithraic invocation, Helios's appearance is given as thus: A god is then summoned. He is described as "a youth, fair to behold, with fiery hair, clothed in a white tunic and a scarlet cloak and wearing a fiery crown." He is named as "Helios, lord of heaven and earth, god of gods." As mentioned above, the imagery surrounding a chariot-driving solar deity

2370-588: The Ethiops, with whom he passes the dark hours. According to Athenaeus, Mimnermus said that in the night Helios travels eastwards with the use of a bed (also created by Hephaestus) in which he sleeps, rather than a cup, as attested in the Titanomachy in the 8th century BCE. Aeschylus describes the sunset as such: "There [is] the sacred wave, and the coralled bed of the Erythræan Sea , and [there]

2449-762: The Roman period, particularly Apollo and Sol . The Roman Emperor Julian made Helios the central divinity of his short-lived revival of traditional Roman religious practices in the 4th century AD. Helios figures prominently in several works of Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, in which he is often described as the son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia and brother of the goddesses Selene (the Moon) and Eos (the Dawn). Helios' most notable role in Greek mythology

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2528-473: The Sun abandoning humanity. According to a fragment of Archilochus , it is Zeus who blocks Helios and makes him disappear from the sky. In one of his paeans , the lyric poet Pindar describes a solar eclipse as the Sun's light being hidden from the world, a bad omen of destruction and doom: Beam of the sun! What have you contrived, observant one, mother of eyes, highest star, in concealing yourself in broad daylight? Why have you made helpless men's strength and

2607-552: The aid of his sisters the Heliades who yoked the horses. In all retellings, Helios recovers the reins in time, thus saving the earth. Another consistent detail across versions are that Phaethon's sisters the Heliades mourn him by the Eridanus and are turned into black poplar trees, who shed tears of amber . According to Quintus Smyrnaeus , it was Helios who turned them into trees, for their honour to Phaethon. In one version of

2686-539: The appeal of the other gods, as well as Zeus' threats. He then takes his anger out on his four horses, whipping them in fury for causing his son's death. Nonnus of Panopolis presented a slightly different version of the myth, narrated by Hermes; according to him, Helios met and fell in love with Clymene, the daughter of the Ocean , and the two soon got married with her father's blessing. When he grows up, fascinated with his father's job, he asks him to drive his chariot for

2765-551: The cities Ialysos , Camiros and Lindos on the island, named after themselves; thus Rhodes came to belong to him and his line, with the autochthonous peoples of Rhodes claiming descend from the Heliadae. The most well known story about Helios is the one involving his son Phaethon , who asked him to drive his chariot for a single day. Although all versions agree that Phaethon convinced Helios to give him his chariot, and that he failed in his task with disastrous results, there are

2844-599: The deity, while simultaneously bringing the drama home to its audience. Sometimes, the unlikeliness of the deus ex machina plot device is employed deliberately. Note for example the comic effect generated in a scene in Monty Python's Life of Brian when Brian, who lives in Judea at the time of Christ , is saved from a high fall by a passing alien space-ship . Thought experiments and speculations in theology, computer science, robotics and AI technology have considered

2923-406: The division of portions again, but Helios refused the offer, for he had seen a new land emerging from the deep of the sea; a rich, productive land for humans and good for cattle too. Helios asked for this island to be given to him, and Zeus agreed to it, with Lachesis (one of the three Fates ) raising her hands to confirm the oath. Alternatively in another tradition, it was Helios himself who made

3002-459: The genius of music, tragedy in the strictest sense was dead: for where was that metaphysical consolation now to be found? Hence an earthly resolution for tragic dissonance was sought; the hero, having been adequately tormented by fate, won his well-earned reward in a stately marriage and tokens of divine honour. The hero had become a gladiator, granted freedom once he had been satisfactorily flayed and scarred. Metaphysical consolation had been ousted by

3081-469: The golden cup which he used to sail across the sea every night, from the west to the east because he found Heracles' actions immensely bold. In the versions delivered by Apollodorus and Pherecydes, Heracles was only about to shoot Helios, but according to Panyassis , he did shoot and wounded the god. Solar eclipses were phaenomena of fear as well as wonder in Ancient Greece, and were seen as

3160-533: The island rise from the sea when he caused the water which had overflowed it to disappear. He named it Rhodes, after his lover Rhode (the daughter of Poseidon and Aphrodite or Amphitrite ), and it became the god's sacred island, where he was honoured above all other gods. With Rhode Helios sired seven sons, known as the Heliadae ("sons of the Sun"), who became the first rulers of the island, as well as one daughter, Electryone . Three of their grandsons founded

3239-576: The land and create a new race of men from the beginning? Some lists, cited by Hyginus, of the names of horses that pulled Helios' chariot, are as follows. Scholarship acknowledges that, despite differences between the lists, the names of the horses always seem to refer to fire, flame, light and other luminous qualities. Hyginus writes that according to Homer, the horses' names are Abraxas and Therbeeo; but Homer makes no mention of horses or chariot. Alexander of Aetolia , cited in Athenaeus, related that

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3318-417: The life of her husband Admetus. At the end, Heracles appears and seizes Alcestis from Death, restoring her to life and to Admetus. Aristophanes ' play Thesmophoriazusae parodies Euripides' frequent use of the crane by making Euripides himself a character in the play and bringing him on stage by way of the mechane . The device produced an immediate emotional response in Greek audiences. They would have

3397-758: The light of the Sun, by ordering Helios not to rise for those three days. Satirical author Lucian of Samosata dramatized this myth in one of his Dialogues of the Gods . While Heracles was travelling to Erytheia to retrieve the cattle of Geryon for his tenth labour, he crossed the Libyan desert and was so frustrated at the heat that he shot an arrow at Helios, the Sun. Almost immediately, Heracles realized his mistake and apologized profusely ( Pherecydes wrote that Heracles stretched his arrow at him menacingly, but Helios ordered him to stop, and Heracles in fear desisted ); In turn and equally courteous, Helios granted Heracles

3476-493: The luxuriant marsh of the Ethiopians, situated near the ocean, glitters like polished brass; where daily in the soft and tepid stream, the all-seeing Sun bathes his undying self, and refreshes his weary steeds." Athenaeus adds that "Helios gained a portion of toil for all his days", as there is no rest for either him or his horses. Although the chariot is usually said to be the work of Hephaestus , Hyginus states that it

3555-426: The magical herb grew on the island Thrinacia , which was sacred to Helios, and served as a remedy against fatigue for the sun god's horses. Aeschrion of Samos informed that it was known as the "dog's-tooth" and was believed to have been sown by Cronus. According to Pindar, when the gods divided the earth among them, Helios was absent, and thus he got no lot of land. He complained to Zeus about it, who offered to do

3634-449: The male Heliadae . The author of the Suda lexicon tried to etymologically connect ἥλιος to the word ἀολλίζεσθαι , aollízesthai , "coming together" during the daytime, or perhaps from ἀλεαίνειν , aleaínein , "warming". Plato in his dialogue Cratylus suggested several etymologies for the word, proposing among others a connection, via the Doric form of the word halios , to

3713-482: The modern English prefix helio- , meaning "pertaining to the Sun", used in compounds word such as heliocentrism , aphelion , heliotropium , heliophobia (fear of the sun) and heliolatry ("sun-worship"). Helios most likely is Proto-Indo-European in origin. Walter Burkert wrote that "... Helios, the sun god, and Eos - Aurora , the goddess of the dawn , are of impeccable Indo-European lineage both in etymology and in their status as gods" and might have played

3792-494: The myth, Helios conveyed his dead son to the stars, as a constellation (the Auriga ). But, Goddess, give up for good your great lamentation. You must not nurse in vain insatiable anger. Among the gods Aidoneus is not an unsuitable bridegroom, Commander-of-Many and Zeus's own brother of the same stock. As for honor, he got his third at the world's first division and dwells with those whose rule has fallen to his lot. Helios

3871-534: The newborn goddess' sight. In the Iliad Hera who supports the Greeks, makes him set earlier than usual against his will during battle, and later still during the same war, after his sister Eos's son Memnon was killed, she made him downcast, causing his light to fade, so she could be able to freely steal her son's body undetected by the armies, as he consoled his sister in her grief over Memnon's death. It

3950-474: The otherwise unknown Prote. In one version of the story, Phaethon is Helios' grandson, rather than son, through the boy's father Clymenus . In this version, Phaethon's mother is an Oceanid nymph named Merope. In Euripides' lost play Phaethon , surviving only in twelve fragments, Phaethon is the product of an illicit liaison between his mother Clymene (who is now married to Merops , the king of Aethiopia ) and Helios, though she claimed that her lawful husband

4029-446: The path of wisdom, by rushing down a dark highway? Do you drive a stranger course than before? In the name of Zeus, swift driver of horses, I beg you, turn the universal omen, lady, into some painless prosperity for Thebes ... Do you bring a sign of some war or wasting of crops or a mass of snow beyond telling or ruinous strife or emptying of the sea on land or frost on the earth or a rainy summer flowing with raging water, or will you flood

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4108-500: The phrase is often used for supposedly "magical remedies" which are not likely to work in practice. For instance, in the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak , when double lung transplantation for terminal COVID-19 patients was suggested, it was immediately denounced as a deus ex machina. In 2006, when electronic fetal heart monitoring was being touted as a preventive measure for cerebral palsy , The New England Journal of Medicine denounced it as deus ex machina . The deus ex machina device

4187-472: The plain of the earth with exceeding bright beams, a mighty deity among gods and mortals." One passage recorded in the Greek Magical Papyri says of Helios, "the earth flourished when you shone forth and made the plants fruitful when you laughed and brought to life the living creatures when you permitted." He is said to have helped create animals out of primeval mud. Helios was envisioned as

4266-464: The play just like a finger they lift the machine and the spectators are satisfied. Another critical reference to the device can be found in Plato 's dialogue Cratylus , 425d, though it is made in the context of an argument unrelated to drama. Aristotle criticized the device in his Poetics , where he argued that the resolution of a plot must arise internally, following from previous action of

4345-420: The play: In the characters, too, exactly as in the structure of the incidents, [the poet] ought always to seek what is either necessary or probable, so that it is either necessary or probable that a person of such-and-such a sort say or do things of the same sort, and it is either necessary or probable that this [incident] happen after that one. It is obvious that the solutions of plots, too, should come about as

4424-438: The plot, designed for a specific purpose. Often, Euripides' plays would begin with gods, so it is argued that it would be natural for the gods to finish the action. The conflict throughout Euripides' plays would be caused by the meddling of the gods, so it would make sense both to the playwright and to the audience of the time that the gods would resolve all conflict that they began. Half of Euripides' eighteen extant plays end with

4503-429: The possibilities and consequences of a machina ex machina - a self-reproducing automaton . Helios In ancient Greek religion and mythology , Helios ( / ˈ h iː l i ə s , - ɒ s / ; Ancient Greek : Ἥλιος pronounced [hɛ̌ːlios] , lit.   'Sun'; Homeric Greek : Ἠέλιος ) is the god who personifies the Sun . His name is also Latinized as Helius , and he

4582-426: The privileged role of tragedy as a literary/theatrical model. Some 20th-century revisionist criticism suggests that deus ex machina cannot be viewed in these simplified terms, and contends that the device allows mortals to "probe" their relationship with the divine. Rush Rehm in particular cites examples of Greek tragedy in which the deus ex machina complicates the lives and attitudes of characters confronted by

4661-538: The river Styx any gift that he might ask as a proof of paternity; Phaethon asks for the privilege to drive Helios' chariot for a single day. Although Helios warns his son of how dangerous and disastrous this would be, he is nevertheless unable to change Phaethon's mind or revoke his promise. Phaethon takes the reins, and the earth burns when he travels too low, and freezes when he takes the chariot too high. Zeus strikes Phaethon with lightning, killing him. Helios refuses to resume his job, but he returns to his task and duty at

4740-415: The seven Pleiades keep thy steadfast way." And then— "This said, his son undaunted snatched the reins, Then smote the winged coursers' sides: they bound Forth on the void and cavernous vault of air. His father mounts another steed, and rides With warning voice guiding his son. 'Drive there! Turn, turn thy car this way." If this messenger did witness the flight himself, it is possible there

4819-428: The skies, trying to give him instructions on how to drive the chariot while he rides on a spare horse named Sirius, as someone, perhaps a paedagogus informs Clymene of Phaethon's fate, who is probably accompanied by slave women: Take, for instance, that passage in which Helios, in handing the reins to his son, says— "Drive on, but shun the burning Libyan tract; The hot dry air will let thine axle down: Toward

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4898-509: The stars. In ancient times he was worshipped in several places of ancient Greece, though his major cult centers were the island of Rhodes , of which he was patron god, Corinth and the greater Corinthia region. The Colossus of Rhodes , a gigantic statue of the god, adorned the port of Rhodes until it was destroyed in an earthquake, thereupon it was not built again. The Greek noun ἥλιος ( GEN ἡλίου , DAT ἡλίῳ , ACC ἥλιον , VOC ἥλιε ) (from earlier ἁϝέλιος /hāwelios/)

4977-402: The sun, were seen as the "Eye of Heaven". Helios is the son of Hyperion and Theia , or Euryphaessa, or Basileia, and the only brother of the goddesses Eos and Selene. If the order of mention of the three siblings is meant to be taken as their birth order, then out of the four authors that give him and his sisters a birth order, two make him the oldest child, one the middle, and the other

5056-507: The term referred to it as 'burlesque', 'coup de théâtre', and 'catastrophe'. Verrall notes that critics have a dismissive response to authors who deploy the device in their writings. He comes to the conclusion that critics feel that the deus ex machina is evidence of the author's attempt to ruin the whole of his work and to prevent anyone from putting any importance on his work. However, other scholars have looked at Euripides' use of deus ex machina and described its use as an integral part of

5135-533: The third world". In another myth, Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but she cheated on him with his brother Ares , god of war. In Book Eight of the Odyssey , the blind singer Demodocus describes how the illicit lovers committed adultery, until one day Helios caught them in the act, and immediately informed Aphrodite's husband Hephaestus. Upon learning that, Hephaestus forged a net so thin it could hardly be seen, in order to ensnare them. He then announced that he

5214-460: The tragedy, e.g., that in Sophocles ' Oedipus . Aristotle praised Euripides, however, for generally ending his plays with bad fortune, which he viewed as correct in tragedy, and somewhat excused the intervention of a deity by suggesting that "astonishment" should be sought in tragic drama: Irrationalities should be referred to what people say: That is one solution, and also sometimes that it

5293-414: The use of deus ex machina , therefore it was not simply a device to relieve the playwright of the embarrassment of a confusing plot-ending. This device enabled him to bring about a natural and more dignified dramatic and tragic ending. Other champions of the device believe that it can be a spectacular agent of subversion. It can be used to undercut generic conventions and challenge cultural assumptions and

5372-413: The words ἁλίζειν , halízein , meaning collecting men when he rises, or from the phrase ἀεὶ εἱλεῖν , aeí heileín , "ever turning" because he always turns the earth in his course. Doric Greek retained Proto-Greek long *ā as α , while Attic changed it in most cases, including in this word, to η . Cratylus and the etymologies Plato gives are contradicted by modern scholarship. From helios comes

5451-498: The youngest. Helios was not among the regular and more prominent deities, rather he was a more shadowy member of the Olympian circle, despite the fact that he was among the most ancient. From his lineage, Helios might be described as a second generation Titan. He is associated with harmony and order, both literally in the sense of the movement of celestial bodies and metaphorically in the sense of bringing order to society. Helios

5530-428: Was Ἀβέλιος ( Abélios ) or Ἀϝέλιος ( Awélios ). The Greek view of gender was also present in their language. Ancient Greek had three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), so when an object or a concept was personified as a deity, it inherited the gender of the relevant noun; helios is a masculine noun, so the god embodying it is also by necessity male. The female offspring of Helios were called Heliades ,

5609-432: Was Helios himself who built it. His chariot is described as golden, or occasionally "rosy", and pulled by four white horses. The Horae , goddesses of the seasons, are part of his retinue and help him yoke his chariot. His sister Eos is said to have not only opened the gates for Helios, but would often accompany him as well. In the extreme east and west were said to be people who tended to his horses, for whom summer

5688-516: Was also a passage where he described Helios taking control over the bolting horses in the same manner as Lucretius described. Phaethon inevitably dies; a fragment near the end of the play has Clymene order the slave girls hide Phaethon's still-smouldering body from Merops, and laments Helios' role in her son's death, saying he destroyed him and her both. Near the end of the play it seems that Merops, having found out about Clymene's affair and Phaethon's true parentage, tries to kill her; her eventual fate

5767-592: Was given tree worship, features associated with the Proto-Indo-European Sun Maiden; in surviving Greek tradition however Helen is never said to be Helios' daughter, instead being the daughter of Zeus . It has been suggested that the Phoenicians brought over the cult of their patron god Baal among others (such as Astarte ) to Corinth , who was then continued to be worshipped under the native name/god Helios, similarly to how Astarte

5846-495: Was leaving for Lemnos . Upon hearing that, Ares went to Aphrodite and the two lovers coupled. Once again Helios informed Hephaestus, who came into the room and trapped them in the net. He then called the other gods to witness the humiliating sight. Much later versions add a young man to the story, a warrior named Alectryon , tasked by Ares to stand guard should anyone approach. But Alectryon fell asleep, allowing Helios to discover

5925-408: Was perpetual and fruitful. On several instances in mythology the normal solar schedule is disrupted; he was ordered not to rise for three days during the conception of Heracles , and made the winter days longer in order to look upon Leucothoe . Athena 's birth was a sight so impressive that Helios halted his steeds and stayed still in the sky for a long while, as heaven and earth both trembling at

6004-400: Was said that summer days are longer due to Helios often stopping his chariot mid-air to watch from above nymphs dancing during the summer, and sometimes he is late to rise because he lingers with his consort. If the other gods wish so, Helios can be hastened on his daily course when they wish it to be night. When Zeus desired to sleep with Alcmene , he made one night last threefold, hiding

6083-552: Was symptomatic of Socratic culture, which valued knowledge over Dionysiac music and ultimately caused the death of tragedy: But the new non-Dionysiac spirit is most clearly apparent in the endings of the new dramas. At the end of the old tragedies there was a sense of metaphysical conciliation without which it is impossible to imagine our taking delight in tragedy; perhaps the conciliatory tones from another world echo most purely in Oedipus at Colonus . Now, once tragedy had lost

6162-425: Was the father of her all her children. Clymene reveals the truth to her son, and urges him to travel east to get confirmation from his father after she informs him that Helios promised to grant their child any wish when he slept with her. Although reluctant at first, Phaethon is convinced and sets on to find his birth father. In a surviving fragment from the play, Helios accompanies his son in his ill-fated journey in

6241-562: Was worshipped as Aphrodite , and the Phoenician Melqart was adopted as the sea-god Melicertes / Palaemon , who also had a significant cult in the isthmus of Corinth . Helios' journey on a chariot during the day and travel with a boat in the ocean at night possibly reflects the Egyptian sun god Ra sailing across the skies in a barque to be reborn at dawn each morning anew; additionally, both gods, being associated with

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