Sun

Also known as: Titan / author of light / governor of the winged steeds / son of Hyperion / the Sun · Family: deities · Role: sun god · First appears: Fable 1

In Fable 1, Sun is said to be the son of Hyperion, whom the poets called the father of the Sun and the Moon. By Fable 39, he loves Leucothoë alone, while Clytie longs for his embraces; Venus seeks satisfaction from him for his betrayal.

In Fable 40, Clytie reveals his affair with Leucothoë out of resentment. After Leucothoë is buried, Sun transforms her into a frankincense tree, then ends his dealings with Clytie, who pines away and is eventually changed into a sunflower. Fable 101 names Circe as his daughter.

Relationship record

Life events

The Sun transforms Leucothoë’s buried body into a frankincense tree.(Fable40)
- With: Leucothoë
- “The Sun, grieved at her misfortune, changed her into the frankincense tree;”
Clytie pines away and is eventually transformed into a sunflower.(Fable40)
- With: Clytie
- “he also despises the informer, who pines away for love of him, and is at last changed into the sunflower.”

Fable 1

parent: Hyperion “Being thus, as it were, the father of astronomy, he has been feigned by the poets to have been the father of the Sun and the Moon.”

Fable 39

parent: Hyperion (The surrounding address identifies the Sun as the son of Hyperion: “What now, son of Hyperion”) “For thou, who dost burn all lands with thy flames”
admired: Leucothoë (The Sun is enamored of Leucothoë) “Thou lovest her alone”
admirer: Clytie (Clytie longs for the Sun's embraces) “nor yet Clytie, who, though despised, was longing for thy embraces”
enemies with Venus “The Cytherean[30] goddess exacts satisfaction of the Sun, in remembrance of this betrayal;”

Fable 40

courtship with Leucothoë (The Sun is explicitly said to love Leucothoë.) “Clytie envied her, (for the love of the Sun[40] for her had not been moderate), and, urged on by resentment at a rival, she published the intrigue,”
admirer: Clytie (Clytie continues to love the Sun after her transformation.) “Though she is held fast by a root, she turns towards the Sun, and {though} changed, she {still} retains her passion.”
with Leucothoë (The Sun transforms Leucothoë into a frankincense tree.) “The Sun, grieved at her misfortune, changed her into the frankincense tree; he also despises the informer, who pines away for love of him, and is at last changed into the sunflower.”
with Clytie (The Sun ends his romantic intercourse with Clytie.) “But the author of light came no more to Clytie (although love might have excused her grief, and her grief the betrayal); and he put an end to his intercourse with her.”
with Clytie (Clytie pines away from unrequited passion for the Sun.) “From that time she, who had made so mad a use of her passion, pined away, loathing the {other} Nymphs;”
parent: Hyperion (The Sun is identified as Hyperion's son.) “The son of Hyperion scattered it with his rays, and gave a passage to thee, by which thou mightst be able to put forth thy buried features.”
with Phaëton (The Sun's lightnings caused Phaëton's death.) “The governor of the winged steeds is said to have beheld nothing more afflicting than that, since the lightnings that caused the death of Phaëton.”

Fable 101

child: Circe “he repaired to the marvellous court of Circe, the daughter of Titan.”

Fable 107

child: Circe “The daughter of the Sun, too, had come into the same wood;”

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Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.