The poet Pindar tells the story, that when Zeus prevailed over the Titans, he drew lots in order to share the places of the earth among the Olympian Gods.

Helios, being absent, received nothing and complained to Zeus about it, who in order not to wrong him, offered to make the division again. But Helios refused, for he had seen a new island about to emerge from the sea. So, with Zeus’ consent, Helios claimed the new island ( Rhodes ), which had not yet risen from the depths of the sea. The next morning, a green and beautiful island arose! After which, Helios lay with her and together produced seven sons. According to another myth, it was Helios himself who caused the water overflowing the island, to disappear, and after that he named this island “Rhodes” after Rhodos.

By Helios, Rhodos was the mother of the Heliadae, who succeeded the Telchines as rulers of Rhodes. According to Pindar, Rhodos had, by Helios, seven sons. Pindar does not name the sons, but according to Diodorus Siculus, the Heliadae were Ochimus, Ceraphus, Actis, Macar or Macareus, Candalus, Triopas and Tenages.

Diodorus Siculus also says that Helios and Rhodos had one daughter, Electryone. A scholion to Pindar gives the same list of sons, with Macareus ( for Macar ) and naming the last Heliadae as Phaethon, ” the younger, whom the Rhodians call Tenages “. The older Phaethon referred in this version, was probably the famous Phaethon, ( whose story is told by Ovid ) who drove Helios‘ chariot.

The scholion on Odyssey [ perhaps drawing on either of the lost tragedies Heliades ( Daughters of Helios ) by Aeschylus, and Phaethon, by Euripides ], also makes Rhodos the mother, by Helios, of this famous Phaethon, as well as three daughters: Lampetie, Aigle, and Phaethousa. In the Odyssey, Lampetie and Phaethousa, the shepherds of Helios‘ cattle and sheep on the island of Thrinacia, are instead the daughters of Helios by Neaera.

When Aphrodite cursed Helios and made him fall in love with a mortal princess named Leucothoe, he is said to have forgotten about Rhodos, among other lovers.