Hyperion
titanTitan of light and father of the sun, moon, and dawn. Hyperion was one of the original twelve Titans, embodying the celestial light that preceded the Olympians.
The Myth
Hyperion was one of the twelve original Titans, son of Ouranos and Gaia. His name means "he who goes above," referring to the heavenly light he embodied. With his sister-wife Theia, he fathered three luminous children: Helios (the Sun), Selene (the Moon), and Eos (the Dawn).
In the earliest Greek cosmology, it was Hyperion's son Helios who drove the sun chariot across the sky each day, not Apollo. Hyperion himself represented the primordial concept of celestial observation — the watchful light of heaven.
After the Titanomachy, Hyperion was imprisoned in Tartarus with most of his fellow Titans. His legacy endured through his children, who continued their celestial duties under the new Olympian order.
Parents
Ouranos and Gaia
Children
Helios, Selene, Eos
Symbols
Fun Fact
Saturn's moon Hyperion is named after this Titan, discovered in 1848.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth: