Chrysus (Ancient Greek: Χρυσός, romanized: Khrusos, lit. 'gold'1) in Greek mythology is a minor god and the personification of gold.
Mythology
Chrysus is mentioned by Pindar:
Gold is a child of Delos father of metals; neither moth nor rust devoureth it; but the mind of man is devoured by this supreme possession.
— Pindar, Fragment 222 (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric 5th century BC)
In his Isthmian Odes, Pindar also wrote:
Mother of the Sun, Theia of many names, for your sake men honor gold as more powerful than anything else,2
Furthermore, a scholium on those lines wrote ἐκ Θείας καὶ Ὑπερίονος ὁ Ἥλιος, ἐκ δὲ Ἡλίου ὁ χρυσός,3 denoting a special connection of Theia, the goddess of sight and brilliance, with gold as the mother of Helios the Sun.4
References
References
- "Greek Word Study Tool". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
- Pindar I.5.1–3
- Scholia on Pindar I.5.3., "The Sun came from Theia and Hyperion, and from the Sun came gold".
- Isthmian odes of Pindar, edited with introduction and commentary by J. B. Bury, M.A., London, Macmillan and Co., 1892, p. 92