| Type: | Greek |
| Halia | |
| Abode: | Rhodes |
| Consort: | Poseidon |
| Parents: | Thalassa |
| Siblings: | Telchines |
| Children: | Rhodos and six sons |
In Greek mythology, Halia (Ancient Greek: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἁλίη or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἁλία, means 'the dweller in the sea'[1]) was a woman who according to Rhodian tradition became the sea-goddess Leucothea.[2]
Halia was a daughter of Thalassa (the sea), and sister to the Telchines.[3]
Poseidon fell in love with Halia, and fathered on her six sons and one daughter, Rhodos,[4] who later became the wife of Helios and the one after whom the island of Rhodes was named.
According to the account by Diodorus Siculus, while Aphrodite was journeying from Cythera to Cyprus, she attempted to make a stop at Rhodes. However, these sons of Poseidon and Halia, who were arrogant and insolent men, drove the goddess away. In anger, Aphrodite cursed them with madness so they raped their own mother, Halia, and committed many acts of violence upon the natives. When Poseidon learnt of this, he buried his children deep beneath the soil as Halia cast herself at the sea. She then became the goddess Leucothea, who is usually in other traditions identified with the Theban queen Ino instead.[3] She was worshipped as a divine being by the Rhodians.[2]