Cattle of Helios
The sacred herds of the sun god in Homer's Odyssey, whose killing by Odysseus's crew brought their doom.
Also: Oxen of the Sun, cattle of the Sun
In Book Twelve of Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew land on the island of Thrinacia, where the sun god Helios keeps seven herds of cattle and seven flocks of sheep, fifty in each, which never breed or die. Odysseus has been warned not to touch them. Becalmed and hungry, the crew kill some of the cattle while Odysseus sleeps. Helios complains to Zeus, who destroys their ship with a thunderbolt once they sail, and only Odysseus survives. The 350 cattle have been read as the days of a lunar year. James Joyce named an episode of Ulysses after them.