in fabulous history, a daughter of Athamas, king of Thebes, by Nephele. Helle fled from her father's house with her brother Phryxus, to avoid the cruel oppression of her mother-in-law Ino. According to some accounts, she was carried through the air on a golden ram, which her mother had received from Neptune, and having in her passage become giddy, she fell from her seat into that part of the sea which from her received the name of Hellespont. Others say that she was carried on a cloud, or rather upon a ship, from which she fell into the sea and was drowned. Phryxus, after he had given his sister a burial on the neighbouring coast, pursued his journey, and arrived in Colchis.