Heliod

Heliod is a name that can refer to historical or fictional subjects. The most notable historical figure sometimes associated with the name is Heliodorus, a Greek envoy of the Indo-Greek world who, according to the Besnagar pillar inscription (late 2nd century BCE), arrived in central India and dedicated a temple to Vasudeva (Krishna). The inscription, written in Brahmi at Besnagar near Vidisha in present-day Madhya Pradesh, records that Heliodorus, son of Dion, came from a Greek king to the land and erected a pillar with a figure of Vasudeva. The text is widely cited as evidence of early cultural exchange between Hellenistic Greece and Indian Vaishnavism; the precise political authority Heliodorus represented is debated, with scholars linking him to the Indo-Greek kingdom of Antialcidas or to a Greek envoy rather than a king.

In modern popular culture, Heliod is also the name of a fictional deity in the trading card game Magic: The Gathering, Heliod, God of the Sun, a central figure in the Theros expansion. In the game's lore, Heliod embodies solar power and is venerated by certain civilizations on the Theros plane; the character appears in card form as part of the set's pantheon of gods.