Human-beings are living in pain. Everything surrounds them are cold and damp. Most of the days were spent on seeking for food, but all the efforts could only lead to little fruit and raw meat. It was still bearable for the Sunny days and warm weathers. When the snow fell, the true despair was learnt by all the residents on earth. They sat in close vicinity; some tried to cuddle together. All the animal skins were brought to shield the freezing wind and wintry snow. Even with all those attempts to stay warm, the long nights could squeeze out last bit of warmth out of body. Many people did not even make through half of that cold current, despair and gloom was all the things that were left.
Prometheus has witnessed all that, he felt pity for the people living in such misery. He thought that a small sparkle of fire could make a huge difference. Knowing that this might displease Zeus greatly, he wanted to accomplish this task secretly. A hollow fennel stalk was used to hide the fire he stole from the workshop of Hephaistos and Athena on Mt. Olympus. He not only gave the fire as a gift to the people, he even taught them how to employ this to make their lives better. Campfire, cooking and steelwork were all mind-opening to people.
Life has changed considerably, as more and more people understood how to make a fire. Cooked food and warm residence spared people some leisure time to think; easier hunting thanks to the tools rendered people to be more relaxed.
When coldness ceased to be an issue, greed and dissatisfaction slowly crawled into some people’s mind. They were the very first people knowing how to use “fire”. Feeling that they were invincible in the forest, these people started to wonder if their lives could be even easier. If they could force some people to do their work using some firearm; if they could avoid some labor by the same token; if they could claim the discovery of fire to trick other people into their slaves….
On Mt. Olympus, Zeus has noticed the far-seen ray of fire, shocked and in furious, he figured out that some people were using firearms to raid and loot a village nearby. Seeing that, Zeus decided to let those people to lie in the death bed they have made for themselves. He ordered Hephaestus to create a flawlessly beautiful lady, Pandora, with all the wonderful characteristics given from different gods and goddesses. However, she carried a box containing one gift of destruction---every time someone used fire in an evil attempt, the temperature in the whole earth was going to rise a little.
Analysis:
In Works and Days, the author explained the reason why Zeus did not wish to grant human fire. “For the gods keep hidden from men the means of life. Else you would easily do work enough in a day to supply you for a full year even without working; soon would you put away your rudder over the smoke, and the fields worked by ox and sturdy mule would run to waste.” (42-55) Zeus believed that fire could greatly render people’s life easier, and soon would allow them to put away hard works and start to enjoy the convenience. I extended further on that, considering what would many people think about when they are used to such convenience. Especially when they could see other people living without fire, the people with fire might think that they are superior to those without. Since the more primitive lifestyle is correlated with discomfort and inefficiency, needless to say disease and frigidity. It is possible that people with fire would even think of themselves as invincible and undefeatable with the advantage of possessing fire and fire-related knowledge, especially firearms.
This allowed me to think about one theme that was constantly discussed and reevaluated in Greek mythology, hubris. With the possession and knowledge of fire, was it possible that human beings would become greedy and arrogant? Would they start to take evil actions just to fulfill their own needs and lust? Could that be the very beginning of turmoil and uproar?
In Description of Greece, the origin of fire was argued, “Next to this statue is a fire which they keep burning, calling it the fire of Phoroneus. For they do not admit that fire was given to mankind by Prometheus, but insist in assigning the discovery of fire to Phoroneus.” (2.9.15) Some people even refused to admit that fire was given as a gift and possibly thought about playing the role of god and take all the credits. I wonder if fire could be the edge of some people that feeds their avarice. Would this irrationality and greed that would elicit the evil that buried within and induce them to harm not only themselves but also the entire human race? Many ongoing discussions and researches are still focusing on this theme. (Picone, 2014)
Many have speculated if some disasters are the punishment from a higher power. This is also how I attributed global warming to in my mythology. In Works and Days, Zeus utilized Pandora’s box as the container of disasters that he wished to inflict upon on human beings, “But the rest, countless plagues, wander amongst men; for earth is full of evils, and the sea is full. Of themselves diseases come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently; for wise Zeus took away speech from them. So is there no way to escape the will of Zeus.” (90-100) I kept the figure of Pandora, but change the content in the jar. To better punish human beings for their own vice, I thought that this punishment could have a linkage with fire specific to its usage. Only when greed and hubris were in control of the people, should they be punished for their actions. In real life, climate change, especially global warming, seems to be caused by similar reasons. Many people only care about monetary values but not the different forms of disturbance those actions might impose on the environment. Poisonous gas emission, deforestation, sewage disposal without proper processing could all provoke disastrous and irreversible consequences, which are all ignored by some decision-makers who only crave for wealth accumulation and rapid development. Mass number of manufactories have been producing non-stop ever since industrial revolution. Given the gift of technology, people keep pushing the threshold of the environment. All of these human activities are part of the scientific explanation for climate change. Greenhouse gas might be one of the real-life representations of the evils in Pandora’s jar.
As human beings were the ones that made the huge mistake, I did not include the punishment of Prometheus. In Hesiod’s writing and many other ancient works, Prometheus was severely punished. In Library, the depiction implied how much pain he had received “But when Zeus learned of it, he ordered Hephaestus to nail his body to Mount Caucasus, which is a Scythian mountain. On it Prometheus was nailed and kept bound for many years. Every day an eagle swooped on him and devoured the lobes of his liver, which grew by night.” (1.7.1-2)
From many primary sources, Prometheus was the one who gave people fire as a gift the allow them to enjoy a better life. In some ancient works, Prometheus was even celebrated as the “fire-giver” (Herodotus, The Histories, 4.45) In Library, he stole the fire and hid it in a stalk of fennel. (1.7.1-2) This is consistent with my writings. In my point of view, Prometheus was a man of intelligence, being able to bring fire to human in secretly. And more importantly, he had sympathy for the people who do not have access to fire. Thus, he used a very smart way to try to give fire to human and even taught people how to apply this tool to better their lives. He might have considered the probability that he could be punished severely, but he did so regardless of that.
In conclusion, my mythology was an edited version based on the ancient Greek mythology--- Prometheus gave people fire and later was punished by Zeus, Zeus filled Pandora’s jar containing all manner of misery and evil and that was released to destroy human being. To adapt this into an aetiological myth in relation to global warming, I changed the content in Pandora’s jar into “every time someone used fire in an evil attempt, the temperature in the whole earth was going to rise a little.”. This not only explains global warming, but also serves as a punishment related to people’s vice. The theme of hubris was discussed in this story. When people have fire and the knowledge of which, the possibility that some might be corrupted with such power was discussed.
Reference:
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, 245 - 275
Apollodorus, Library, 1.7.1-1.7.2
Hesiod, Theogony, 545-575
Hesiod, Works and Days, 42-55
Herodotus, The Histories, 4.45
Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.19.5
Picone, P. M., Dagnino, G. B., & Minà, A. (2014). The origin of failure: A multidisciplinary appraisal of the hubris hypothesis and proposed research agenda. Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(4), 447-468.
Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander
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