A daughter born to the ruler of a kingdom by the sea was blessed with many gifts of talents from the muses. The beauty of her voice and dancing were so great that they healed the hearts and bodies of all who she performed for. Her good looks were even more enchanting than her talents. They called her Phebe as she was a shining star who brightened the days of all she met.
Phebe brushed her long, shining hair by the water while singing a sweet song. Apollo heard this beautiful sound and looked down from his flaming chariot to find the source and discovered the gorgeous creature bathed in sunlight. In that moment his heart began to sing her song as if he had once again been struck by Eros’s arrow. Apollo guided the chariot ever so slightly closer to the earth to hear her better. Apollo thought of the vision of pure beauty he had seen all night, looking forward to his next ride when he might see her again.
Given Apollo’s unfortunate history with love, he was apprehensive of appearing to Phebe physically, but he could not keep watching from afar. He decided to enter the dream realm of Morpheus and speak to Phebe in the nights while she slept. On the first night, the god thanked her for using her gifts with pure intentions to help people. She told him that he was her inspiration and that all she did was in honor of him, the god of her passions. That night both hearts were set aglow with joy. All through the next day, both of their minds were filled with thoughts of each other. After every night Apollo appeared to her, Phebe performed exceptionally well, healing many more. Again, Apollo drew his chariot closer to the earth to see her dance.
The next night Apollo again appeared in Phebe’s dreams, overwhelmed with love, he serenaded her. He sang songs that she had never heard before, and songs that she had loved all her life, which she duetted with him. As their voices harmonized Phebe’s adoration of the divine being had turned into love. Night after night the two spoke in the world of dreams, each falling further in love as they spoke of those they had healed and the songs they had heard during the day. And each day Apollo drew the chariot a bit closer to the earth to admire Phebe.
One day, Apollo could not see Phebe from the sky or find her in the dream realm. She had disappeared. The god searched for her, driving the chariot closer to the earth by day and searching on foot by night. Finally, Apollo found that Phebe had wanted to see him and set out on a journey to Delos to confess her love but had gotten lost and was never seen again. Even now Apollo continues to search and navigates his chariot closer warming the earth, bring global warming to the world below.
An Analysis of the aetiological living myth of Phebe and Apollo presents relevant aspects of deeper mythological literature included in the meaning and context of this myth. We can use this to decipher the subtle symbolism and characters included in the story and how they relate to the origin of global warming.
Apollo is commonly known as the Greek god of music, healing, archery, and prophesy. In the context of this story these are important aspects of the far-shooting god because it is given as to the reason why he and Phebe fell in love. The name Phebe is a variation of the name Phoibe which is derived from the Greek words phoibos, meaning bright, radiant, or shining one and phoibaô which means “to purify” (Atsma). We see the word pure in reference to this character a few times, a reference to her namesake. The character is also described as a “shining star” which also serves to reference the root of her name. Phoebe is also the name of the titan goddess of intellect, who was Apollo’s grandmother. Apollo himself is also referred to as Phoebus, as he is the god of light. This parallel in names serves to demonstrate how similar the two characters are in their talents, almost as if they were meant for each other.
Phebe is specifically mentioned to be the daughter of a ruler, making her a princess. This is relevant because the muses are known to bestow gifts on royalty as seen here, “such is the holy gift of the Muses to men. For it is through the Muses and far-shooting Apollo that there are singers and harpers upon the earth; but princes are of Zeus, and happy is he whom the Muses love: sweet flows speech from his mouth. For although a man has sorrow and grief in his newly-troubled soul and lives in dread because his heart is distressed, yet, when a singer, the servant of the Muses, chants the glorious deeds of men of old and the blessed gods who inhabit Olympus, at once he forgets his heaviness and remembers not his sorrows at all” (Hesiod, Theogony. 90-103). Because of the holy gifts bestowed on Phebe by the Muses, she was a singer and their servant who helped to heal the hearts of those who listened to her. Apollo is also well known to primary have love affairs with princesses, making this myth fit the pattern of his past conquests.
Phebe’s kingdom is by the sea because Apollo’s sacred birthplace is the floating island of Delos. While we know that Phebe is not the princess of Delos, we can assume that her kingdom might be close or remind Apollo of his home and be quite fond of the place. His connection for the island is described in Homeric Hymn 3, “Then with gold all Delos [was laden, beholding the child of Zeus and Leto, for joy because the god chose her above the islands and shore to make his dwelling in her: and she loved him yet more in her heart.] blossomed as does a mountain-top with woodland flowers” (Cynaethus, Homeric Hymn 3/To Delian Apollo. 133-139). Delos is also significant in this story because this is where Phebe was going to find the God when she was lost.
Apollo being struck by Eros’s arrow was referred to when the far-shooting god immediately fell in love with Phebe. The first time this happened is described in the passage, ‘“O Phoebus, thou canst conquer all the world with thy strong bow and arrows, but with this small arrow I shall pierce thy vaunting breast! And by the measure that thy might exceeds the broken powers of thy defeated foes, so is thy glory less than mine” …. with the keen point of the golden dart the pierced the bone and marrow of the God” (Ovid, Metamorphoses. 1.452). Eros spited Apollo with this dart that caused him to fall in love with the nymph Daphne, who Eros struck with a lead arrow to make her revile the god who loved her. The tragedy of Daphne who turned into a laurel tree to get away from Apollo is just one of the tales referred to when his “unfortunate history with love” was mentioned.
Apollo’s decision to enter Phebe’s dreams with mention of Morpheus, the god of dreams, refers to the dream world that Morpheus has dominion over and that only a few can enter such as Zeus and Apollo, the god of prophecy. Given that Apollo is the god of prophecy he would be able to appear in dreams. A prayer for the appearance of Apollo during the night is translated as follows “Lord of Thymbra and of Delos, who haunt your temple in Lycia, Apollo, O divine head, come with all your archery, appear this night, and by your guidance save this man” (Euripides, Rhesus. 224-229), although this particular refers to the healing power of Apollo.
It is unusual for a character in Greek literature to disappear without a trace, especially considering that Apollo is one of the most powerful Olympians who has dealt with the fates before and is the god of prophecy. This may be because Apollo had finally found his soul mate and doesn’t want to know that she is gone, and not only could not do anything to save her as the god of healing but did not know that she would do this as the god of foresight.
Finally, we draw parallels from the story of Phaethon and the creation of dessert with global warming caused by the Sun chariot. According to Plato, Phaethon, son of Helios, yoked his father's chariot, and, because he was unable to drive it along the course taken by his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth” (Plato, Timaeus. 22c), causing the creation of deserts. Apollo does not take the chariot as close to earth as Phaethon did to set it on fire, however, the gradual navigation of Apollo bringing the chariot closer to the surface of the earth can definitely cause it to grow warmer. The closer Apollo brings the chariot to earth, the warmer it gets, which could explain the origin of global warming.
So many aspects of this living myth are served to show that Phebe was supposed to be Apollo’s soulmate, but also one of his greatest downfalls as a god. It could be said that Phebe may have been created specifically for Apollo by the Muses and Fates, who both had reason to want to punish Apollo for how he had taken advantage of and tricked them in the past, just as Cupid did with Daphne. The tragic outcome is consistent with his other relationships, however this one is special because he never gives up hope in looking for her. This persistence serves to explain why global warming is still happening to this day, and thus, is a good explanation of why it exists in a mythological, non-scientific context.
References
Atsma, Aaron J. 2017. APOLLO (Greek God of Music, Prophecy & Healing. Auckland: Theoi Project. www.theoi.com/Olympios/Apollon.html.
Atsma, Aaron J. 2017. PHOIBE.” PHOEBE (Phoibe) - Greek Titan Goddess of the Delphi Oracle. Auckland: Theoi Project. www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisPhoibe.html.
Cynaethus. 1914. Homeric Hymn 3/To Delian Apollo. Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
Euripides. 1891. Rhesus, translated by E. P. Coleridge. London: George Bell and Sons.
Hesiod. 1914. Theogony. Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. London, William Heinemann Ltd.
Ovid. 1922. Metamorphoses. Translated by Brookes More. Boston: Cornhill Publishing Co.
Plato. 1925. Timaeus. Translated by W.R.M. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
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