Kyle Depooter
1006964260
Word count Myth narrative - 486
Word count analysis - 1227
Myth Narrative
From the beginning of time, Helios always kept the sun lit and had the eternal jobs of ensuring that the entire world was touched by the sun. Hades saw this magnificent power and was jealous of how Helios was able to be visible by all. He sought to claim this for his own. Hades spawned a small serpent near a human. When the human saw the serpent he approached it wanting to touch it. As soon as he touched a great cypress tree appeared and with Hades sitting on the tree. Hades talked to the man and tricked him into thinking that Helios had a plan to eliminate the populace with a thing called climate change. At first the man didn’t believe Hades, but with his wit, he tricked the man into believing it. Hades told the man how he could save the world. He told the man if he could steal the golden bow of Apollo and shoot Helios out of the sky, then he could steal Helios’s power and control the sun himself. Hades told the man that one of Apollos son’s is Orpheus and told the man that Orpheus was currently trying to save Persephone from the underworld and the only way to get Apollo's bow was to hold Orpehus ransom. The man decided to embark into the underworld as was facing many challenges and foes along the way. The man came across Persephone who asked for help from him to return her to her mother. The man pretended to be kind and Persephone told him about not eating the fruit in the underworld. When she turned her back the man captured her. He waited for Orpheaus to show up and exchanged her freedom for his capture. Knowing that he could never defeat Apollo on his own traveled deeper into the underworld and kept Orpheus behind The Cerberus. Hercules and Apollo showed up at the same time for different purposes. Apollo to reclaim his son and Hercules to complete one of his tasks. During the scuffle, the man stole the golden bow and made for the surface. Upon reaching the surface, the man set and arrow and shot into the sun. Helios then fell from the sky and crashed near the man. The man then approached Helios and was about to steal his power, when Hades appeared and stopped the man and saved his fellow god. Helios recovered and felt hatred toward the man for attacking him. Helios then flew back into the sky and cursed the mortal world with climate change. He made sure the Earth would continue to warm over time and any human activity that burned and fossil fuels would result in climate change on the earth. Hades then walked to the man and explained that this was his goal all along, to trick the gods into being against humans so that the underworld would be filled with the dead.
Analysis of myth
One of the links to ancient mythological sources is the reference to many of the gods and other characters that have been talked about before. In the narrative gods such as Hades, Helios, and Apollo. These gods are also still rulers of their respective plains, such as Hades controlling the underworld. Along with this, other characters such as Persephone are mentioned along with many of the myths that are related to each of these characters. For example, in the narrative the man comes across Persephone when she has been captured by Hades and where she is staying in the underworld (Hom, Hymn Dem 10-11). She also gives advice to the man about eating the food in the underworld as she has been cursed to stay in the underworld for a year and she didn’t want the man to have to experience the same thing. This is similar to what had happened to Persephone. One other event that crosses over with this narrative is the one of Heracles. In the narrative, the man waits until Apollo and Heracles shows up when Hercules has his twelve tasks given to him by King Eurystheus (Apollod, Bibl 388-405). The 12th task crosses over with what happens with the man. In a sense, the man’s task is similar to Heracles’s tasks as he must undergo a dangerous journey, although the purpose of the journey is very different.
There is some resemblance in how the man is captured and how Persephone was captured. For example, in the story of Persephone, Hades raises a narcissus to attract her, then she is dragged down into the underworld (Hom, Hymn Dem 10-11). This is somewhat similar in the narrative of the myth as Hades sends a snake to attract the man, and upon touching it a large Cypress tree appears and Hades is sitting upon it. Some of these things are symbols of Hades. For example, the serpent is a historic sign for hades and so is the Cypress tree, these are two things that represent the god of the Underworld. These forms of representation are very regular within Greek mythology. Often, there are a lot of depictions of gods with their respective symbols. Another example of this is Zeus with his lightning bolt. One other symbol or artifact that appears in this myth above is Apollo’s golden bow. Apollo is referred to as a great archer hence why the man seeks out his golden bow to take out Helios from the sky (Callim, Hymn, 32-33). Because this bow is so revered, the man goes for it specifically because it has the potential to stop Helios. Also within Greek mythology, there are unique artifacts that belong to the gods and this golden bow is one example of a artifact that belongs in greek mythology.
There are also themes such as Kleos, Metis, Time and Nostos within this narrative (Cundy Lecture 3,4 & 5). For example, there are examples of where Kleos and Time is being sought after, such as the example of Heracles where his story is all about claiming fame and regaining his honour. Another example is how the man goes down into the Underworld to help the rest of mankind. His motives are to help all of humanity by stopping the threat of Helios, and this is done also for the sake of Kleos.. Although he is doing something against humankind, he believes that he is doing the right thing. Here, the man is risking his life to save humankind for the greater good of the earth. Nostos is also shown within the narrative, and this is in the part where the man travels back up to the surface of earth to finally complete his mission. Although it is not exactly the same because nostos normally occurs after the completion of the story. This is different in the sense that it has not completely finished yet and the journey up back to earth is nostos in this situation. This in itself is similar to Odysseus's story where once he gets back the story doesn’t end and he has to win a competition to get back with his wife (Hom. Od, 116-118).
Although there are many similarities, there are also some differences that were made to accommodate the story. For example, Helios was given the ability to create global warming and created what would essentially be greenhouse gasses and the greenhouse effect. This was done in this way because Helios is the god of the sun and the sun is the way in which climate change is activated through trapping heat rays within the greenhouse gasses. Helios was made to have this ability as he has control over the sun. Helios somewhat had to be changed in order to accommodate the main idea of global warming. One reason why this makes sense is this quote from The Orphic Hymns, “doom'd with immortal flames to set and rise, Dispensing justice” (Orphica, Hymn, 12-13). This indicates how Helios’s flames would have justice. This relates to the narrative as it will bring justice against what humans have done through fire which is climate change in this narrative.
One last thing that's changed is the fact that Hades is made to seem like an evil character. In novels such as Percey Jackson, Hades is made to be an antagonist like character. For this narrative, it followed that example rather than sticking to the original idea of gods. This was done as it helps create conflict that starts the story. It also humanizes Hades somewhat which is similar in traditional Greek mythology. As gods are seen to be petty and have human-like flaws such as jealousy. Typically, gods aren’t good or bad, but they do mess around with the human world and they like to cause trouble for many people. In this myth, Hades has taken on a large role like an antagonist but completes his goal in the same way the mythological gods would. He tricks a man into doing what he wants so that Hades can’t get in trouble for doing something bad. This is very similar to how gods operate in myth, as they often are tricky and sneaky in the way that they get others to do what they want. In traditional Greek myth, gods play games and make changes according to their interests. This is similar to the narrative above as it shows Hades taking away a key god that is integral to how the Earth functions. The gods and their respective realms/abilities/powers are kept the same because it is important for the characters to be kept the same as the main characters in this narrative are what drives the creation of climate change.
One other major difference between the narrative above and traditional greek mythology is the fact that typically gods only go down into the underworld for two main purposes, one of these is for knowledge or for someone that has died (Cundy lecture 5). One other major difference is the fact that Hades would be bold enough to take a god, who is far more important than any mere mortal. These two things were changed because it was important for conflict to be created. Along with this, it also allows for ideas such as Kleos, Metis and Karabasis to be implemented into the narrative of the myth (Cundy Lecture 6).
Bibliography
Apollodorus. 1921. Biblioteca: Book Ⅱ. Translated by J. G. Frazer.
Cundy, J. Lecture 3. (2021).
Cundy, J. Lecture 4. (2021).
Cundy, J. Lecture 5. (2021).
Cundy, J. Lecture 6. (2021).
Homer. 1999. The Odyssey: Book 21. Translated by A. T. Murray.
Hesiod. 1920. The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica. Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, William Heinemann.
Callimachus. 1921. Hymn 2 to Apollo. Translated by Mair, A. W.
Orpheus. Hymn Ⅶ to Helios.Translated by Talor, T.
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