MYTH
As the sun shown on the island of blest, Kronos awoke from his slumber from atop his tower. Kronos’ tower overlooked the whole island besides the southernmost region, which was a heavily wooded area, with thick oak trees creating a circle around an extraordinary large fig tree. This agitated Kronos as he desperately wants vision of the whole island, as well as more wood to start expanding his already extraordinary lavish home. As he enters the mouth of the forest, he takes out his axe and starts aggressively swinging at every tree in sight. Flocks of birds and animals alike flee the scene as trees start falling left and right, decimating what they used to call home. After dismantling the most of circle of oak trees with relative ease, Kronos approaches one of the final standing trees. As he prepares to swing at the tree, he feels the earth rumble beneath his feet. He turns around, and to his astonishment is his daughter, Demeter, perched up on a chariot pulled by the most elegant looking horses stares him down. As she steps off her chariot she passionately exclaims “Why are you doing this?” Disgruntled by her appearance, Kronos shouts “be gone, demon. I have a job to do” and brushes her aside. As he prepares to swing his axe again, Demeter grabs Kronos by the hand and offers him a warning. “by tearing down the forest, you are taking many lives away, just to benefit yours. If you clear the forest, you will be met with the wildest storms and the driest lands”. Kronos smiles, thinking to himself “does she know where we are? This is the island of blest, where it never rains or snows, where the fruit is sweet, and the animals are plentiful”. Not shaken by her empty threats, he proceeds to chop down the remaining oak trees, which left only one standing, the fig tree, in which Demeter flees the scene. While Kronos packs all the logs into piles, Demeter runs to contact Gaia, Kronos’ mother, about the actions of the titan king. Just as the Kronos’ axe is about to pierce the rigged wood surface, a flashing beam of light strikes his axe, knocking it out of his hands. Enraged he quickly picks it up and with no regard or thought of what happened, he swings his axe at the tree, and in one go, the tree collapse to the ground. Realizing nothing happened to him after cutting down the tree, he starts to laugh at the idea that Demeter could really curse him. He takes the wood back to his tower and prepares for the next day where he will start the expansion of the house. Kronos wakes up, but this time, the sun is not shining on the island of blest. Instead, the island is covered by dark clouds and dry grass, eradicating any life that was still present on the island.
ANALYSIS
The main theme that my alethiological myth tries to tackle is the issue of Global Warming, which is currently a relevant topic in today’s news climate. With increased carbon emissions polluting our earth trapping in the heat and raising the global temperature, I thought it was fitting to center my story around this topic. In the myth I use 3 characters, 2 of which are relevant to the theme of climate change, in Demeter and Gaia. Demeter is the goddess of agriculture, grain, and bread, representing the polar sides of nature (fruitfully filled with life and barren dry and dead crops). Gaia is the goddess of the earth, who birthed the heavenly gods Ouranos, Pontos and Gigantes. A unique aspect that I tried to incorporate within the myth is the lineage aspect, tying in Demeter, who is the daughter of Kronos, who is the son of Gaia, creating an interesting twist to the story.
The first character that I talked about extensively was Demeter. As previously mentioned, Demeter is the goddess of agriculture, bringing life and death to the crops as “[Demeter] first turned the earth with the curved plough; she first gave corn and crops to bless the land” (Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 341). I chose her as she was a perfect representation of nature, personifying many of the problems we face today (deforestation, dry crops, forest fires). Demeter makes her appearance in the story arriving on a chariot, which was her frequent mode of transportation as mentioned in the quote below. “And as the four white-haired horses convey the Basket, so unto us will the great goddess of wide dominion come brining white spring and white harvest and winter and autumn, and keep us to another year” (Callimachus, Hymn 6 to Demeter). After her introduction to the myth, she confronts Kronos who brushes her off several times, ignoring her to finish the task at hand, which is a representation of when Kronos devoured her in attempts to dead the prophecy that Gaia told him about.
The next character is Gaia, who is the goddess of the earth, and represents all things nature. “[Gaia] brought forth, in diverse species, of her own accord, when the sun's radiance warmed the pristine moisture and slime and oozy marshlands swelled with heat, and in that pregnant soil the seeds of things, nourished as in a mother's womb, gained life and grew and gradually assumed a shape . . . when heat and moisture blend in balance, they conceive; these two, these, are the origin of everything.” (Ovid, Metamorphoses 1. 416). She is represented as the ‘final boss’ in the story, which perfectly suits her as in the story she has the power of changing the weather, climate and all things related to nature. In the story I use Gaia as an overseeing being, that does not make a physical appearance, but has the largest impact on the myth. By doing this, it gives her somewhat of a mysterious presence. Gaia uses thunderbolts to warn Kronos, which is a reference to when she “gave [Kyklopes] thunder and the glowing thunderbolt and lightening [as] for before that, huge Gaia had hidden these." (Hesiod, Theogony 462). After Kronos disregards the warning, Gaia turns the whole island into a desolate wasteland. Regardless if Gaia had power over the climate, I thought this would add to the severity of climate change, and how serious of a topic it truly is. Finally, Gaia is the perfect character to play this role, as similarly to when Zeus teamed up with Gaia to take down Kronos, he learned from Gaia (Gaea, Earth) and starry Ouranos (Sky) that [Kronos] was destined to be overcome by his own son, strong though he was, through the contriving of great Zeus” (Hesiod, Theogony 453). This plays out nicely as the myth has a semblance of truth, (Gaia teaming up with god/goddess to take down Kronos) however including fictional aspects to make the story more cohesive.
The last character is Kronos, who is the father of Demeter, and the son of Gaia, while also being the main antagonist of the myth. In the story I paint Kronos as a mean, short tempered titan, who is very short-sighted in his goals. I chose to use Kronos, as I thought he portrayed this well in the myths, referencing the infamous story of Zeus tricking Kronos so he would get devoured.
The setting of the story takes place on the “Islands of the Blest, [where] the winds of Okeanos (Oceanus) play, and golden blossoms burn, some nursed upon the waters, others on land on glorious trees” (Pindar, Olympian Ode 2. 55). The island of Blest is known for having “No snow … nor yet great storm, nor ever any rain” (Strabo, Geography 3. 2. 13). The reason I chose this location is because of the sacredness of the location, as it gives the assumption that even the most holy places can be corrupted by the evil that is global warming and pollution. The other reason his location was selected is because of Kronos, who has a tower located on the island. On the island, I created a fictional forest comprised primarily of oak trees, creating a ring around a fig tree. The reason I chose these trees in particular is because of their significance in the relation to the characters in the story. Oak trees are considered sacred to Zeus, and are found in the sacred grove of Dodona, which is mentioned by Sokrates “They used to say, my friend, that the words of the oak in the holy place of Zeus at Dodona were the first prophetic utterances.” (Plato, Phaedrus 275b). The other significant tree is the fig tree, as Phytalos welcomed Demeter in his home, for which act the goddess gave him the fig tree” (Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 37. 2). While Dodona is not located on the island of blest, it is a fictional aspect of the story that adds a little twist similar to what Riordan accomplishes with his novels.
Bibliography
CALLIMACHUS. Hymns & Epigrams. LYCOPHRON. ARATUS. Translation by Mair, A. W. & Mair, G. R. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
HESIOD, THE HOMERIC HYMNS, EPIC CYCLE, HOMERICA. 453, 462 Translation by Evelyn-White, H. G. Loeb Classical Library Vol 57. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
OVID. 1. 416, 5. 341 Metamorphoses. Translation by Melville, A. D Oxford: Oxford University Press.
PAUSANIAS. Description of Greece. 1. 37. 2 Translation by Jones, W. H. S. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
PINDAR. Odes. 2. 55 Translation by Conway, G. S. Everyman's Library.
PLATO. Phaedrus 275b Dialogues. Translation by Fowler, G. S. Everyman’s Library.