Part 1: Double-Edged Torch
Prometheus wiped a bead of sweat off his brow. He worked diligently to complete the task given to him by Zeus; create mankind. He carefully crafted man out of mud, moving his fingers gracefully along the edge of the sculpture’s ear. The Titan’s work was suddenly interrupted by the clopping of a horse’s hooves. Startled, his finger slipped and severed the ear. He turned around to see a cloaked figure dismounting a horse before approaching him. His eyes widened as the person pulled down their hood revealing an enchanting woman with sparkling blue eyes and luscious brunette hair. It was Cassandra, the beautiful daughter of King Priam of Troy.Without saying a word, she pulled a note out of her pocket and quickly handed it to Prometheus before riding away on her horse. He hesitantly unfolded the note and was surprised to find it blank. Suddenly Athena walked into his workshop, asking for the finished man sculpture. Prometheus proudly revealed his creation before noticing the missing ear. He clumsily reattached the ear before Athena breathed life into it. As he observed his creations on earth, he began to prefer man over the Olympians. He decided he would give humans the gift of fire with a torch lit by the sun against Zeus’s wishes. In the blink of an eye, human civilization flourished. However, with this rapid growth and industrialization came the accumulation of greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere. During his daily ride, pulling the sun across the sky on his golden chariot, Helios noticed a grey cloud surrounding Earth and decided to notify Zeus. Phaethon, the son of Helios, notices the chariot is left unattended and despite his father’s warnings, he decides to take advantage of the opportunity. Once Zeus heard the news from Helios, he realized the mischievous Prometheus gifted the mortals with fire. To punish humanity, he had Hephaestus create a beautiful mortal woman named Pandora and sent her down to Earth with a jar she was forbidden to open. Prometheus had warned his brother, Epimetheus who lived among the mortals, to never accept gifts from the gods. However, stunned by Pandora’s beauty, he welcomes her anyway. Eventually, out of curiosity, Pandora opened the jar and released ignorance and selfishness upon Earth. In the meantime, Phaethon rides in the chariot but ignores his father’s advice to not use the whip, causing the horses to go off course. Phaethon loses control of the chariot as the sun is pulled closer to earth. Prometheus, knowing Zeus would soon discover his crime, packs his bags and runs away. He bumps into Cassandra again. She furiously questions him about why he created man and gifted them with fire after what she had told him in the note. Confused, Prometheus pulled out the note to show her it was blank. But to his surprise, words were slowly revealing themselves on the paper. Phaethon continued to ride closer to Earth, bringing the Sun and it’s raging fire with it.
Part 2: Analysis
This aetiological myth serves to explain the origin of global warming on Earth today. The obvious significance of including Prometheus’s myth of creating man is that humanity is the cause for global warming. However, an important modification to this myth is an added detail; the clumsily reattached ear. This implies that mankind was brought into the world with a loss of hearing which symbolizes the notion that people refuse to believe that global warming is occurring. In ancient sources of Greek mythology, Cassandra is the most beautiful daughter of King Priam of Troy who catches the eye of Apollo. In an attempt to woo her, Apollo offers Cassandra with the gift of prophecy. Although she accepts the gift, she rebuts his sexual advances leaving Apollo in a rage. He decides to let her keep his gift but also curses her. As a result, Cassandra’s prophecies would always be true but no one would believe her predictions (Apollodorus 3.12.5). In this myth, Cassandra’s note for Prometheus is a prophecy. However, when he first sees it, it is blank due to Apollo’s curse. In Greek mythology, Cassandra doesn’t meet Prometheus. However, this modification is made to add to the idea of denial and ignorance surrounding the issue of global warming. Despite his name being interpreted as foresight, Prometheus did not consider how creating man and gifting them with fire would lead to Earth’s destruction. Even when the truth was blatantly written for him, he could not see it. Apollo’s curse symbolizes the human tendency, in connection to the global warming crisis, to deny its existence despite being told otherwise by scientists and environmental activists (who are collectively represented by Cassandra in the myth). Eventually, Prometheus’s fondness towards man led to him gifting humans with fire (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 100.609-612). By doing so, he drew a double-edged sword. Although the mortals benefited greatly from the gift, they overlooked the amount of waste created from developing their civilization. The accumulation of greenhouse gas created by the humans was described as a “grey cloud” surrounding Earth that was noticed by Helios during his daily chariot ride. The gas served as a distraction since Helios left to notify Zeus of the suspicious cloud. This allows Helios’s son, Phaethon to take advantage of the opportunity and ride the chariot. In the original story of Phaethon and the sun chariot, Phaethon begs his father to ride the chariot and eventually Helios gives in (Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.46-48). However, this slight alteration of the myth is made to make a connection between greenhouse gas and the warming of the planet when Phaethon steers the Sun closer to Earth. In other words, it implies that if humans had not released waste into the air, Helios would not have left the chariot unattended and give Phaethon the opportunity to ride it. When Zeus discovers that Prometheus gifted mortals with fire, he decided to punish man by sending the beautiful Pandora down to Earth with a jar she is forbidden to open. Although Prometheus warns his brother Epimetheus to never accept gifts from the gods, he does so anyway. The name Epimetheus is translated to “afterthought” which, in the context, describes how people are late to realize how their actions impact the environment. Like how Epimetheus is warned not to accept gifts, people are constantly reminded of how their actions contribute to global warming. The worst part is that they ignore these reminders and continue with these actions. Some being deforestation, using cars as transportation and burning fossil fuels. In the original myth, Hephaestus created Pandora to be sent down to Earth with a jar she is forbidden to open. Pandora opens it out of curiosity releasing evils, sorrows, plagues, and misfortunes upon Earth (Hesiod, Homeric Hymns 69-82). Contrarily, in this myth she releases selfishness and ignorance. Selfishness enables humans to live carelessly without being mindful of how their actions affect the environment, despite the concerning increase in temperature over the years due to greenhouse gases. Ignorance explains the lack of knowledge and obliviousness of people as they contribute to global warming and its potential consequences. Like how Epimetheus ignored his brother's warning, Phaethon rides the sun chariot and uses the whip despite his father’s disapproval. Like a careless child ignoring their parents' concerns, humans live irresponsibly without considering the consequences of their actions. Phaethon’s action resulted in him driving the Sun closer to Earth and humanity’s actions caused the accumulation of pollution in the atmosphere; both resulting in global warming. At the end, Prometheus meets Cassandra again. Originally, he is punished by Zeus by being chained to a rock in the mountains while having his liver eaten by an eagle (Homer, Iliad 10.507). However, this is excluded since Prometheus must be free in order to meet Cassandra and it is irrelevant to the narrative. In this modified version of the myth, Cassandra confronts him about why he ignored her warnings. When he pulls out the note to show her that it was blank, he’s surprised to find that what she said was true. The contents of the letter are not explicitly stated. However, it can be interpreted that she prophesied the warming of Earth that would come from creating mankind and gifting them with fire. The reason that the note was now visible to Prometheus is because Cassandra’s prophecies were now coming true. This is implied as the next sentence describes Phaethon bringing the Sun closer to Earth. It is important to note that the ending of the myth was intentionally left open-ended in order to convey that even scientists are not sure of how long it will be until the planet can no longer sustain the greenhouse gases emitted. In other words, the breaking point at which the Earth is destroyed by human irresponsibility and selfishness is unknown. Hence, people must act to reverse and repair the effects of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible. To do so, Apollo’s metaphorical curse of denial and ignorance must be lifted from humanity. Once people finally accept that global warming exists and educate themselves about the issue, they can take steps to reduce their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and save the world!
Bibliography
Aeschylus. Prometheus Bound, Suppliants, Seven Against Thebes. Translation by Vellacott, P.
The Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books. 1961.
Apollodorus. The Library. Translated by Sir James George Frazer. Loeb Classical Library Volumes 121 & 122. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.
Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica. Translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914.
Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Murray, A T. Loeb Classical Library Volumes 1. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1924.
Ovid. Metamorphoses. Translated by Melville, A. D. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1986.