Hermes was feeling quite old on his birthday one year, and recalled his first day of life. He’d had the most fun stealing Apollo’s cattle and hadn’t pranked anyone like that in ages. So, Hermes decided to repeat the prank, for old time’s sake. Like the first time, he waited for nightfall to lead the cattle from Pieria to Pylos. The next morning, Apollo found that his cattle were missing. Remembering Hermes’ prank from millennia ago, he went to Pylos. Hermes was waiting there with the cattle, and laughed heartily upon Apollo’s arrival. Noticing that Apollo was not laughing, Hermes stopped.
“What’s the matter, Apollo? I thought you would find this funny.”
“I do,” Apollo smiled sadly, “but you’ve forgotten that you swore on the Styx that you’d never steal from me again.”
Just then, Styx appeared. “He is right, son of Maia.” With that, she took Hermes to Tartaros as Apollo looked on helplessly.
Hermes was banished to Tartaros for two centuries, as punishment for breaking his oath. However, Hermes was clever, and knew his way around the Underworld. He snuck out of Tartaros that first night and hid while he was above ground. Unfortunately, nothing can escape the gaze of Helios. As he travelled across the heavens the next day, he caught sight of Hermes and ensured that he was returned to Tartaros. Before descending back to Tartaros, Hermes requested that Helios bring him some wine each year on his birthday. Helios was hesitant to oblige, but agreed as he pitied Hermes.
The next year on Hermes’ birthday, Helios did as he was asked and they drank through the evening, causing Helios to fall asleep. Hermes had spent one dreadfully dull year in Tartaros and wanted to slip away. Occasionally, Hermes had left Tartaros to spend the night on earth, though he would return before morning. Otherwise, Helios would surely find him. Oh, how he longed to be out during the day! If only Helios could not see. Clever Hermes had requested that Helios bring wine so he could accomplish just that: he began to shove dirt into Helios’ eyes while he slept.
The next day, Helios travelled across the heavens along a path that allowed him to see the earth clearly. It was closer to the earth than usual. Each year, Hermes performed the same actions and Helios’ vision continued to decline, ever so gradually. As such, Helios did not take notice and his path across the heavens moved progressively closer to the earth, warming it. Hermes has already spent seventy years in Tartaros, and will continue his new birthday tradition in hopes of Helios becoming blind. Another god may then pull Helios’ chariot across the heavens, one who does not care for oath-keeping. Hermes would finally be free.
Analysis
This aetiological myth explains how global warming came about. As Helios’ vision continues to worsen, he travels closer to the earth’s surface in order to see what is occurring. The heat from Helios becomes more intense, thereby warming the earth. The entire myth rests on Helios’ vision loss to explain global warming.
The setting of the myth is around the mid-20th century, when global warming started occurring rapidly. Hermes is reminiscing about the day he was born, several millennia ago, when he stole Apollo’s cattle (Homeric Hymn to Hermes 68-104). The events that occurred in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes are mostly unchanged and treated as part of the past, as this sets the basis for Hermes’ actions and their consequences. Hermes and Apollo returned the cattle to Pieria at the end of the Hymn, giving Hermes the opportunity in this myth to steal the cattle once again and lead them to the same hiding place, Pylos (397-580). The interaction between Apollo and Hermes is friendly this time, as Apollo was not surprised by the missing cattle, and they had already established a friendship (Homeric Hymn to Hermes 397-580). I decided to repeat this event from the Hymn not only because the ending of the Hymn nicely sets up an opportunity for repetition, but because it re-establishes Hermes’ mischievous nature in this myth.
In the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Apollo asks Hermes to swear, “with a nod of the head or by the trickling waters of Styx,” to never steal from him again (397-580). A key change has been made here, as Hermes swears by nodding his head in Homeric Hymn to Hermes, whereas he had sworn on the Styx in this myth (397-580). This change allows for Hermes to be punished for breaking his oath.
The idea of banishment to Tartaros came from Apollo’s threat to cast Hermes into Tartaros when he suspects that Hermes has stolen his cattle in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (235-312). However, since Apollo and Hermes have become friends by the end of the Hymn, it is unlikely that Apollo would go through with the threat (397-580). There is a punishment for breaking an oath made on the River Styx, but this includes one year of telling lies without consuming nectar or ambrosia, followed by nine years of exile from Olympos (Hes., Theog. 782-812). The punishment was changed to two centuries of exile in Tartaros for two reasons. One, this provides a way for Hermes to be sent to Tartaros by breaking his oath, rather than being sent by Apollo. This is also the reason for changing Hermes’ oath to one sworn on the Styx rather than with a nod. Two, this allows for global warming to have occurred gradually over the past decades and continue into the present. Although the punishment is different, it is still some form of exile.
Hermes is understandably unhappy with the punishment and tries to escape the first night. In this part of the myth, I drew from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, in which Hermes is sent to travel to the Underworld and retrieve Persephone (334-389). Having this ability to travel between the heavens, earth, and the Underworld means that Hermes knows his way around the world. As such, he is able to escape from Tartaros on the first night.
Hermes is also shown to be clever in many myths, including the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, making it unlikely for him to act carelessly (68-104). It may seem careless for him to break the oath in the first place, but my reasoning behind that is that it was a small detail from millennia ago, making it easy to forget. It would be much less memorable than the prank, which was Hermes’ focus. When plotting his escape, Hermes is much more careful because he only has one chance. He is aware that Helios sees everything on the earth during the day. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter establishes that Helios is the sun and can see everything below while he is in the sky, prompting Demeter to ask him where Persephone was taken (1-89). This was kept the same because it prevents Hermes’ escape during the day. Despite Hermes’ best efforts to hide, Helios sees him and returns him to Tartaros. Helios does so because he is a guardian of oaths, as shown in Homer’s Iliad when Agamemnon swears that he has not slept with Briseis, acknowledging Helios as a witness to his oath (19.238-281). Being a guardian of oaths, Helios has to ensure that Hermes receives his due punishment.
Although Hermes broke his oath, Helios shows him kindness. This is due to his sympathetic character, as shown in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. As Demeter mourns for her daughter, Helios takes pity and tells her what happened to Persephone (1-89). Similarly, Helios takes pity on Hermes while he is in exile, and agrees to fulfill his request of bringing wine to Tartaros every year on Hermes’ birthday.
A key component of this myth is Helios’ gradual vision loss, and how this leads to him travelling closer to the earth and warming it over time. The process of his vision loss was inspired by Polyphemus’s blinding by Odysseus (Hom., Od. 9.360-412). Odysseus gave Polyphemus enough wine to make him drunk and fall asleep, giving him the opportunity to blind Polyphemus (Hom., Od. 9.360-412). Similarly, Hermes requests wine from Helios so that he drinks until he falls asleep. This gives him the opportunity to blind Helios. Hermes is able to venture back to earth during the night and obtain a weapon to blind Helios, but he does not. Stabbing Helios in the eyes like Odysseus did to Polyphemus would leave a clear indication that someone had blinded Helios, so Hermes would get yet another punishment (Hom., Od. 9.360-412). Hermes does not request wine for no reason though. Again, I have drawn on his cleverness and mischievous nature shown in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (68-104). Hermes knew that Helios might find him the first time he tried to escape. His backup plan was to lure him to Tartaros, put him to sleep with wine, and gradually blind him. That way, he does not get in trouble for blinding Helios because there is no obvious indicator that someone is worsening his vision. Tartaros is described in Hesiod’s Theogony as a pit in the earth, meaning that Hermes’ immediate surroundings consist of dirt (729-730). This characteristic is kept the same because it provides a way for Hermes to gradually blind Helios. It also adds some humour, as Hermes’ weapon of choice against Helios is dirt.
Helios does not notice his vision worsening, which may appear odd. This aspect was based on my experience, being a person who needs glasses. My eyesight usually gets slightly worse each year, but I hardly notice this. Part of the reason is I always place myself in a position that is close enough to read any text. I don’t notice that this position may be getting closer to the text as time passes. Similarly, Helios doesn’t notice he is closer to the earth. He believes that he is following the same path because he always travels up to the point where he can still see the earth, which he assumes to be unchanging. I based his behaviour on my experience because gods have human-like qualities in many ancient myths.
Hermes’ goal is to blind Helios, but he wishes to return above ground during the day. In the Homeric Hymn to Helios, Helios is described as pulling a chariot across the heavens and possessing the light of the sun. If he were permanently blinded, he would be unable to make this trip and another god would have to replace him. Otherwise, day would never come. This replacement would need to be given the power of shining like the sun and would ride the chariot across the heavens each day. Since Zeus divided the spheres of power among gods when he became king in Hesiod’s Theogony, he could likely give the replacement god the powers of Helios (889-890). The replacement god would not know about Hermes’ broken oath, so Hermes could stay above ground during the day, and Helios would not be there to bring him back to Tartaros. In ancient texts like Hyginus’ Poetica astronomica, Helios has the ability to heal the blindness of Orion (2.34). I have removed this ability of Helios, so that Hermes’ plan makes sense. Additionally, Helios’ vision needs to worsen so that he moves closer to the earth. If he could heal his vision, this wouldn’t occur and this myth would not explain global warming.
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