Living Myth
The Aetiology of Global Warming
Myth
In ancient Greece, a time of gods and mystical powers, a young women named Persephone was created from Zeus and Demeter. She was very beautiful and attracted a young heroic man by the name of Aleksander. Together they had fallen in love and were happily living together, unbeknownst to the fact that Hades had his eyes on Persephone. One day, Persephone went off alone to pick some flowers, and hades had opened up the ground from below her, and snatched her away to the underworld. Hades had known his actions were noticed as the sun god Helios had been watching. Hades then threatens Helios and says that if he explains to anyone what has happened of Persephone, he will tell Zeus that it was Helios who had helped him steal her. Aleksander noticed Persephone was gone and sought out Demeter for answers; answers she too did not have. Demeter, now worried for her daughter, asked the god of the sun Helios, as he had been watching over the earth. Helios could not bare seeing Demeter so distraught, and told her and Aleksander of what had taken place. Upon learning this information of Persephone’s abduction, Aleksander seeks to travel to the underworld to return her to the realm of the living. As he arrives, he brings Barley cakes for Cerberus to subdue him, and a coin for the ferryman. Both tricks that had been taught to him by Demeter whom had assisted Aleksander in the hopes that he will bring back her daughter. Aleksander arrives in front of Hades and demands the release of Persephone. Hades then suggests that Aleksander must join him and eat some fruit of the underworld, knowing that if he does he will be stuck down there for eternity, leaving a free Persephone alone and ready to be his wife. However, he did not anticipate the cunningness of Aleksander whom had known of this trickery and played dumb, whilst bringing his own fruit of the earth above. Before eating this cursed fruit in front of him, Aleksander switches out the fruit for his own while Hades has not seen. He eats this fruit and claims that he will now be taking Persephone with him back to the overworld, to which Hades allows thinking he had just tricked Aleksander to staying in the underworld. Upon arriving at the exit of the underworld, they are both able to escape and return to the land of the living. Hades become enraged and heads for Helios. He proclaims that he will tell Zeus Helios had helped him in stealing his daughter which will result in harsh punishment from Zeus, unless he obliges Hades’ desires. Hades demands that Helios shine as bright and as hot as he can to scorch the earth and kill life as he burns to get back at Demeter for helping Aleksander take back his wife. To this day, Helios afraid of Zeus’ treachery, burns as bright as he can, warming up the earth as he shines.
Analysis
When composing my narrative, I chose to include elements and characters of the existing story of the abduction/rape of Persephone (HH 2 and Apollod. 1.29). I found that through using an existing setting, I could add different elements and character choices to base my story around to make a completely unique myth with hints of references to existing literature. Persephone had remained the same in my story as I needed a character to be the motivation for both Aleksander’s quest, and Hades anger. Persephone was said to be very beautiful (Comp. Hyginus. Fabulae, 146) and I kept this so that Hades would still crave her and that she would find a heroic young man who would love her and her beauty enough to save her. As for Aleksander, he was a new addition to the existing character roster of my story, as I wanted to have a cunning strong willed character who was both brave enough to enter the underworld, and smart enough to trick Hades. He was based off of the character model of Odysseus, as he was smart and strong, using his wits to complete his goals (Hom. Od. 13.329-339). For Aleksander’s name, I chose this as a reference to Alexander the great, whom had claimed he was a descendant of Hercules. This fit well as Aleksander represents Hercules in a way in that they both participated in katabasis, and successfully returned from the underworld (Hom. Od. 9.623). They also both were very brave and even received some help from others ( a topic that was covered in module 6 of the class; the idea that even heroes need some help sometimes). References to both Zeus and Demeter were left in this story, but their inclusion and actions in comparison to the original myth were changed. Zeus was the all powerful leader of the Olympians, and his presence alone was enough to terrify anyone, god or titan. He was known for punishing those who went against him (Apollon. Rhod. 1. 1123), so I left this part in my story to be the fuel for Helios’ compliance to Hades in fear of Zeus. A major change I had made with regards to Zeus was that he did not willingly give Persephone to Hades, not helped him take her (Apollod. 1.29). I made it so that Zeus would think the opposite, and that if he found out someone had stolen his daughter he would be enraged, hence why Helios complied with Hades. This change was necessary as it provided the situation in which Helios had to listen to Hades in fear of Zeus, rather than Zeus being completely fine with the abduction of his daughter as seen in classical myth (Apollod. 1.29). Including Demeter was also a choice essential to my storyline, as she had assisted Aleksander when he traveled to the underworld. Persephone was the daughter of both Zeus and Demeter and I left this way it was (Hes. Th. 912). This was done so that both Zeus’ influence of punishment for stealing his daughter would be present, and so that Hades would have someone to get back at for taking Persephone from him. Since Demeter was the goddess of harvest and fertility (Hom. Il. 13.322), Hades would have Helios burn and scorch the earth to kill the plants and life on earth as punishment for helping Aleksander trick him. Hades was also referenced in this story with his chariot and being the ruler of the underworld (Plat. Crat. 403a). Hades was one of the major characters in the story and I chose to keep him as he is, as his character in classical myth had elements that fit well with my narrative. For example the obvious reference of him being the ruler of the underworld, which was something necessary for Alexander’s journey (Plat. Crat. 403a). Another being the existing story of the rape of Persephone to build off of (Apollod. 1.29). One thing that I had changed however was his relationship with Helios, and his influence over him. I added this so that he could directly affect the aetiological component of the story, being that he was the one who forced Helios to shine. With Hades being the main antagonist of the story, I needed him to be able to directly affect Helios who was responsible for the global warming; therefore I made him aware of Helios’ watching eye and made him very evil (so that he would threaten and punish Helios). I also reference the underworld fruit as if someone eats it they will be stuck in the underworld forever (Apollod 1.5.1). The inclusion of this was imperative to the plot as it was both Hades ploy to trick Aleksander, and Aleksander and Persephone’s way of escaping. For this section however, I had changed two aspects from the original myth. The first being that Persephone had not yet eaten the fruit, as Hades rage from losing her would not have occurred if she really was stuck. Secondly I had made the underworld fruit trap whoever eats it forever, so that Hades’ plan would work try trapping Aleksander down there forever, eventually leading to Persephone being alone ready for Hades to keep her. As for the journey to the underworld, one of the referenced motifs/themes of my narrative was the idea of katabasis, a journey to and from the underworld successfully (Baldick 2015, p. 392). Katabasis allowed this story to have a component of love, another common motif in mythology, with Aleksander venturing into the underworld to save Persephone. Aleksander’s katabasis also allowed for the inclusion of reference to characters of the underworld. The first mention was of Cerberus, the three headed dog who guards the gates to the underworld (Apollod. 2.122). I included this part of the story as a way to show how Demeter would help Aleksander and give Hades a reason to enact the global warming through Helios. The barley cakes were seen in the story of Cupid and Psyche, where Psyche hears a voice that tells her to subdue Cerberus with the cakes (Apuleius, 16-20). I used this idea from an existing myth to help add more depth to the story, as well as a way to explain Aleksander’s successful journey through the underworld. On top of this, the ferryman Charon, who took people across the river Styx (Eur. Alc. 252-255), was also included as this would also add to both the atmosphere of the underworld, and yet another reason for Hades to seek revenge. The underworld portion of this myth was a great opportunity for me to really develop the setting of the story, and include many components of classical myth for reference. After this part of the story, Hades flies out of the underworld on his chariot and heads back for Helios. Helios was essential to this story and of the most important characters in my myth. He was the god of the sun, whom can watch over everything form his view; also cited as a titan in different sources (although this had no effect on my narrative) (Apollod. 1.8-9). These aspects of Helios were so that Demeter would find out and tell Aleksander of the abduction of his daughter. He was also responsible for Hades’ loss to Aleksander leading to Hades’ demands of heating up the earth. The choice of using Helios in my myth was due to the fact the he controls the sun, and provides the earth with warmth and light (HH 3, 1-15). Since he has this power, Hades used him to harm the very earth Demeter would care for with her harvest. Helios is the one responsible for the etiology in this myth, as him shining and scorching as hot as he can, is what brought on global warming to the planet.
Bibliography
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