Myth (Global Warming)
Zeus once met a stunning mortal woman named Aileen and was immediately enamoured by her beauty. Despite her repeated protests, Zeus managed to seduce her and from their coupling she bore him a son named Lysias. Lysias was unpopular among the village boys and was exceedingly lonely. Taking pity on his son, Zeus came down to him and granted him one wish. Lysias asked to drive the sun chariot across the sky as the job was very important and could prove his worth. Zeus made a deal with Helios to grant his son’s wish, which Helios agreed to on the condition that he be rewarded for his efforts. Reluctantly, Helios took Lysias with him and granted him permission to drive the sun chariot. He warned Lysias not to use the whip, but Lysias grew reckless with power from his newfound responsibility and from all the attention he was receiving from the villagers. Lysias used the whip, resulting in the horses going wild and quickly lost control of the chariot thereby causing chaos on earth and in the sky. When Zeus learned of his son’s misconduct, he struck a lightning bolt into the chariot, causing the chariot to fall and land on Aquarius, son of Poseidon. Enraged and saddened by his son’s death, Poseidon let loose a torrent of storms into the world and caused the sea to rise. Lysias, on the brink of death, apologized for his actions and called to his father for help. Zeus, feeling sorry for his son, healed him with watered-down ambrosia which upset Hades who felt cheated out of a body. Poseidon, Hades, and Helios were furious with Zeus for rewarding his son’s foolish behaviour and for his lack of gifts to make up for the subsequent chaos. Zeus grew upset with them, feeling as though he handled the situation well and angry with them for questioning his judgement. This resulted in an ever-growing war between the four. Over the years, there have been many mortal quests either attempting to end the quarrel between the gods or incurring their wrath due to their misdeeds, resulting in a fluctuating war.
Analysis
The main point of this myth is to explain the origins and the effects of global warming. It begins by having Zeus sleep with the mortal woman Aileen, thus producing a son, which references the fact that Zeus is known to sleep around with many mortal women (Hom., Od. II.xiv.317). The name of the woman is significant as it means Torch of light which is foreshadowing as her son ends up driving the sun off its course (babynames.net). Through their relationship, Zeus and Aileen produce a son named Lysias which means One who destroys which is important as it foreshadows that Lysias will bring the destruction of the world, in this case, through global warming (babynames.net). Zeus feels sorry for his son which shows the anthropomorphism of the gods as Zeus experiences the human emotions of pity and sorrow. These feelings lead Zeus to visit his son, thus demonstrating anthropomorphism again since it is a human trait to want to comfort others, especially children.
Lysias asks his father for permission to drive the sun chariot across the sky which is similar to Phaethon asking Helios to drive the sun chariot (Diod. Sic., Library of History 5.23.2). This was changed from the original myth to have Zeus’ son drive the chariot rather than Helios’ son because it provided a reason for Zeus to keep the character alive, which is significant for later parts of this myth. To elaborate, if it remained Helios’ son who drives the chariot, then Zeus would have no to reason to spare his life, like in the original myth (Ap. Rhod., Argon. 4.598), however by sparing his life, a conflict is established between Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and Helios. Zeus has to seek permission from Helios for his son to use the sun chariot which alludes to the fact that in classical mythology, Helios drives the sun chariot (Hom., Hom. Hymn Helios Hom. Hymns.31). Also, according to classical myth, Helios invented the sun chariot (Ps.-Hyg., Astr. 2.13), so it makes sense for Zeus to ask for permission from him, despite Zeus being the king of gods (Ps.-Orpheus, Orph. Hymn Zeus The Orphic Hymns.15).
Helios is reluctant to give Lysias the reins and warns him to not use the whip which is akin to classical mythology where Helios does the same with his son Phaethon (Ov., Met. 1.750). This part was kept the same as in the original myth as it was a fundamental part to the original myth. Lysias does not listen to Helios and uses the whip, causing the horses to go wild. This differs from the original myth where the horses sense the change in weight from Helios to Phaethon and deviate from their path (Diod. Sic., Library of History 5.23.2). The significance of this change is that in the original myth, Phaethon loses control of the chariot but not due directly to his own actions whereas in this myth Lysias causes the chaos on his own, thus making it all the more likely that the gods would be angry with him. On the other hand, the part where Lysias loses control of the chariot remains the same as in the original myth because this is what causes the heating of the earth that is attributed to global warming.
In this myth, Zeus strikes a lightning bolt against the chariot whereas in the original myth, he strikes Phaethon directly with the thunderbolt, thus killing him (Ps.-Hyg., Fab. 153). This change is significant as it shows the anthropomorphism of Zeus since he once again shows compassion for his son by sparing his life. As well, this allows Lysias to live, unlike Phaethon, and sets the stage for the conflict of this myth. The chariot lands on Aquarius, the son of Poseidon, which kills him and is a deviation from the original myth where Phaethon’s body falls into the river Eridanus, but no one is killed by the chariot (Philoxenus of Cythera, Fr. 834). This divergence is vital as it leads to Poseidon’s son dying, thus introducing a conflict between Poseidon and Lysias resulting in storms being released. The storms of Poseidon are alike the ones in the Odyssey when Poseidon becomes enraged by Odysseus blinding his son the Cyclopes Polyphemus and unleashes a storm on him, thereby stranding Odysseus (Hom., Od. IV.526-566). Also, the part when Poseidon raises the sea level stems from the fact that according to myth, Poseidon is the god of the sea and can thus control it (Hom., Hom. Hymn Poseidon Hom. Hymns.22).
Lysias apologizes and asks for help, to which Zeus restores him with watered-down ambrosia. This is like when Eros restores Psyche from her sleep and made her immortal by feeding her ambrosia, the nectar of the gods (Apul., The Golden Ass 4.26-6.24). Unlike the original myth, however, Lysias does not become immortal like Psyche as he was fed a watered-down version of it. This was changed because it did not seem fitting for Zeus to reward Lysias’ mistakes and reckless behaviour with immortality. As well, this shows that while Zeus may be compassionate at times, this compassion only goes so far. The restoration of Lysias from the brink of death to life winds up making Hades feel cheated out of a body. Hades feels cheated out of a body because in the myths, Hades is the god of the dead and if Lysias were to die, as he was about to, then Hades would have received the soul (Hom., Il. 15.187). Also, Hades would have been cheated out of offerings as it was customary to burn offerings to Hades as part of funeral rites, so Hades would have been justified in his anger (Aesch., Sisyphus the Runaway. 338-341).
The myth ends with Poseidon, Hades, and Helios being angry at Zeus, resulting in a war amongst the four. The significance of this is that it can explain the effects of global warming. For instance, according to classical mythology, Poseidon is the god of droughts and earthquakes, which are effects of global warming (Ael., On Animals 12.45). In addition, Hades, as god of the Underworld, would gladly welcome a plethora of dead bodies into his realm and as such, would be willing to cause mass deaths such as through diseases which are another consequence of global warming. In fact, in ancient mythology, King Kreon refused to allow for the burial of the fallen warriors from the army of the Seven Against Thebes which resulted in Hades incurring a plague on Thebes (Ant. Lib., Met. 25), which shows that Hades has used plagues as punishment before.
As well, Helios, according to mythology, rides the chariot that controls the sun, and as such, his anger could result in the rising temperatures of global warming (Hom., Hom. Hymn Helios Hom. Hymns.31). Helios is angry with Zeus not only for rewarding Lysias for his destructive actions but also for not gifting him to make up for the damage caused by Lysias. This stems from the ancient Greek practice of xenia or hospitality (Doherty, The raft of Odysseus 122). In the Odyssey, xenia can be seen in many instances, for example, when Odysseus visits the Cyclopes and he takes a bag of wine in the hopes that he can exchange gifts (Hom., Od. IX.193-255). This can be applied to this myth, not in a traditional sense, but in the sense that by doing someone a favour, a gift is expected to be polite and hospitable. As well, it can be seen as giving someone a gift to make amends with them to prevent any ill relationship with them in the future. Thus, it is expected that Helios would be upset with Zeus for not presenting him with a gift for all his troubles. Additionally, Zeus can account for the frequent storms seen with global warming as he is the god of thunder and lightning, according to myth (Ps.-Orpheus, Orph. Hymn Zeus of Thunder The Orphic Hymns.19).
By the end of this myth, there is a raging war between Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and Helios that gets increasingly worse. This is important as it explains why the effects of global warming are getting worse as time goes on and it explains why the effects of global warming are being felt more and more in recent years. Finally, according to this myth interference by mortals have either helped the gods in resolving their issue or angered them further. The implication of this is that on a yearly basis, the effects of global arming fluctuates with some years being better and others being worse. Also, this means that while global warming may have been started by the gods, the actions of mankind have had impacts on it.
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