Pankosmia Thermansi: The Tale of Olympian Revenge and Accountability

Myth

Long ago, the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus were at the peak of worship: their tales were delivered through accounts of divine messengers, inspired by the muses. However, since that time, other religions gained in popularity, and what was once truth faded into myth and legend of the past. Now, the human race has effectively forgotten about the deities of Mount Olympus: replaced by other religions. The Olympians were furious with the human race, and sought to regain the respect they deserved through tumultuous acts of revenge. This is the story of how the Gods and Goddesses enacted their retaliation on humankind.

“For thousands of years the mortals worshipped us, and now we have been dismissed as forms of mere folklore to be forgotten with time!” Zeus thundered. The other Olympians too, felt this same frustration, and were stewing with rage.

“Even after we have proven that we have control over everything they know and do, they still choose to place their faith in other ‘religions’!” retorted Poseidon.

“Well, this lack of faith is deeply disturbing”, agreed Hera, “I think the mortals need to suffer retribution for their acts!”

The Gods and Goddesses came to the conclusion that they would punish the human race over thousands of years through many environmental changes. However, they knew that humans were intelligent, yet impatient, so they decided to gradually increase the severity of their alterations. This would allow their actions to go unnoticed until they reached a point of extremity where the human race could do nothing in the face of these environmental changes. At their peak, these actions were designed to devastate humankind and the planet they dwelled on.

It all began with Hephaestus and Hestia. The pair started to increase the temperature of the Earth. With this, the vast frigid poles of the planet started to melt. Not to be outdone, Poseidon created many floods to damage and render the grounds that many humans lived on to be unstable. Poseidon along with his brother, Zeus, summoned intense deluge, sweeping winds, intense earthquakes, and roaring winds across the Earth. These storms flattened many human civilizations and incited fear in the hearts of mankind. Demeter, Apollo, and Artemis united in their strike against human resources, with Demeter causing famine by preventing crops from flourishing and Artemis and Apollo spreading disease amongst livestock. Seeing as how the other Olympians were becoming increasingly aggressive, Hephaestus and Hestia caused great fires to erupt across the planet, swallowing the many landscapes that the humans once treasured.

The other Olympians were pleased with these forms of passionate outrage, and sought to hold the human race accountable for their lack of faith. It is because of the mortals’ ignorance and disbelief in the Gods, Goddesses, and their powers that the world today is plagued with violent storms, a temperamental climate, engulfing floods, hostile tremors, unhealthy crops, and dwindling animal populations. These are the consequences of the human race, for misplacing their faith and attention. The only way for these acts of vengeance to cease is through acts of reparations to the Olympians, and to acknowledge their wrongdoings.

Analysis

I chose to write an aetiological myth about global warming because it is a topic that I am very passionate about. In my opinion, it is because of human ignorance and arrogance toward the clear data of science (which has been warning about climate change for years) that the climate crisis has reached the extremity that it has presently. I chose to have that same theme in my myth and wanted it to come across that it is the fault of mankind that these disasters are happening around us. A prevalent theme in Greek Mythology is the punishment of hubris/arrogant behaviour. An example of this can be seen in Hesiod’s Works and Days where Zeus punishes mankind for their arrogance and hostility toward one another. In this myth, it is said that “those who practice violence and cruel deeds far-seeing Zeus, the son of Cronos, ordains a punishment.” (Hesiod, Works and Days. 238-248). This punishment often involves punishing many people, even whole cities, no matter how many or few sinners there are, with natural disasters, famine, disease, and/or death (Hesiod, Works and Days. 238-248). This is also seen in verses 170-200 of Works and Days, where Hesiod predicts that the human race will be destroyed when all religious and moral standards are ignored, and men are born with grey hair. I chose to base my myth on this idea, with the human race being punished by Zeus and the other Olympians for their ignorance and ignoring the Gods/Goddesses. In Hesiod’s Works and Days part of the punishment of hubris/arrogance is the worsening levels of punishment to correspond with the gradual descent of man through the many ages (Hesiod, Works and Days. 109-201). I chose to implement a similar notion of “gradual punishment” in my myth, however, I did this because of a different reason. Climate change gradually increased over millennia, with it growing into a severe global issue in the past couple centuries. I chose to make the Olympians’ acts of revenge to have a similar arc of increasing extremity: escalating from minor temperature changes to natural disasters and emergencies like “great fires [erupting] across the planet, swallowing … landscapes”.

I also noticed that the means of Zeus’ retribution mentioned by Hesiod are quite similar to the effects of global warming, such as natural disaster, disease, and famine, so I chose to use these similarities in my myth. A change I did make, however, was by involving Olympians other than Zeus. I chose to do this to make it seem as though many Olympians had the same goal of punishing the humans. Firstly, I chose to include Zeus’ brother, Poseidon. I felt Poseidon’s ties and powers involving the ocean, floods, and earthquakes perfectly aligned with the effects of global warming seen in the modern era. This is seen when Laomedon did not pay Poseidon for his help in building the Trojan wall, resulting in Poseidon sending floods and a sea monster to Troy (Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica. 4. 42). In myth, Poseidon (like many other Greek Gods/Goddesses) seems to have a fiery temper. This is seen throughout Homer’s Odyssey, when Poseidon unleashes his fury against Odysseus with storms, the loss of his ship/companions, and a ten-year delay in his sea-voyage to Ithaca for blinding his son, Polyphemus (Homer, Odyssey). The connections between his abilities and temper make Poseidon an excellent candidate to punish the human race through global warming related disasters. I chose to include Zeus for similar reasons, as he is also known for being quick to enact vengeance, and his manipulation of winds, storms, and lightning makes him a suitable portion of the personification of global warming in my myth. These powers related to lightning and storm can be seen through Zeus’ punishment of Lycaon by striking Lycaon’s house with a lightning bolt for butchering his grandson (Eratosthenes, Catasterismi. 8). I chose to involve both Hephaestus and Hestia in my myth for the soul reason that they are both deities that have powers/themes revolving around fire and heat, with Hephaestus being a God of fire, smithing and metalworking, and Hestia being a Goddesses of the sacrificial flame and the hearth (Orphic Hymn 83). In ancient myth, Hephaestus demonstrates his control of fire and flame dry the Scamander river to force a deity that was attacking Achilles to retreat (Homer, Iliad. 20. 54-75). I chose for their actions to start out with minor temperature increases and then increase to large fires to mimic the pattern of global warming. I also included Demeter, Apollo, and Artemis, as I believed their abilities would be able to provide the origins for the agricultural/livestock related repercussions of global warming in my myth. Demeter is the Olympian goddess of agriculture, sustenance, grain and bread (Homeric Hymn 2). Because of this, I chose her actions of revenge to involve her “no longer doing her job” by ceasing crop growth, resulting in the famine that is seen in many regions due to global warming in the modern-era. I also integrated Artemis in my myth because she is the goddess of the hunt and wild animals (Callimachus, Hymn 3). Her role in my myth is to explain the climate-related animal extinctions characteristic of the current world we live in. A recent study reveals that one-third of the plant and animal species on the planet could be at risk of extinction because of climate change (Román-Palacios and Wiens, 2020), so I chose to bestow this “task of vengeance” upon Artemis. Similarly to Demeter, Artemis’ wild animals sustained the human race, and now, outraged, she chose to eradicate many animals in response to mankind’s betrayal in my myth. I also chose to involve her twin brother, Apollo, in my myth’s punishment of the human race. Apollo is described as being the God of disease, healing, and plague. Just like his sister, he decided to act against the human race by no longer performing the duties he is known for. In my myth, Apollo stops healing humans, and decides to infect the world with disease and plagues, to kill livestock, crops, and humans alike. This is similar to Greek myth, when Apollo sent waves of pestilence and disease to Troy as a consequence of Laomedon’s refusal to pay Apollo for his assistance in fortifying the city (Diodorus Siculus. Bibliotheca historica. 4. 42). Because of global warming, many diseases have been able to flourish, such as the swine/bird flu, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, I chose to attribute these “side-effects” of global warming to Apollo. Hera also makes a brief appearance in this myth, saying she finds the human’s lack of faith “disturbing”. This is an allusion to the many instances of Zeus being unfaithful to her in Greek Mythology. Hera is the victim of “cheated on” by her partner, Zeus, several times, which causes her to act out of revenge. Similarly, Hera feels as though she has been betrayed by humankind and the choice to “move on” to other religions. In Greek Mythology, Hera is one of the leading figureheads of Mount Olympus. In my myth I wanted her to have an “instigating” role, leading the stride that mankind needed to be punished for their lack of faith.