Part 1: Narrative Myth
“Sisters, let us sing the story that explains how the days are getting warmer and warmer, damning all of man in the future.”
Half-titan, half-man, Paracles, the son of Prometheus is more arrogant than his father to oppose the gods. Despite his power and strength being only second to the mighty Heracles, he boasts far too much pride and curiosity for a mere mortal. Paracles wanted to know how strong the gods were and if they were stronger than him. Out of this curiosity, shot the sun with a bow and arrow the sun just as Heracles did, but did not apologize for it. He would continue to do this for a year until he earned the embodiment of the sun, Helios’ attention.
“You dare to provoke me mortal? I, son of Hyperion, the god of the sun, Helios!”
“I know who you are,” said the hero, “I just want to measure my ability against yours O god of the sun.”
The confused god asks, “I see, what kind of contest do you have in mind?”
The mortal replies with, “I want to challenge you in a battle of wits and your all-seeing nature.”
Helios laughs, “If that is what you want fine human, but know you will not win.”
The hero says, “It would be my honor Helios, but before we start how about putting a friendly wager down. If I win this trial, I may ride your golden cup for a day, but if you win, I may be your slave.”
Helios broke out laughing at his proposition, as the hero really believed that he could win against an immortal. “That is fine as well son of Prometheus.”
“Then we shall begin” said the daring hero. He then decides to cover himself completely in cloth under the sun where Helios watches him from. He asks, “O great Helios, you who sees everything, what number is displayed on my hand?”.
Angered at the simplicity of such a task, Helios asks, “You dare mock me like this Paracles?”
“Are you angry over the fact that you may lose after boasting? Will you, a god go back on your word against a mortal like me?” said Paracles.
And so, the god guesses and by the luck of the hero, he is wrong.
So, like his father Prometheus, the hero tricks the sun god Helios and causes panic in Olympus as he rode Helios’ cup into the sacred place to see what it is like where the gods reside. Zeus, son of Kronos did not take this too lightly and immediately punished the young hero. As punishment for the rash actions, Zeus and Helios devised a plan where if there ever comes a time where humans are ever stronger than the gods and hold control over the earth, then Helios in his cup will come closer to the planet slowly, eventually melting the planet, killing off man for good.
Part 2: Narrative Myth Analysis
Aetiological myths by definition are myths that explain natural phenomena. One famous example of this concept is Hesiod’s Theogony, which attempts to explain all of creation in Greek myth, including the creation of the aspects of the earth and even the gods. In this personally created aetiological myth, it tries to explain why we experience global warming. This myth attempts to explain this as the result of a foolish hero’s actions, where all of mankind pays the price. In this analysis of this myth, there are many references to classic Greek mythology through its plot, characters, and major theme it expresses through its plot and characters. From these few aspects of this aetiological myth, we can develop a better understanding of why certain details and actions are the way they are in this myth and how similar it is to other Greek myths.
The plot of this aetiological myth starts with a song from what seems to be the nine Muses, hinting at the possibility of this story being either completely fictional or real, acting as a reference to when the Muses tell Hesiod their stories in Hesiod’s Theogony (Hes. Th. 25-30). By this myth having this property, it presents the possibility that this myth could be real but forgotten in history or just another lie from the muses like other myths where they make an appearance. This myth is inspired by the myth of Icarus and borrows its major theme of respecting the power of nature, with the concept of a hero that does not fear gods. In this case, we have a hero in Paracles who carries all the qualities of a Greek hero we have observed in class such as great strength, great achievements, and cunning. However, like Icarus, he does not fear the sun or the embodiment of the sun, Helios, and is punished for his hubris. This lack of respect for the gods in this case is attributed to his hubris, curiosity, and lineage as the son of Prometheus who also outsmarted the gods and was also punished for his actions. To test the gods, he seeks out Helios and challenges him to a game that supposedly favors him as a means to meet the other gods of Olympus through Helios’ cup and test his strength against them. Paracles succeeds by tricking the god, taking advantage of Helios’ supposedly all-seeing eyes and makes it to Olympus. After stopping Paracles’ plans, Helios and Zeus agree that in the case humans as a collective ever become too powerful and monopolize the earth, then Helios in his chariot would approach the earth slowly over time, eventually wiping out humanity altogether. These events described by the gods are similar to what we are experiencing in the world today as humans have seemingly conquered the earth with no opposition from the gods, which could explain why we are experiencing global warming.
From the myth, we can learn a lot about the characters based on their characteristics portrayed through the story. The main character of the story, Paracles is a fictional character designed for this myth. He possesses power on par with Heracles given his feat of strength in shooting the sun with a bow and arrow every day for a year. Heracles did this during his tenth labor where he earns the respect of Helios and his golden cup by doing this act (Apollod. 2.5.10). He is named Paracles, as he is alike or parallel to the great Greek hero in terms of strength. What makes Paracles different from other Greek heroes is that he does not fear the gods as other heroes do based on how he interacts with Helios and all of Olympus. Normally, heroes of Greece greatly respect the gods, but Paracles does not care too much about that given that he is the son of Prometheus, the one who outsmarted Zeus and willfully gave fire to humans (Hes. Th. 550-572). Like his father, Paracles is a powerful being relative to other humans, but still pales in comparison to the Greek gods and pays the price of outsmarting a god, dooming the rest of humanity with the possibility of global warming, instead of the curse of women like his father has done.
Another character present in this myth is the god of the sun, Helios. From Hesiod’s Theogony, he is described to be the son of the titans Hyperion and Theia, and sibling to Selene and Eos (Hes. Th. 372-375). He is not too represented in classical Greek myth, but when he is mentioned, he plays a big role. For example, he is considered to be all-seeing as he is the only one to witness Persephone being abducted by Hades from the sky and tells Demeter who is concerned for her daughter (HH.2.1-89). Helios is also said to have either a golden cup or chariot pulled by horses, both are a means of transportation as he journeys through the sky into the oceans. As previously mentioned, he lends it to Heracles during his labors as a cup or has a chariot with horses described in the Homeric Hymns (HH.31). By including these characteristics of Helios found in other Greek myths, it adds to the accuracy of his character in this myth.
The last character that makes a brief appearance in the myth is the son of Kronos, Zeus. In this story, Zeus works together with Helios to deal punishment to Paracles and the rest of mankind by having the sun approach the planet if humanity were to ever be more powerful than the gods. This is not the first time the two work together to punish humans as they have done this before to Odysseus’ men in Homer’s Odyssey. It was when Odysseus’ men betrayed his orders to not steal from the sun god was when they received punishment through the lightning bolts of Zeus, killing every man besides Odysseus (Hom. Od. 12.415-420). The actions behind Zeus are justified in his character as he is willing to do anything to preserve his power and not be overthrown by man, like the time where Zeus would swallow his children so that his potential son would not overthrow him from his position of power (Hes. Th. 891-899). To protect his seat of power, he is willing to do anything, even killing off humanity with Helios’ help in this case. The characters of this story are closely related to each other and their counterparts in classic Greek myths upon examination and together show the core theme of this myth.
From only the plot and characters, we can see one bold theme covered in this aetiological myth, that theme being that mortals should not get too greedy and attempt to get close to the gods as they will be harmed in the process. The gods represent nature as a whole and as man, represented by Paracles, gets closer and closer to something that is far beyond them, man will only hurt itself in the end because of this power. Paracles, a hero on par with Heracles is punished by actual gods and all of humanity suffers because of his actions. This is not a new theme in classical Greek myth as seen through the short myth that inspired this aetiological myth about Daedalus and his son Icarus. In this myth, Daedulus and Icarus are to escape the labyrinth they are trapped in by creating wings of wax and feathers, Icarus becomes greedy ignoring the warnings from his father and approached the sun, ultimately killing him as the wax melted (Apollod. Epit. E.1). There are many similarities between the two stories. Both Paracles and Icarus showed their extreme hubris, got too close to the sun god Helios, and paid the price for their actions. Both stories share the core concept of humans being punished for pushing their boundaries and are punished by nature as a result.
From the topics analyzed above, one can see there are many references to traditional Greek myth in this personally developed aetiological myth. By examining the plot, we can see many references to other Greek heroes such as Heracles and items in the golden cup that Helios rides. Also, by examining the characters, we can see many similarities and differences between Paracles and Heracles, and why Helios and Zeus act the way they do in this myth. Lastly, by considering both the plot and characters we can finally see the major theme of the myth, which is that humans should not get too full of themselves and try to be gods as they will be hurt from the action. It is from this myth and its connections to classic Greek myths that we can see a possible way in which global warming came to be on earth.
Works Cited
Apollodorus. Epitome. 1921. Translated by Sir James George Frazer. London: W. Heinemann.
Apollodorus. Library. 1921. Translated by Sir James George Frazer. London: W. Heinemann.
Hesiod. Theogony. 1993. Translated by Robert Lamberton. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co.
Homer. Odyssey. 2004. Translated by A.S. Kline. London: Poetry in Translation.
Homeric Hymns. 2004. Translated by Scott R. Smith, Stephen Brunet, Thomas G. Palaima.
Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co.
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