We are all familiar with the story of Persephone’s disappearance which resulted in an agreement between her mother, Demeter, and her capture, Hades, in which she spends six months of the year in the underworld with Hades and the other six months on Olympus with her mother. But what people do not know is that Persephone did not disappear only once but two times. It all started when Persephone left the underworld to spend time on Olympus, as a part of her agreement, but once the six months were over she did not return to the underworld as planned. Hades, as impatient as he is, sent her a message and waited a few days assuming she may have forgotten. While back at Olympus, there was an even bigger mystery because Persephone seemed to have disappeared weeks before her six months were over. This resulted in her mother Demeter, Goddess of agriculture and harvest, being plagued with sadness causing her to neglect her Godly duties leaving the immortals in a serious drought and lack of agriculture. Back in the underworld, Hades’ patience wears thin and he decides to visit Olympus himself after not only not hearing word back from Persephone but he suspects Zeus and Demeter are trying to break their agreement which angers him even more. Once he arrives at Olympus he confronts both Zeus and Demeter but he hears that she had disappeared weeks earlier. He voices his accusations of both of them hiding Persephone, Zeus’ pride gets the better of him and he in turn accuses Hades of doing the same thing and stealing Persephone for the second time. As a result, Persephone’s disappearance results in a domino effect of disasters being unleashed onto the mortal. Beginning with a never ending drought and infertility in the lands caused by Demeter, intense storms and rainfall resulting in increased water levels caused by Zeus due to his anger at Hades’ disrespect and accusations, and finally Hades unleashes disease and death onto the mortals. The powerful Gods leave the immortals to deal with this catastrophe until each side returns Persephone to the other. Therefore, Persephone's disappearance, again, results in one of the worst disasters immortals have had to deal with, global warming.
Analysis :
I decided to use the myth of Persephone found in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter as my base to explain the etiological myth regarding global warming. There are many effects of global warming that I wanted to use to explain its origin. I wanted to incorporate them using the Gods and Goddess, some of the effects being the rise in water levels, drought and infertility on lands, intense storms and death and disease. As illustrated in the Homeric Hymn, Persephone's disappearance results in an agreement in which she spends six months in the underworld and the other six month in Olympus, which explains the change in seasons because during the six months in which she is away from her mother, Demeter Goddess of agriculture and harvest, she neglects her godly duties due to the sadness she feel in losing her daughter which results in autumn and winter and when she returns to Olympus Demeter rejoices shining light onto Earth, which describes the seasons summer and Winter. (HH Dem. 470-495). I used this myth as my base because one of the main effects of global warming is seasonal changes so I thought it would be interesting to include some aspects of this myth because it is linked to global warming also. Additionally another effect of global warming is drought, which I incorporated by using the Goddess Demeter again who was considered the Goddess of earth (Eurip. Bach. 276) and agriculture (Homer Il. xiii. 322). She had already been illustrated as being emotional at losing Persephone the first time and having neglected her duties before so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to explain one of global warming's effects. In addition, the rise in water levels and storms is another result of global warming, which I incorporated using the God of weather, Zeus. In the Iliad, he is described as being armed with not only thunder and lighting, but also storms and he is referred to as “the thunderer, the gatherer of clouds…” (Il. xvii. 593). Water levels rise mostly due to heavy rainfall and because Zeus controls the weather, he was the best God to use in this case. Although he never really cared for Persephone, he is illustrated as being quite prideful so I knew he would be angered by an accusation, especially by Hades. The final effect of global warming I used is death and disease, which I incorporated using the God and ruler of the underworld and death, Hades. In the division of the cosmos, Hades drew the mists and darkness, anointing him as the ruler of the underworld, which he was not very happy about (Homer, Iliad XV. 187). Hades holds some animosity toward Zeus, so I used their relationship and short temper to my advantage.
Bibliography :
EURIPIDES. The Bacchae and other plays. Translation by Vellacott, P. The Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books.
“To Demeter.” Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, William Heinemann, 1920, pp. 470-495.
Homer., Richmond Lattimore, and Richard P Martin. The Iliad of Homer: Book XIII. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. Print.
Homer., Richmond Lattimore, and Richard P Martin. The Iliad of Homer: Book XVII. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. Print.
Homer., Richmond Lattimore, and Richard P Martin. The Iliad of Homer: Book XV. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. Print.