Myth
Long, long ago, all of the earth’s people lived in peace, communication between the people was as clear as could be; all the people saw eye-to-eye. The truth had always been clear, thanks to the goddess Aletheia, which made it easy to keep the peace because all were in agreement. This reign of peace did not last long, however. One unfortunate afternoon, the young Narcissus saw the goddess Aletheia and was dumbfounded by her divine beauty. Narcissus was an incredibly charming being, he was accustomed to everyone he'd ever wanted falling at his feet, and so, when the gracious goddess did not take notice of the young man, he became angry and confused, and quickly ran to Prometheus, knowing he could easily solve his problems. However, Narcissus, in his agitation, instead of seeking a way to please the goddess, requested that Prometheus offend the goddess Aletheia in any way he could, as a punishment for hurting his feelings and ignoring his attempts to reach out to her. Prometheus sends his most trusted pupil, Dolos, and the goddess Apate, to put Aletheia in distress. Dolos, being crafty and creative, had created a nearly identical copy of Aletheia, which Prometheus named Mendacium, representing disinformation. Dolos released this being on the mortals of the world, giving them all the illusion of being the truth (Aletheia), when in fact, only wrong information was being spread. Apate continues on this mission of eliminating any power and influence Aletheia may have had on the mortal world, spreading only false information until almost no truth was clear. In her distress, Aletheia could not handle this overwhelming spread of lies and decided to surrender herself to the underworld, not wanting to exist in such a world brimming with falsehood. This made Narcissus satisfied, not only him, but it also satisfied Prometheus. Prometheus could now control every truth that the mortals would come to see, and he would now use this power to gain leverage against the other Olympians. The titan god had three masters of deception at his service, ready to make the mortals see and believe anything he pleased. And from then on, all the people of the earth could never directly see the truth, but only what Prometheus desired.
Analysis
Disinformation is defined as misleading information, sometimes in the form of propaganda presented to the media or to competitors (Dictionary.com). Throughout my myth, I use the recurring theme of the disagreement between the Titans and the gods of Olympus to give motivation behind the theme of spreading disinformation amongst people, in order to allow my myth to account for the phenomenon of dis-information and the post-truth era.
I firstly chose the Titan Prometheus due to him being assigned to create humans, and so, I felt this was the perfect character that would fit the theme of being controlling or manipulative, which was the theme of this phenomenon, since he was the creator of mankind itself, and so I found this gave him a sort of preliminary power over the people as compared to any other Titan or God. Prometheus was also included due to the fact that he could use this power he had over people and knowing the people most likely better than any of the other gods or titans, to manipulate information in the best way he found possible, which would make the act of spreading disinformation for him quite easy, which is also another reason why I had picked this Titan god for the myth, since it would make the most believable and reasonable explanation for a phenomenon such as the vast spread of disinformation and manipulation of objective truths in today’s society. In addition to this, Prometheus is patron of “forethought and crafty counsel” (“Prometheus - Greek Titan God of Forethought, Creator of Mankind”), which also contributed to the theme of disinformation, in that due to his ability to think forward, he can anticipate the best way he would want mortals to react to certain things, and would in turn make them believe certain truths which would contribute to his visions. He was also described by Hesiod in his Theogony that Prometheus was “full of various wiles” (507). His creativity, in terms of his “crafty counsel” (“Prometheus - Greek Titan God of Forethought, Creator of Mankind”), also contributes to this. I also found that the use of a Titan god instead of a mere god would best parallel the greater control that governments and the media really has on the spread of false information in our society, which is also why I specifically chose a Titan god rather than just a god.
Secondly, in terms of Narcissus, I had picked this character because of his nature of being madly in love with himself, that it inevitably caused his doom. This quality of his made it more natural and believable that he would get very unreasonably angry when any other individual would refute this and would not instantly fall in love with his beauty, as he was so confident in his own beauty and charm. For this reason, Narcissus was chosen as a character that would take the situation out of hand, and in turn, give the opportunity for Prometheus to take advantage of this and reclaim a greater power over the people, causing the beginning of an era filled with his control to commence, in the context of this phenomenon and our society, this can be paralleled by the post-truth era. Furthermore, in terms of our current society, the behaviour of Narcissus can be sort of observed with some of our society’s influential individuals, which is another reason I thought this character would make an ideal addition to the myth.
Thirdly, to discuss Alitheia, I picked this character for several reasons. Firstly, Aletheia, or in another sense that would make more sense for the analysis, “the truth”, is a necessity for any story, but especially to create a myth for this phenomenon, which is based around misleading lies, the truth is important to be encapsulated as a meaningful factor of any events that were to unfold. However, I had also chosen to include one character of truth and about three characters of deception and mischief to better outline the fact about how easily the truth is to overshadow and dominate, to the point at which there is no point in the truth attempting to make itself known any longer, referring to when Aletheia surrendered herself to the underworld in my myth above. Secondly, as Pindar says in his Olympian Ode, Altheia is a daughter of Zeus, and so, this continues the theme intended of a rivalry between the Titans and the gods, as in this case Altheia is on the opposing side to Narcissus and Dolus and Apate, as Zeus is on the opposing side to Prometheus (11. 6).
Next, to discuss Apate, as Hesiod also describes in his Theogony, was there to “afflict mortal men'' (211). I chose this character for similar reasons to Prometheus, that Apate has a nature for creating affliction and being deceitful, however, as the quote states, this goddess has a more direct effect on the mortals, and so I have chosen her as a means to carry out the spread of disinformation because of this.
Lastly, to discuss Dolus, one of Prometheus’ more recent apprentices as described by Aesop in his Fables (530). The mention of the creation of a trick model of the goddess Aletheia can also be found in Aesop’s Fables (530), where it mentions how “Fired by ambition, Dolus (Trickery) used the time at his disposal to fashion with his sly fingers a figure of the same size and appearance as Veritas (Truth) [Aletheia] with identical features….That forgery, that product of subterfuge, thus acquired the name of Mendacium [Pseudologos, Falsehood]”. And so, one of the main reasons Dolus was included in the myth was his creation of this character, as it was a very direct way to completely counter the truth, Aletheia in this case, as it was almost an exact replica of her, but had completely opposing actions, where Aletheia was truth, and Mendacium was Falsehood. He was also chosen to represent the spread of disinformation for this phenomenon due to his crafty abilities as well, which also parallels the way that in our society, the deceptive statements are often as creative as can be in order for them to be believable for us.
Bibliography
Aesop, Fables (from Babrius 126) (translated by Gibbs) (Greek fable C6th B.C.). 531
Aesop, Fables (from Phaedrus Appendix 5) (translated by Gibbs) (Greek fable C6th B.C.) 530
Hesiod, Theogony (translated by Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.). 211
Hesiod, Theogony (translated by Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.). 507
Pausanias, Description of Greece (translated by Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.). 9. 31. 7 - 9
Pindar, Olympian Ode (translated by Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) 11. 6
Dictionary.com. “‘Misinformation’ vs. ‘Disinformation’: Get Informed On The Difference.” Dictionary.Com, 19 Jan. 2021, www.dictionary.com/e/misinformation-vs-disinformation-get-informed-on-the-difference
“PROMETHEUS - Greek Titan God of Forethought, Creator of Mankind.” Theoi.Com, www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html.
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