When Hephestus was finally done polishing the last bit of golden surface with his brush, he took a step back and admired his work.
“Now this is more fitting for a fiery god like you. That old wooden raft was destined to be destroyed by the sea rocks.”
Helios gasped.”I knew you were talented, but this is extraordinary! This golden boat will reflect the rays of my sun when I steer it across the sea!”
“It comes with a nice bed and a perfect space to hold your sun, you don’t have to worry about it slipping away” Hephestus replied.
Helios couldn’t believe the favour he was being granted. All of this just for casually snitching on an affair.
“I know what you are thinking. Aphrodite cheated on me behind my back, and you were the only one that cared enough to let me know. You are the only god who did not laugh in my face at my humiliation, so take this boat as a token of my gratitude. I hope that you will be able to carry the sun across the oceans with more ease”
Helios was at a loss for words.
“Thank you Hephestus, I hope one day the Olympians will treat you with the respect you deserve”.
After departing the blacksmith’s forge, Helios was eager to begin his shift earlier than his usual time.
Just above the black waves of the sea was the pale glowy moon, peeking out from the horizon.
Helios sighed. “She is beautiful, but it is my sun’s turn now.”
And with that Helios immediately prepared the boat to set sail on the oceans. He took off his ring and placed it in the boat. He watched as the ring grew in size, transforming into a radiant ball of light. The rays of the sun danced across the golden surface of the deck, casting brilliant red and orange colours across the sails.
Helios was pleased. “The mortals will awaken to the most beautiful sunrise tomorrow.”
Helios set sail towards the land of the Aithiope in the east. After remembering Hephestes’s words, he decided to take advantage of the built-in bed and take a restful nap. However the nap turned into a restful sleep. By the time Helios woke up, he found himself off route, with the boat drifting aimlessly towards the South.
“Oh no! I’m almost behind schedule!”
Just as Helios was about to turn the boat around, he saw a beautiful figure perched on a rock not further than 10 metres away from him.
“Helios! Over here!” a pretty voice called.
Helios’s heart fluttered when it recognized the sound of Aphrodite’s voice.
“Aphrodite, what are you doing here at this time?” He called back.
Aphrodite replied, “Hephestus chained my arms to this rock after he found out what I did. I don’t know how long I’ve been here. Can you unbound me please?”
Helios thought she sounded desperate and pitied her. He steered the boat towards her voice. When he got close enough, he pulled himself up onto the rock. However the rays of the sun revealed that her hands were not in fact chained. The moment of realization hit him too late when Aphrodite shoved him hard into the deep waters.
Aphrodite then called out, “Thelxiope, Molpe, Aglaophonos! There is a fine gentleman waiting for your rescue!”
Aphrodite immediately stuffed her ears with seaweed, climbed down the rock and sailed away with Helios’s boat.
She clutched the ball of light in her hands and watched it shrink down to a ring. “I will wear this ring whenever I please and this time there will be no one to witness my indecency”
To this day, the sun misses Helios, and radiates brighter than ever in hopes of helping Helios find his way back. However, the mortals have decided that Helios is no longer a god worth worshipping after becoming tired of facing endless droughts and fires. Little do they know that the cause is the sun’s everlasting love for his father.
ANALYSIS
I have written this myth in an attempt to explain the cause of global warming. As we all know global warming is a result of increased levels of greenhouse gases, causing increases in temperatures and changes in weather patterns. I have decided to focus on the “increase in temperature” part of global warming since I felt that it was the easiest to connect that with the sun, a natural element. Helios is mostly recognized as the sun God in Greek mythology, since in several myths he is described to be responsible for carrying the sun from east to west. In my myth, I keep certain details from other literature when I mention how he first sets sail towards the island of Aithiope, which is equivalent to the sun rising in the East (Mimnermus, Fragment 12). In different stories, Helios is described to transport the sun across the heavens with a chariot, or transport it across the oceans with a boat. I have decided to keep Helios on a boat because it keeps Helios near the element of water. The ocean is also where Aphrodite was born, since she was literally formed from the sea form from Ouranos’s parts, making water Aphrodite’s element (Hesiod, Theogony 176 ff). This makes it more believable to have Aphrodite chilling on a rock in the ocean, since she would be in her own element. The Ocean is also a dangerous place since it contains sirens. The 3 sirens’ names are Thelxiope, Molpe, and Aglaophonos (Hesiod, Catalogues of Women Fragment 47). These Sirens are known to be very attractive and deadly and can even charm gods, such as the wind god(Hesiod, Catalogues of Women Fragment 47). They can lure sailors with the sounds of their voice and then drown them. In my myth, Helios is technically a sailor which makes him just as vulnerable to the sirens’ trap.In my myth, Aphrodites shoves Helios into the water because she is angry at Helios for catching her cheating on Hephaestus with Ares. Aphrodite’s disloyalty to Hephesthus is evident in other myths, where she was caught in bed with Ares (Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 170 ff) . So when Hephestus found out through Helios, Hephestus traps Aphrodite and Ares in a net as a result of his rage(Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 170 ff). Hephestus also is described as the one to craft Helios’s chariot or boat in other myths (Mimnermus, Fragment 12). So in my story I decided to connect the 3 main immortal characters by connecting the event of Aphrodites’s affair to the event of Hephaestus’s creation of Helios’s boat. The difference here is that Aphorodite pretends that she is chained to a rock and fools Helios into thinking that she was chained by Hephestus. Helios easily falls into her trap since he was too blinded by her beauty to think straight (just like anyone else would be in the presence of Aphrodite). In the beginning of my story, Hephestus tells Helios how he is the only god that does not make fun of him, implying that he is treated disrespectfully by the other gods and goddesses. In ancient sources, Hephestus is often described as a lame god and is often humiliated by other gods due to his ugliness and physical limp (Odyssey viii, 311, 330). In my myth, I portrayed Hephestus as a kind character who will generously repay favours by crafting useful items. Not only does my myth explain the cause of global warming, but it also includes the themes of honesty, loyalty and deception.
Helios displayed honesty towards Hephestus when he informed Hephestus of Aphrodite’s indecency and did not laugh at Hephestus’ humiliation. Hephestus reciprocated his loyalty by crafting a boat for Helios. Aphrodite displayed disloyalty and dishonesty towards Hephestus when she cheated on him with Ares. Because she got caught by Helios, Aphrodite wanted revenge. She decided to deceive Helios by pretending that she was in need of help, then drowning him with the help of the sirens. Aphrodite now possesses the sun. However, the sun is only very loyal to its master, Helios. In this myth, Helios is like a father to the sun, which is why sometimes Helios says, “My sun” instead of “the sun”. The sun is not happy with Aphrodite, and now radiates so much more heat and light in hopes of signaling Helios, in an attempt to help Helios find his way back to the sun. The sun stubbornly believes that his father is alive (even though he is actually dead), and as long as this belief persists, the sun will continue to immensely radiate heat and light. The sun’s loyalty for Helios is what drives global warming.
Modern myths are always expected to have some sort of moral or lesson to be taught. However, even though honesty is a valuable character trait, displaying honesty is what led Helios to his death. The “villain” of my myth: Aphrodite, did not experience any consequences as a result of her actions towards Helios. The only thing she got out of this was a new fashion statement: the ring. Helios carried his sun when he was off shift, in the form of a ring that he could wear with him at any time. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, now wears the ring whenever she pleases, and does not have a distinct schedule like Helios did. Aphrodite’s unpredictable nature is the reason why weather is becoming more unpredictable and random.
Bibliography:
1. ibid. xviii, 410 ff.; Odyssey viii, 311, 330:
“On that occasion he offered a cup of nectar to his mother and the other gods, who burst out into immoderate laughter on seeing him busily hobbling through Olympus from one god to another, for he was ugly and slow, and, owing to the weakness of his legs, he was held up, when he walked, by artificial supports, skilfully made of gold.”
2. Homer, Odyssey 8. 267 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
“But Helios (the sun-god) had seen them in their dalliance and hastened away to tell Hephaistos; to him the news was bitter as gall”
3. Seneca, Phaedra 124 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :
"Venus [Aphrodite], detesting the offspring of the hated Sol [Helios the Sun], is avenging through us [i.e. Pasiphae, Phaedra] the chains that bound her to her loved Mars [Ares],”
4. Mimnermus, Fragment 12 (trans. Gerber, Vol. Greek Elegiac) (Greek elegy C7th B.C.) :
"A lovely bed, hollow, forged by the hands of Hephaistos, of precious gold and winged, carries him [Helios the Sun], as he sleeps soundly, over the waves on the water's surface from the place of the Hesperides [the place of his setting in the West] to the land of the Aithiopes [the place of his rising in the East]."
5. Hesiod, Catalogues of Women Fragment 47 (from Scholiast on Homer's Odyssey 12. 168) (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
"He [Apollonius] followed Hesiod who thus names the island of the Seirenes (Sirens) : ‘To the island Anthemoessa (Flowery) which the son of Kronos (Cronus) [Zeus] gave them. And their names are Thelxiope or Thelxinoe, Molpe and Aglaophonos. Hence Hesiod said that they charmed even the Anemoi (Winds).’"
6. Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 170 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
“Then Volcanus' [Hephaistos'] heart fell, and from his deft blacksmith's hands fell too the work he held. At once he forged a net, a mesh of thinnest links of bronze, too fine for eye to see [with which he laid a trap for the lovers Aphrodite and Ares] . . . Cythereia [Aphrodite] did not forget. Him [Helios] who revealed and brought to ruin the love she hoped to hide she punished with a love as ruinous.”
7. Hesiod, Theogony 176 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) :
“and so soon as he had cut off the members with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea, they were swept away over the main a long time: and a white foam spread around them from the immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden. First she drew near holy Kythera, and from there, afterwards, she came to sea-girt Kypros, and came forth an awful and lovely goddess, and grass grew up about her beneath her shapely feet. Her gods and men call Aphrodite”
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