Myth:
Klima is the beautiful goddess of climate and temperature, the daughter of Gaea, and the sister of the Horae, the goddesses of seasons and time. Klima’s gift is climate control through her emotions, and while mainly happy and calm, she is easily angered resulting in a rise of temperature on Earth. Together, Klima and her sisters spend most days maintaining the climate on Earth to ensure mortals and demigods are able to thrive on these lands. While Klima is powerful, her sisters receive more recognition from the Olympian gods for guarding the gates of Olympus and serving as Queen Hera’s handmaidens. Klima longs to have her power acknowledged by the gods; she craves recognition as the more powerful sister, not simply the sister to the Horae. After years of resenting the praise for her sisters, Klima is overcome with jealousy and travels to the city of Delphi to visit the Oracle, the Pythia, necessitous of a prophecy about her future. Since her mother, Gaea, was granted the highest honour by the Pythia, Klima expects a prophecy detailing her future recognition from the Olympians. However, she is presented with a prophecy stating how her hunger for status and power will lead to her greatest downfall. Vexed and in disbelief, Klima voices her anger, oblivious Hera is listening. Hera, pitying Klima, offers her a task to prove her worth, prove she is better than her sisters, and promises that if Klima impresses her, she will be given a place on Mount Olympus. Unable to refuse this offer, Klima accepts the task to serve as Hera’s sole handmaiden, replacing her three sisters. While spending months on Mount Olympus balancing the Earth’s climate and tending to Hera’s needs acting specifically as a midwife, Klima catches the attention of Zeus, Hera’s husband. Entranced by her beauty, Zeus attempts to persuade Klima into an affair, and while tempted, she refuses knowing she will jeopardize her chance for status by betraying Hera. Unable to handle her rejection, Zeus promises to ensure that she is immediately worshipped by Olympus, however, he has no intention of keeping this promise. Unaware of Zeus’ future deception, her thirst for status and praise overpowers her judgement and she agrees to Zeus’ proposition. While Klima believes she has finally gotten what she wants, Hera learns of the affair and immediately plans a dreadful punishment as consequence of Klima’s betrayal. Hera sends Klima to Earth to complete a false task, and once Klima arrives, Hera banishes her and she will remain on Earth eternally with no further recognition from the Gods. Klima, now in a state of constant rage, is exiled on Earth with a climate she controls through her emotions. Her eternal rage causes the Earth’s temperature to rise and brings periods of drought, flood, and famine, as she lashes out her feelings of deception onto the mortals. The confinement of Klima fuels her rage, ultimately resulting in the trapping of the heat she expels, thereby warming the Earth to temperatures above normal.
Analysis:
When creating this myth explaining the origin of global warming, I chose to incorporate various gods with ties to nature including Gaea, the Horae, Hera, and Zeus. However, I also chose to create a new goddess, Klima, the daughter of Gaea. Klima, which means climate in Greek, controls the Earth’s climate. I chose to have Gaea as her sole parent as Gaea is known to be a personified version of the Earth who gives birth to all of Earth’s features. As stated in the Theogony, Gaea gave birth to the sky, Ouranos, the sea, Pontos, and the mountains, The Ourea, without needing a mate and then day and night, and other aspects of Earth with other mates (Hes, Theog, 117-133). Since Gaea is responsible for every earthly creation, I utilized this to form the connection between Klima and her ability to control an aspect of the earth, the climate, despite it not being a physical feature such as mountains.
I also chose to have Klima as the sister of the Horae, whose depiction I kept similar to that used in various Greek myths. The Horae are three goddesses in control of the seasons, the natural portions of time, and serve as guards to Olympus as well as Hera’s handmaidens (Quint. Smyrn, Fall of Troy 10, 334-ff). However, while Zeus and Themis are the Horae’s parents, I chose to have them as sisters to Klima as their abilities are similar to Klima’s, which enabled me to create the aspect of sibling rivalry (Apollod, Bibl 1, 13). Sibling rivalry, especially over power, can be seen throughout Greek myth. In my myth, Klima was overcome with jealousy as her sisters were noticed by the Olympian gods as more powerful and successful. Her reaction and desire for the recognition and status her sisters have is similar, yet to a lesser degree, to the jealousy and rage that Thyestes felt when his brother, Atreus, took possession of the throne in Mycenae (Sen, Thyestes, 195-323). Throughout the play Thyestes, both brothers are power hungry and act on their feelings of rage and jealousy as means to retake the throne of Mycenae from the brother currently possessing it, embodying this motif of sibling rivalry (Sen, Thyestes, ff).
The other characters I have included within my myth include Hera, Zeus, and the Oracle of Delphi. Similarly to my depictions of Gaea and the Horae, these characters also remain similar to their depiction throughout Greek myth. Hera is known to be the queen of Olympus, as she is married to Zeus, and is the goddess of marriage and the sky (Orph, Hymn 15 Hera). She is depicted as hostile and easily angered by Homer throughout her appearances in the Iliad, specifically in book I, when Hera argues with Zeus over his support for Achilles (Hom, Il. I, 532-561). She is also known to be vengeful and vindictive, especially to the women who have had an affair with her husband. For example, in Pseudo-Apollodorus’ Bibliotheca, Hera is overcome with rage that Alkmene, one of Zeus’ lovers, is about to give birth to Zeus’ son. Hera persuades the goddess of childbirth, Eileithyia, to hold back Alkmene’s labour, in an attempt to stop Heracles, the child of Alkmene and Zeus, from being born (Apollod, Bibl 2, 53). The Oracle of Delphi, also known as the Pythia, also serves the same purpose within my myth as in ancient Greek myth, which is to provide the truth in predictions and guidance to those who ask (Hom, Hom. Hymn Apol, 277-374). Furthermore, my depiction of Zeus also reflects the one portrayed throughout Greek Myth. As written in the Homeric Hymns, Hera states that “cloud-gathering Zeus is first to begin the dishonoring of me, though he made me his wife in honor” and has “brought forth gray-eyed Athena”, indicating that Zeus is not loyal to her, and has been having affairs (Hom, Hom. Hymn Apol, 277-374). Within my own myth, Zeus exhibits these same traits as he has an affair with Klima, showing his disloyalty to his wife. The traits displayed by these individuals are prominent in many of the Greek myths, which is why I felt that they should be incorporated within my own myth.
Throughout Greek myths, tasks and quests were often given to those trying to gain or prove something. For example, when Jason returns to Greece to reclaim his throne, Pelias, who wants to remain king, tells Jason he must prove his worth by retrieving the Golden Fleece from Colchis, which Pelias believes is impossible (Ap. Rhod, Argon 1, 5-18). However, Jason successfully completes this quest and is able to reclaim the throne from Pelias (Ap. Rhod, Argon 4). In my myth, I decided to have Klima complete all the tasks Hera gives her in exchange for an eventual place on Mount Olympus. This aspect allowed me to introduce this motif of having to prove one’s worth to others, especially the gods, to gain what is desired, into my own myth.
A prominent feature in Greek mythology is the theme of vengeance. This theme is present in many works including the Agamemnon, the Theogony, and the Homeric Hymns. The play Agamemnon written by Aeschylus, depicts vengeance through Clytemnestra when she murders her husband, Agamemnon, in retaliation for killing their daughter as a sacrifice for success in the war (Aesch, Ag, 1528-1529 ). In the Theogony, the story of Prometheus was written, illustrating the punishment Zeus subjected Prometheus to, in retribution for giving the humans fire. As told by Hesiod, Prometheus was bound, with a shaft driven through his midsection, and he had a liver that would grow every day only to be eaten by an eagle (Hes, Theog, 522-527). Furthermore, vengeance is also emphasized through Hera’s many actions against the women who have had an affair with her husband, Zeus. Specifically, as portrayed in the Homeric Hymns, Hera cursed Leto, a titan goddess who was pregnant with Zeus’ son, that she would not find land on Earth to give birth to her son, causing Leto to suffer (Hom, Hom Hymn Apol, 30-114). Since the theme of vengeance is so prevalent in these myths, I incorporated this theme by having Klima face the retribution actions of Hera as a result of having an affair with her husband. The acts of retribution in myth were often severe, as seen in the examples listed above, which is why I felt banishing Klima to Earth depicting her as no more significant to the gods than the mortals, was sufficient and also accurate to the types of punishments given by the gods in Greek mythology.
Deception is a common theme explored and portrayed throughout Greek myths. One of the most famous examples of deception is illustrated in the Odyssey. In the Odyssey, Homer emphasized deception when he stated that Odysseus utilized the Trojan horse to get through the Trojan barriers to the city of Troy, hiding several Greeks inside of the horse. Odysseus then led an attack on the Trojans during the night which ultimately aided in the success of the Greeks during that war (Hom, Od XI, 510-535). This is a common example of deceit as Odysseus tricked the Trojans into thinking the Greeks were retreating, only to then use that deception to his advantage. While I did not use this level of deception in my myth, I chose to incorporate it as it is so prominent in these types of stories. This element is illustrated when Hera sends Klima to Earth. Klima is unaware of Hera’s motives to banish her as they are hidden in a task Klima does not question. Hera utilizes Klima’s obliviousness to her advantage and is able to successfully punish Klima for her betrayal.
Rage is also a theme that recurs in several ancient myths, including the Iliad which is a book centred around the rage of Achilles. A specific example of his rage through the book is when his enemy, Hector, kills his friend Patroclus. Achilles is fueled by rage and returns to the war he previously retreated from to avenge Patroclus’ death. His rage causes him to become so merciless and vengeful that he no longer spares any Trojans, causing the river god Achelous to intervene (Hom, Il XVI). As shown through Achilles in the Iliad, rage is a common and destructive theme that often results in fierce retaliation or outcomes by the host. I embodied this element within Klima as she is filled with rage after being banished to Earth. The extent of her rage is ruthless as she retaliates by bringing periods of drought, famine, and flood, causing the humans on Earth to suffer greatly. I believe her actions fueled by rage, illustrate how destructive it can be.
References:
Aeschylus. 1879. Agamemnon. Translated by H.H. Molyneux. Harvard University.
Apollodorus. 1921. Bibliotheca: Book 1&2. Translated by J.G. Frazer. London: William
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Apollonius Rhodius. 1912. Argonautica: Book 1&4. Translated by R.C. Seaton. London:
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Homer. 1971. Homeric Hymn to Apollo. Translated by S. Trzaskoma, S.R. Scott, S. Brunet.
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Homer. 1900. Iliad: Book XVI. Translated by W. Leaf.
Homer. 1900. Iliad: Book I. Translated by W. Leaf.
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Orpheus. 1999. Orphic Hymn 15 to Hera. Translated by T. Taylor (1792). Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press
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Seneca. 1917. Thyestes. Translated by F.J. Miller. London: William Heinemann Ltd.