Narrative
Hephaestus, the god of fire, held in his anger; as the fire inside started to grow, his surroundings began to show the effects. Despite being kind, many looked down upon him for his disability and unattractiveness, which fueled his anger. From being tossed off Mount Olympus due to his appearance by Zeus to getting betrayed by his best friend Dionysus, there were more than enough reasons for Hephaestus to seek revenge. Hephaestus decides to get revenge by ruining the gods and goddesses' creations with his fueling anger and a limp leg to show them that appearance does not correlate with power. As he travels through the world, his anger takes the form of fire and begins to melt the ground beneath him. Little does he know; this fire is slowly killing Gaia, the goddess of the Earth. Besides, his entire aura was searing enough to heat anything in his vicinity.
During his adventure, he encounters Helios while he was completing his daily task of transporting the sun from the east to the west. They shared hatred towards gods and goddesses as both lacked respect, although they should not have, and the mistreatment they received. In Helios' case, he was not worshipped enough for being the god of the sun and was overshadowed by Apollo. Together, Hephaestus and Helios have decided to avenge the gods for their wrongdoings. To their surprise, Zeus took the form of rainfall to compensate for their damages; regardless, they still persevered to set everything ablaze. Taking most of the damages, Gaia was getting upset that her creations were being destroyed and tried her best to nurture everything to the best of her abilities. Gaia's effort to preserve everything and herself resulted in an increase of glaciers in attempts to reflect off the heat and help Zeus bring rainfall to the plants that have withered from the scorching heat. Many gods and goddesses were also affected.
Hephaestus and Helios' plans to avenge caused an outrage between the gods and goddess, and Zeus decides to encapsulate both Hephaestus and Helios in a large ice cave where they will be forever melting their way out of the ice. However, Zeus underestimated the two's power, and soon the ice will melt, and the effects will begin to show themselves once more. The heat produced from the two gods trapped the gods and goddess Cabrio, Vertesia, and Pollune. The three gods were from Lunaria, one of Aether's many palaces who paid Astraeus visits. Each one oversaw the transportation of Lunaria goods, explaining the occasional travels. During Hephaestus and Helios' punishment, Cabrio, Vertesia, and Pollune were on their way back to Lunaria when Helios' heat created a semi-permeable layer above Gaia that slowed down their travels. As generations went on, the layer became more impermeable, trapping the three gods and goddess on Earth.
Analysis
In this narrative, numerous gods and goddesses were used as an aetiology of global warming. The concept of having deities personify allows readers to understand events in simpler forms. This etiology's central theme is the rise of underdogs, as depicted by Hephaestus and Helios. The two gods were known for being disrespected; thus, they used pent-up anger to seek vengeance against this narrative's deities. Hephaestus, the god of fire, was deemed unattractive and lame since birth by his parents Zeus and Hera (Homer, Illiad 20. 37). His physical features caused him many hardships inflicted by his parents and others (Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo. 310-330 ff). Regardless of his kind actions, Zeus still decided to push Hephaestus off Mount Olympus because he tried protecting Hera from Zeus and for his disfigurement by Hera (Homer, Illiad 1. 570-594). Hephaestus was narrated as if he was only kind and did no harm, but Hephaestus tried to assault Athena in reality. Hephaestus was chosen as the main character of this aetiology because global warming is caused by greenhouse gases accumulating and absorbing heat, increasing temperatures. The increase in temperature is linked to the Earth's detrimental consequences, such as melting ice caps. Being the god of fire, Hephaestus was a fitting choice for this narrative because fire produces heat.
Similarly, Helios was chosen because he is the god of the sun, and the sun is a great contributor to global warming. Helios and Apollo were merged, and both represent the god of the sun, depending on the version. Instead of Apollo, Helios was used as one of the main characters because he is the older version, and as more worshipped Apollo, Helios was forgotten. Moreover, Helios, known as the sun's personification, rather than just the god of the sun (Orphic Hymn 8 to Helius. 7), can be thought of as the Earth's temperatures gradually increasing. Helios was said to threaten Zeus when he found out that 'they [Odysseus and his men] started plotting of having some of the finest beasts of Helios' flock' (Helios (Helius, Sol, Sun)). The threat changed from going to the Underworld and never returning to heating everything due to being replaced. The threat was replaced so that Helios' strength would have become the weakness for the gods.
Gaia, the deity for the Earth, was used in her personified form to bring life to the interaction between global warming and mother nature. By having two gods show the cause and effect of global warming, we can better relate to it and empathize with our effects. Gaia is considered the creator of all (Homeric Hymn 30 to Earth. 1); therefore, collectively, everything that affects Earth is directed. The goddess of the Earth is a significant element to this aetiology as it shows that it is happening within Gaia. Not only is this an aetiology of global warming, but it could also be an analogy of bottling up anger. Gods are immortal; however, on the quest to avenge the gods, the heat from Hephaestus was slowly killing Gaia. Since Gaia is immortal, the pain of fire touching the "skin" of Gaia is figuratively killing her. Hephaestus is destroying everything that she has created, all life that resides on Earth. In this way, fire's power is seemingly superior as it can harm even the more significant deities.
Zeus was introduced in the narrative as one of the antagonists. In various myths, Zeus shapeshifts into numerous objects or takes new identities (Lucian, The Judgement of Paris). He also gives punishments for gods who have done wrong according to himself or other gods; For example, the punishment he gave to Prometheus (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound. 199-228). Although Zeus was the father of Hephaestus, he did not uphold that role. To insinuate that Zeus is almighty and has the ability to shapeshift, Zeus took to the form of rainfall to show that he does not require help from others and can take matters into his own hands.
To represent the celestial space, Aether was introduced, and like Gaia, is one of the primordial deities (Hesiod, Theogony. 120). Instead of a god, Aether was a location above Gaia where specific gods frequent. The significance of Aether as a location shows that space is also a home. In this narrative, Cabrio, Vertesia and Pollune are gods who reside in Lunarian, Aether, but make trips to Earth to collect "goods." Cabrio, Vertesia, and Pollune are personified carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases and pollutants, respectively. The "goods" that they retrieve from Astraeus are stars because Astraeus is the god of stars and anything astronomy (Hesiod, Theogony. 375).
In contrast to myths, Astraeus inhabits Earth and gives the three gods and goddess stars to bring back to Lunaria, a made-up location on Aether. The transportation of the stars from Astraeus explains the phenomenon of a starry night, and because Cabrio, Vertesia and Pollune are greenhouse gases and pollutants, they trap heat. As we know, stars are balls of plasma that radiate heat; therefore, it makes sense for these gods and goddesses to "transport" the stars to Aether.
Cabrio, Vertesia and Pollune are made-up deities that personify the culprits of global warming. Cabrio, carbon dioxide, has its own god because carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas that causes global warming. Vertesia is the goddess of other greenhouse gases, and Pollune is the god of pollutants. The three main factors of global warming have been personified to emphasize each component's importance. The main idea of global warming is depicted through Cabrio, Vertesia and Pollune getting trapped by the heating layer created by Hephaestus and Helios'. As a result, the three gods constantly absorb the heat and do not leave the Earth, causing the temperature influx. Hephaestus and Helios' punishment for attempting revenge on the other gods is to melt themselves out of an enclosed ice cave made by Zeus. The ice cave signifies the ice caps that are melting as they are needed to reflect light into space, the same way the ice cave blocks the heat from forming an impermeable layer at the border of Aether and Olympus.
In brief, this aetiology for global warming explained why greenhouse gases are the leading global warming factor and how they affect the Earth. Global warming is gradual progress explained by the ice cave at which both Hephaestus and Helios' were punished and the heat layer formation that traps Cabrio, Vertesia and Pollune.
Bibliography
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