Myth
As the world evolved, Gaea emerged above the clouds and glanced over the entire world. She saw love, joy, justice, honor, and what it means to be human. But she also saw chaos, destruction, jealousy, and everything that is capable of destroying these humans. But then she took a closer look. She noticed something quite strange happening outside the city of Troy. She saw these wonderful human creatures cutting down the trees of a large forest. Gaea felt a sting on her upper arm. She suddenly sheds a tear. “They’re hurting me by cutting down all those trees. I did not know that was possible” she murmured. Gaea became confused and even felt a sense of anger building up inside of her. She began to question why humans would ever want to hurt earth, the place they know as home. And then it struck her. There needs to be someone who will protect the earth. If Zeus and the other Gods are not willing to, then who else will. Gaea decided to create a new God. Not just any God that will be born from a Titan, but one that she will create herself, to her liking. “This new God will look over the earth and my creation, and will control the climate and the weather all across the land and the oceans” Gaea says. “His name will be Stratos.” She landed on the ground, and got to work, taking the time to create her masterpiece. She took the finest rock on the earth and began molding Stratos. After she finished, she felt nothing but joy of her new creation. Finally she gave him life. He opened his eyes for the first time and looked at Gaea. Suddenly Stratos attacks Gaea and grabs her neck. Then the clouds thickened, and as it started to rain, thunder and lightning emerged. Gaea quickly realizes that Stratos must be confused about everything. So she touches the side of his forehead, and shares her memories with him. Stratos releases Gaea and takes her to fly up to the clouds. “So you created me to protect the earth?” Stratos asked. “Yes I did. The other gods won't, so I needed someone who can.” Gaea replied. “But if you created me and the earth itself, aren’t you powerful enough to defend it, even if it meant punishing these humans?” Gaea pauses for a moment, and points down at the city of Troy. “I am only capable of creation, not destruction. However, I never created humanity so do what you want with them.” Stratos then points to the humans cutting down the trees of the forest. “As for them, how would you want me to punish them?” Stratos asked. “I’m not sure. Do you have any ideas?” Stratos smirks, and summons lighting to strike the area where the humans were, killing them instantly. “I know exactly how to punish them. I will watch them closely, and if they ever go too far with hurting earth, I will bring them global warming, a slow but painful death that they will bring upon themselves.”
Analysis
My myth revolves around the creation of the God I made up for the assignment. The main point of my myth is that with regards to what’s happening with climate change today, if us humans continue to hurt the earth through activities such as deforestation and fossil fuels, we will only harm ourselves in the end. The name of the God I created is Stratos, and he is the God of weather and climate. He was made by Gaea using materials from the earth itself. Gaea entrusted Stratos with the role of watching over the humans and how they’ll slowly destroy the earth. With the power to control the climate, Stratos will be able to enforce global warming, which is also caused by humans harming the earth through activities such as cutting down trees and throwing waste into the ocean. If it’s not yet clear, the option I chose for my aetiological myth was global warming. I chose this option because when deciding what I wanted to base my myth on, I thought of a God who can control the weather and climate. I liked the idea, but the problem was how do I connect this God to the concept of climate change. That’s when I thought of making my myth the origin story of the God I envisioned, since all the other Gods have origin stories. So I thought that if I were to create a new God, I might as well write my myth on their origin and how they came to be. My myth both differs and agrees with several ancient sources. Firstly, my myth mentions the City of Troy, which was important in Greek Mythology because of its significance during the Trojan war (Homer, Iliad 18. 141–143). Although the city or the Trojan war has no significance in Stratos’ origin story, I thought using the city as the location for Gaea to see people cutting trees down was the perfect location. I think because after such a long war which also involved the Gods, the people of the city would be vulnerable and are willing to do anything to make their army stronger, even if it meant cutting down trees for resources. Next I mentioned Zeus in the origin story, and I do this because I needed a way for Stratos to compare himself with the rest of the other Gods. By asking Gaea about his origin, she mentions that although he is a God, he isn’t like “Zeus and the other Gods”. Gaea goes on to explain that Stratos has no parents, and no siblings. He was simply created by her with a purpose only he could fulfill. Zeus is the King of the Gods (Hesoid, Homeric Hymn 23), and you can imagine that if Stratos’ story progressed, he would meet Zeus sooner or later. Zeus not knowing of his existence would throw him off, and he would probably try to get answers. He would end up asking Gaea, and after Zeus learns of Gaea’s actions, you can let your imagination run wild. Going back to the mention of Zeus, it’s significance in the story is the foreshadow of a potential encounter with Zeus. Gaea mentioning the existence of Zeus and the other Gods would make Stratos question himself. The whole idea behind this is setting up the foundation for potential future stories, mainly from the imagination of the reader. Also, my myth agrees with Hesoid’s Homeric Hymn because in my myth it says “Zeus and the other gods”. This symbolizes that Zeus has a bigger role than the other gods and that role is him being the King of the Gods. Next is the myth about the god Prometheus. Prometheus is the Titan god of fire. He created humanity from clay (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 211). This is somewhat similar to my myth because Gaea creates a new god, Stratos. However, my myth differs from Aeschylus because Prometheus created humans using clay while Gaea created a god using the finest rock on earth. Then, we have the myth about Marsyas and Apollo. Marsyas challenged Apollo to a music contest to see who could play the flute better. Apollo agreed and so they fought. Apollo ended up winning and punished Marsyas by flaying him alive (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 24). My myth is similar to Pseudo-Apollodorus because like how Apollo punishes Marsyas for thinking he can play the flute better than him, Stratos punished the tree cutters by summoning lighting and killing them. Both gods punished the humans for trying to defy them. However my myth is different from this myth because it’s two different situations. Apollo is the god of music, so it makes sense that he punishes Marsyas after challenging him to a music contest and losing. While Stratos will keep on punishing humans if they continue to hurt the earth. Stratos’ punishment is more severe and takes time to happen, while Apollo’s punishment is towards one person only. Finally we have the myth about Gaea. Gaea is the personification of the earth, also known as the Goddess of earth (Hesiod, Theogony 116-118). She plays a vital role in the origin of Stratos. This is because she was the one who created him. Gaea creates Stratos because of her realization that there isn’t anyone who will protect the earth. My myth agrees with Hesiod because in my myth, it’s mentioned that Gaea “created the earth” or in other words is the personification of the earth. Everything that has to do with the earth such as the humans, trees, and the ocean, Gaea has played a vital role in making these things come to life. The reason I decided to create my myth based on global warming is because it overlaps with what’s happening today. Global warming is a global crisis the world faces today. I believe one of the reasons why these stories of Greek Mythology exist is because they provide a way to explain things, even if some of those things already have an explanation to us. Some other things to us humans are unexplainable, such as the concept of dying. These myths provide a way for those types of concepts to be grasped a little easier and make it easier to understand as well. I think creating “my myth” about a God that can control the climate and can cause global warming can be a way of explaining why global warming is happening. I also think that by basing the myth off the concept global warming, it provides a new perspective on the issue. I feel like the same can be said I chose one of the three other topics. These four topics do have one thing in common, that they are all issues in today’s society. If this myth existed, maybe more people would believe that climate change does exist because it seems some people would rather listen to these kinds of stories than scientific facts. It’s clear we are the reason global warming exists and is happening right now, and is the main point behind my myth.
Bibliography
AESCHYLUS. Prometheus Bound. Translation by Vellacott, P. The Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books
APOLLODORUS. The Library of Greek Mythology. Translation by Aldrich, Keith.
Lawrence, Kansas: Coronado Press, 1975.
HESIOD, THE HOMERIC HYMNS, EPIC CYCLE, HOMERICA. Homeric Hymn. Translation by Evelyn-White, H. G. Loeb Classical Library Vol 57. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
HESIOD, THE HOMERIC HYMNS, EPIC CYCLE, HOMERICA. Theogony. Translation by Evelyn-White, H. G. Loeb Classical Library Vol 57. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
HOMER. The Iliad. Translation by Lattimore, R. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
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