Mythological story
Zésti is the god of heat and the cause of global warming. Born in the underworld after Persephone was kidnapped and forced to marry the god of the underworld, Zésti was born. The child grew up with a deep sense of hatred towards the gods, namely his father and Zeus. This hatred for the 2 gods stems from the fact that Persephone was allowed to leave the underworld for one-third of the year because of Zeus, leaving him to be freely abused by Hades, who wouldn’t allow him to leave the underworld with his mother.
The only people Zésti loved and ever cared for were Persephone and Demeter. This was because they were the only people to ever show any affection or care towards him. Zésti was rarely able to leave the underworld, only once every four years on the 366th day. Hades refused to be stuck in the underworld and let his child roam free. He only allowed this one-day exception after a lot of pleading from Persephone and Demeter, and a vow that Persephone would never cheat on him.
With anger and resentment, Zésti lashes out against the humans. With his power he slowly increases global temperatures, causing many issues for the mortals. He also made life troublesome for Hades, ensuring he would not cheat on Persephone, informing her of any attempts. Being stuck in the underworld, Zésti doesn’t have many friends, however, he does often befriend those who visit the underworld. After befriending Hercules, he helped him fetch Cerberus. Though he doesn’t befriend everyone, as when people came to kidnap his mother, he, alongside his father, made sure that they were punished severely.
Zésti has a very difficult life, facing many hardships, but with his power, he is able to seek revenge and protect those who he cares for.
Analysis
This aetiological myth describes how global warming came to be. It begins by introducing the god of heat, Zésti, whose name in Greek literally translates to heat. He is the son of Hades and Persephone, being born after Hades kidnaps Persephone and forces her to bear a child. Being born in the underworld, he becomes the god of heat. This comes from the idea that the underworld is portrayed as a very hot place, as in, it is thought to be a dark and scary area with rivers of lava and is the place where those who have died reside. Being considered to be a very dark and scary area, it also highlights why Zésti endures a very difficult lifestyle.
When Hades, with Zeus’ consent, kidnapped and married Persephone, her mother Demeter, in mourning, refused to let any plants or vegetation grow. “As the gods apparently need sacrifice from men, they relent and allow Persephone to return to her mother”[1]. Even though Persephone was allowed to return to her mother, she had to return to the underworld for one-third of the year. Zésti is happy for his mother being able to leave the horrid underworld but is angry at Zeus for not doing anything to allow him to leave with her. When Persephone leaves the underworld, Zésti is constantly harassed and abused by Hades, whether it be by endlessly doing dangerous tasks for him, being treated extremely harshly, or even being beaten, and yet Zeus wouldn’t force Hades to allow him to leave with his mother. Persephone, worried for her child, pleaded to Hades to let him go with her to allow him to visit his grandmother, however, Hades refused to be the sole person trapped in the underworld. He eventually agreed to allow Zésti to leave for 1 day every 4 years, which ended up being the 366th day of the year on leap years, all in exchange for a vow from Persephone where she vows to never cheat, harm, or attempt to kill Hades. Zésti, knowing that Hades wouldn’t give more time, gladly accepted the 1 day and treasures any experiences he can make in the 24 hours when he leaves the underworld.
Seeing how harshly the gods behaved, with very little pity, towards him, Zésti grew angry. Knowing that he cannot harm Zeus or any of the other gods, especially since they are far more powerful than he is, he decided to endanger the mortals. Zeus had Prometheus “create men to be a race like unto the blessed gods, albeit with inferior strength”[2]. One of the reasons why Zeus had the mortals created, was so that he could have a race which he had absolute dominance over, and a race that fully worshiped him and the gods. Zésti, knowing this, decided to indirectly harm mankind, as to not incur Zeus’ wrath. Using his power of heat, Zésti began increasing global temperatures causing phenomena, such as melting glaciers, increasing ocean levels, and wildfires. With this approach, he is able to deceive Zeus into thinking humans are doing this to themselves with their ever-growing knowledge.
While Zésti indirectly attacks humans to get back at Zeus, Hades is a different problem. Hades, being Zésti’s father, is far more powerful than Zésti. If Hades finds out Zésti caused problems for him or attacked him, Hades would simply destroy him, as well as harass and abuse him more, though this did not scare Zésti. He hid under the ideal of wanting to protect his mother and exposed Hades whenever he discovered that he was attempting to cheat on Persephone. For example, when Zésti discovered Hades making a nymph of Cocytus, Minthe, his concubine, Minthe was “was trampled underfoot by Persephone”[3].
Zésti loves his mother and would do anything to protect her, should she ever come in harm's way, even if it means working with his father. Zésti is always skeptical towards anyone who lives and comes to visit the underworld, mainly thinking about whether they are sane. The underworld doesn’t have many visitors, but people still come to complete quests or for their own selfish desires. Theseus and Peirithoos, the kings of Athens and Lapiths respectively, “went down to Hades' realm to court Persephone”[4]. Zésti, upon seeing these kings come down for their own selfish desires that involved hurting his mother, informed his father and suggested that they kill them. His father, however, suggested a different idea, leading to the 2 of them working together to deceive the 2 kings into sitting on the throne of forgetfulness. Although Zésti has had bad experiences like this when people come down, he’s also had good ones. Seeing that he lives in the underworld, he, unfortunately, has very few friends and often tries to befriend the living who come down. One friend he made was Heracules when he came down to capture Cerberus as one of his 12 labours. Zésti, along with his mother, “delivered Kerberos (Cerberus) into his [Herakles'] hands”[5].
Hera seeing this gets furious as she was hoping that Heracules wouldn’t succeed. Being unable to harm Persephone, Hera decides to curse Zésti to be unable to ever leave the underworld, making him lose his precious 1 day of leaving the underworld. Losing his most treasured day, Zésti becomes furious. Heracules, Persephone, and Demeter all tried to reason with the goddess to no success. This curse angered Zésti, and knowing that he can’t harm Hera, the queen of the gods, he once again lashes out against the mortals which the gods held dear. He increased the severity of the increasing temperature, heightening the danger of melting glaciers and rising ocean levels, which increases the risk of devastating floods, creating devastating wildfires which destroy the forests and wildlife, as well as, causing major droughts, which harms the vegetation, and negatively impacts the ecosystems. This phenomenon of increasing temperatures was given the name of global warming by the humans and is a major threat to their existence.
The story of Zésti not only explains the reason for why global warming was created, but it also highlights the importance of caring for your family and others. Not every family is the same, with many families facing abuse in their own household. People need to fight against this abuse, as well as help out others who you know are struggling, not only from abuse but anything in life. If you ignore pleas for help from others, you may very well face the same fate, should you ever be put in a bad situation. As seen with Zésti, he is abused by his own father when his mother wasn’t around and needed help from the gods, yet they did nothing. Now they face losing the mortals for which they care so much about, and there is very little they can do to stop it, especially considering that they believe humans are causing it instead of Zésti.
References
[1] Crudden, Michael. The Homeric Hymns. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.
[2] Oppian, Halieutica 5. 4
[3] Strabo, Geography 8. 3. 14
[4] Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E1. 23 - 24
[5] Plutarch, Life of Nisias 1. 3
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