San has been working on the field of new energy since college. It has been his vocation and he never questioned. His theories on global warming have make some companies very enraged. However, the conflict of interest seemed impossible to be resolved to him and hence he made little effort to make peace with them. Recently, he has been constantly harassed by his previous lawyer Daisy who was extremely good at her job, capable of magically getting him out of trouble in court when he was in the way of powerful people and now could even appear out of thing air and claimed to be a witch. The woman would tell him brilliant ideas, set up projects, work out all the science stuffs and everything has been going surprisingly well for his company in these years.
But there are times when he feels the impulse to turn her back into thin air.
“Global warming, as you folks call it, it was set up by me, the whole mechanism, the ideas of using energies and machineries, I made sure everything is cultivated correctly, every trend of thought, every touch of genius, “ Daisy continued to talk, ignoring that San is growing furious, “It was a bet between me and the others… …” San looked up with indignation, he is not happy with the idea that what he had been battling against is a joke between these others, “I said they will eventually come to a solution of all the chaos and mess and we won’t have to do anything…. … But Poseidon mocked me pointing at his expanding territory, that brute… …” Her eyes narrowed a little. Her face looked noble even with indignation. “And I just hate to be wrong, I guess.”
“So you used me… …” San shook his head, “All this time, you could have fixed things by just admitting you were wrong and gave up a city or so… ... Was that the price of the bet?”
“Not exactly, he wanted to marry me. “
“Then you could have just said no!”
“I wanted to mock him.” Daisy waited as San calmed himself, “I could have just put these in your head, you know... ... But I thought it might be too much for you and you are one of my favorites.”
San set a path for other scientists. New energy is a different era after his works. Poseidon knew about San and wanted to come after him but by then San has already died naturally. Poseidon complained that is it too bad that he can not torture San for his crime of deceiving the gods. He then claimed that should marry him because she has lost the bet. But Daisy argued she only helped San because she is tired to see the world crumbling down so she was just being a goddess and human would have figure it out in time and fix the global warming anyway.
Analysis:
There is a lot of similarity between this myth and the myths in Homer’s Iliad. We are going to discuss its relation to the Iliad mainly but will also touch on other classics. We are going to argue that the work resembles the Iliad in aspects of design of characters, plot and the underlying theme and background construction.
this myth’s depiction of Athena follows the classical impression people have of her from ancient sources and the character San resembles the mortal heroes favored by her in those sources as well. The plot that Athena improve San’s designs of using new energies resembles her act of giving the people on Attica the olive tree to light up their houses and fed themselves. As the following quote depicted, Olive is one of Athena’s symbols:
"[From a description of an ancient Greek play portraying the Judgement of Paris:] A second girl then burst in, whom you would have recognized as Minerva [Athene]. Her head was covered with a gleaming helmet which was itself crowned with an olive-wreath; she bore a shield and brandished a spear, simulating the goddess' fighting role. Each maiden representing a goddess was accompanied by her own escort . . .”
(Apuleius, The Golden Ass 10. 30 ff)
While being the protector of Athens, Athena ensured the justice in court and favor the accused party.(“Athena”) And in this story her human role is a lawyer of San when San is always being the accused one because he always get in the way of powerful people.
San resembles the Heroes that Athena favors. Athena tend to favor heroes that are smart or strong or prudent, such as Heracles, Perseus, Bellerophontes, Achilles, Diomedes, and Odysseus.(“Athena”) San is certainly an intellectual as a great scientist and he is brave enough to adhere to his vocation even though it is constantly putting him in danger. Hence he has gained the favor of Athena. Athena also openly admitted that “[San] is one of my(Athena’s) favorites.”
There are other more obvious traits that can link Athena and Daisy together.Ancient sources tend to describe Athena as very majestic and heroic in wars:
"Athena from Olympos swooped to forest-mantled Ida. Quaked the earth and Xanthos' murmuring streams; so mightily she shook them . . . From her immortal armour flashed around the hovering lightnings; fearful serpents breathed fire from her shield invincible; the crest of her great helmet swept the clouds."
(Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 8. 350 ff )
"Ares to the fray rose first, and on Athena rushed. Thereat fell each on other: clashed around their limbs the golden arms celestial as they charged. round them the wide sea thundered, the dark earth quaked 'neath immortal feet. Rang from them all far-pealing battle-shouts; that awful cry rolled up to the broad-arching heaven, and down even to Hades' fathomless abyss."
(Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 12. 167 ff )
In this myth, Daisy is also look very noble and extremely good at her job of attacking the other party though through means of law and reason in court. Though her physical strength is not mentioned we can view brainpower as form of personal strength. Besides Athena is the goddess of wisdom after all.
The plot of this modern myth resembles the story of in Homer’s Iliad. Daisy plays a role close to that of Athena in the Iliad and San Achilles. Achilles is a skillful warrior who cares deeply about his friendship and is very emotional. He can be quite impulsive. His impulsiveness and his vulnerability on the ankle can be counted as his two major weakness. Athena has aided him through persuading him when his impulse clouded his judgement. The following quotation is one of the scenes in which Achilles is losing control over himself due to intense emotion:
“So he spoke. Grief came upon the son of Peleus, and within his shaggy breast his heart was divided, whether he should draw his sharp sword from beside his thigh, [190] and break up the assembly, and slay the son of Atreus, or stay his anger and curb his spirit. While he pondered this in mind and heart, and was drawing from its sheath his great sword, Athene came from heaven.”
(Homer,Iliad, book I, line172)
And then Athena would come and comfort and persuade him:
“Him then the goddess, bright-eyed Athene, answered: “I have come from heaven to stay your anger, if you will obey, The goddess white-armed Hera sent me forth, for in her heart she loves and cares for both of you. But come, cease from strife, and do not grasp the sword with your hand. With words indeed taunt him, telling him how it shall be.1 For thus will I speak, and this thing shall truly be brought to pass. Hereafter three times as many glorious gifts shall be yours on account of this arrogance. But refrain, and obey us.”
(Homer,Iliad, book I, line190)
In this myth, San’s weakness is that he often gets himself in trouble by making powerful enemies who would sue him. Daisy would help him get out of trouble in court. Recall that Athena is familiar with all useful work and the. Hence there is an evident link between the two. San’s misfortune is because of his stand on the problem of global warming and not his own temper. Hence Daisy focus on helping him defeat his enemies in court. This attitude of her reminds us of her stand on wars: only fight when the city can win or when others are invading it.
The conflict between Poseidon and Daisy over whether Daisy should marry him also reminds one of Athena not taking any husband and their conflict on who can gain the worship of people of the city Attica. Athena and Poseidon fight over the control of Athens and Attica. The famous contest happened in Acropolis. Poseidon struck the rock with trident and there emerged a spring of sea water and a horse. People were in awe. Athena then brought up an olive tree which was fundamental to life and production. Poseidon was then enraged because of his failure. The matter went up to Zeus. In the end Poseidon was appeased and continued to be worshiped. (“summary”) As recorded in Herodotus’s the Histories:
“I will tell why I have mentioned this. In that acropolis is a shrine of Erechtheus, called the “Earthborn,” and in the shrine are an olive tree and a pool of salt water. The story among the Athenians is that they were set there by Poseidon and Athena as tokens when they contended for the land. It happened that the olive tree was burnt by the barbarians with the rest of the sacred precinct, but on the day after its burning, when the Athenians ordered by the king to sacrifice went up to the sacred precinct, they saw a shoot of about a cubit's length sprung from the stump, and they reported this.”
(Herodotus, History, Book one, line35)
The sight of them being worshiped in the city is also present in another source:
“The most noteworthy sight in the Peiraeus is a precinct of Athena and Zeus. Both their images are of bronze; Zeus holds a staff and a Victory, Athena a spear.”
(Pausanias, Description of Greece, book one, line47)
Daisy’s decision to insult or taunt Poseidon by making him loose a bet when refuses to marry Poseidon is quite similar to her reaction to blind Tiresias because he saw her in bath. Tiresias then begged her to restore his sight but Athena was not capable of doing that and hence granted him with other abilities. (“Tiresias”) This kind of act of mercy of Athena also exists in this modern myth: Daisy explain that she has only intervened because people are suffering. Although this might not be completely true since she has also said that “I just hate to loose(to Poseidon)” we can deduce that Daisy does care about the people to some extent. At least she cares about San because she has mentioned she did not want to put all the scientific inspiration into San’s mind because she worried it might be to much for him to tolerate.
The background construction of both story is gods or supernatural powers interfering the life of human to an extent not quite clear to the readers. In the modern myth it is not specified whether Daisy appointed San to the task to save human beings from the suffering caused by global warming or was only helping him. One can observe though that Daisy said “I could have put all this in your head” indicating that she did not. The confusion about the extend to which the immortals are influencing the mortals is also present while one is read the Iliad. Aphrodite made Helen fall in love with Paris and that was the cause of the war. But what things went in the war was, on the other hand, the choices of human beings.
In conclusion, the plot, characters and the background of the modern myth bear a strong resemblance to those of the Iliad. In particular, the character Daisy is similar to the image of Athena painted by many classical sources.
Bibliograph:
"Tiresias." Encyclopedia Mythica. Encyclopedia Mythica, 3 Mar. 1997. Web. 12 Mar. 2021.
"Athena." Encyclopedia Mythica. Encyclopedia Mythica, 3 Mar. 1997. Web. 12 Mar. 2021.
“What is the Role of Athena In The Iliad?”http://www.ancient-literature.com/athena-in-the-iliad/. Web. Mar.2021
“My Summary”https://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199997329/student/materials/chapter8/summary/ Web. 12 Mar. 2021.