“Zeus! Hear me now! I grow tired of your humans on earth. The seas have filled with garbage and my dolphins are dying. I cannot bear it any longer” Says Poseidon as he rides into the great throne room on his horse.
“You stand correct Poseidon. I have sent many warnings and yet they persist.”
Zeus thought and thought. What could he do to fix this. He thought the forest fires would have been enough to warn the humans of their atrocious ways, but it didn’t. Instead they found new ways to destroy the earth. He gave them. He thought the drought would show them how they pollute the air and seas, but it did not. They did not heed his warnings and they must pay the price.
“We grow weaker everyday without their praises and Gaia dies everyday. Who knows what will happen to us if this continues.” Zeus mutters
Little did they know, the walls have ears.
...
Dean's POV:
“Damn, it’s cold out here. This is not good fishing weather” laughed Phyllis.
“I think something is wrong with the heater. I'm gonna check it out” I went below the deck and quickly found the problem and fixed it.
“The heater should be working now!” I shouted from below.
“Dean, I think I saw lightning. Maybe we should head back to shore-” The blast had cut her off and everything went black.
...
“What the hell happened” said a breathless Phyllis.
“Our boat got struck by lightning. The pole is broken” I corrected. “We have to get back to shore”
…
Narrator POV:
As they approached the shore of their town, they witnessed people running and screaming in all directions. They entered a depot to look for help but the tv caught Phyllis’ attention.
TV BROADCAST:
“This is Steve reporting live on CNN. This is a never before seen storm, of what looks like 4 hurricanes progressing towards the west coast of California. We are urging everyone to reach high ground now, this is not a warning!”
“We have to go home” Said Dean.
Dean had a strange feeling that he would get his answer there. As they made their way through the front door, they came face to face with a man dressed in all black, with a deep orange cape.
“You both need to leave now” said the man.
“What's going on Pietro?” Phyllis was confused.
As Peitro told them, Dean understood everything. Zeus has sent mankind many warnings to change their ways; Wildfires, droughts, famine. What more did they need? They found every way to harm Gaia and he grew tired.
“That boat I used to take you fishing in as a boy, it’s in dock 70 miles from here. It’ll be enough to keep you safe” Says Pietro as he hands Dean a set of keys.
…
When Dean and Phyllis finally made it on the boat, the first few waves reached ashore. They sat in silence, saddened by the destruction of a place they called home.
Analysis
The main theme my aetiological myth addresses is global warming and, relatedly, climate change. 3 of my 6 characters are relevant to the topic of climate change: Gaia, Poseidon and Zeus. Gaia is the goddess of the earth, the “primordial elemental deities (protogenoi) born at the dawn of creation” (GAEA (Gaia) - Greek Goddess of the Earth, Theoi Greek Mythology). Through her union with Ouranos, she gave birth to the heavenly gods, “the sea-gods from her union with Pontos (Sea) and the Gigantes (Giants) from her mating with Tartaros (the Pit)” (GAEA (Gaia) - Greek Goddess of the Earth, Theoi Greek Mythology). Poseidon is the god of the “sea, earthquakes, floods, drought and horses” (POSEIDON - Greek God of the Sea & Earthquakes, Theoi Greek Mythology)). Zeus is titled as the “king of the Gods and the god of the sky, weather, law and order” (ZEUS - Greek God of the Sky, King of the Gods, Theoi Greek Mythology).
In the beginning of the myth, Poseidon enters the throne room on a horse to make a complaint to Zeus. The humans were polluting his seas which were causing the dolphins to die. Since one of “Poseidon's sacred animals [is] the dolphin”, this makes his complaint to Zeus all the more serious (POSEIDON - Greek God of the Sea & Earthquakes, Theoi Greek Mythology). He is the perfect side addition to the myth as he has many connections to climate change and global warming effects. For example, when he was competing with Athena for Athens and the king, Cecrops, chose her to be the winner, “Poseidon afflicted the land with drought” (POSEIDON - Greek God of the Sea & Earthquakes, Theoi Greek Mythology). This aligns with my myth as the beginning of myth depicts Zeus’ thought process on Poseidon’s complaint. From that readers can interpret that this wasn’t the first time Poseidon complained. Poseidon previously afflicted the humans with a drought as a warning for their ways, but they did not listen. Ofcourse, in the time period the myth is taking place, mankind would not know that it was Poseidon, but would instead assume it was just climate change and/or global warming.
Furthermore, Prometheus, also known as Pietro in the myth, is a “titan god of forethought and crafty counsel who was given the task of moulding mankind out of clay” (PROMETHEUS - Greek Titan God of Forethought, Creator of Mankind, Theoi Greek Mythology). He is the father of Deucalion, who is portrayed by Dean in my myth. Additionally, Dean is also in a relationship with Physllis, who portrays Phyrra, Deucalion’s wife and the daughter of Pandora. I did not delve too much into their characters as it did contribute much to my myth. The roles they played were side roles which helped add to the bigger picture. In my myth, when I stated that the walls have ears, I was referring to when Prometheus overheard what Zeus and Poseidon were speaking of. But, in my myth, Pietro isn’t a God, he is just a normal servant in the vicinity eavesdropping. The phrase, “the walls have ears”, is a common proverb used in books and/or tv shows. It is used mostly in historical fiction films and books when referring to maids/servants.
Correspondingly, I incorporated some other hints at climate change and global warming events. When Zeus stated that he had sent many warnings to the human on earth, I also provided some examples of what he had done before. Since he is the god of the sky and weather, he crafted wildfires and, with Poseidon’s aid, droughts. Although, one could argue that this is the consequence of Zeus’ previous actions. When the gods fashioned man out of earth and fire, “they ordered Prometheus and Epimetheus to equip them, and to distribute to them severally their proper qualities” (Plato, Protagoras 320c - 322a). From this we gather that Prometheus is the creator of mankind. But when they were distributed on Earth, Zeus withheld fire, which Prometheus later stole and gave to mankind. This angered Zeus and led him to curse mankind “as the price for fire, an evil thing in which they may all be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction” (Hesiod, Works and Days 42). According to chaos theory, this is referred to as a butterfly effect. “He bade famous Hephaistos make haste and mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of humankind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape, Pandora” (Hesiod, Works and Days 42). This was his way of delivering destruction on Earth. In the myth above, Zeus states mankind must pay the price. I purposely incorporated this to hint at him fulfilling his curse on mankind. He thought of many ways to fix the impiety of mankind, but he doomed them from the very beginning. Is this to say that the flood Zeus created and everything that led up to it was going to happen anyways? No. In my myth, I strategically let it be known what Zeus was thinking. When Zeus decided mankind was going to pay the price, he was aware of his actions; He purposely chose to end the human race by sending “two evils on the earth, women and disease” (Sappho, Fragment 207). I chose to depict this way because this is my perception of what he truly is, a deceiver. For example, when Metis was pregnant with Athena, “Zeus craftily deceived her with cunning words and put her in his own belly” (Hesiod, Theogony 886). This is amazingly similar to his father, Kronos, who is seen as the “bad guy” in the ancient religion by eating his children.
Moreover, the setting of the myth takes place in the 21st century. The reason I chose this location is because of the recent increase in global warming and climate change. Additionally, many people nowadays aren’t religious, and even more people don’t follow the ancient greek religion. The Gods, as mighty as they are, still depend on worshipping humans in order to give them power. Otherwise the fade out of existence; which has happened. Today we refer to the gods as “myths” and “legends”, when a centuries ago, they were just as real as any religion today. I integrated this into the myth to represent another reason for the flood and for the climate change and global warming events Zeus caused on Earth. The first being the complaint from Poseidon regarding the pollution of the oceans and the death of his sacred animals, the dolphins. The second being the death of Gaia everyday. Gaia is basically Zeus’ grandmother, so seeing the "well-founded Gaia (Gaea, Earth), mother of all, eldest of all beings”, die a little bit everyday, added fuel to the fire (Hesiod, Homeric Hymn XXX 1).
References
“GAIA.” GAEA (Gaia) - Greek Goddess of the Earth (Roman Terra, Tellus),
www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Gaia.html.
GREEK LYRIC I SAPPHO & ALCAEUS. Translation by Campbell, D. A.
Loeb Classical Library Vol 143. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Hesiod. 1914. The Homeric Hymns And Homerica. Translation By Hugh G. Evelyn-white.
Theogony. Cambridge, Ma.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd.
Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica. Translated By Evelyn-white, H. G. Loeb
Classical Library Vol 57. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Hesiod. 1914. The Homeric Hymns And Homerica. Translated By Hugh G. Evelyn-white. Works
And Days. Cambridge, Ma., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd.
Plato. 1967. Plato In Twelve Volumes, Vol. 3 Translated By W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, Ma,
Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd.
POSEIDON - Greek God of the Sea & Earthquakes. Theoi Greek Mythology,
www.theoi.com/Olympios/Poseidon.html.
PROMETHEUS. PROMETHEUS - Greek Titan God of Forethought, Creator of Mankind,
ZEUS - Greek God of the Sky, King of the Gods. Theoi Greek Mythology,
www.theoi.com/Olympios/Zeus.html.