You have certainly heard of the Titan Atlas, Bearer of the Heavens,
He who was ordered by Zeus, the Protector of Oaths.
To carry the weight of the heavens for all time,
As punishment for his leading of the titans into battle against the remarkable Olympians.
However, a story that is less known is that of his many disciples,
Each tasked with carrying a small portion of the heavens each,
These disciples of Atlas are made to train for the day that they will replace their father.
How did he come to father these children; you ask?
Surely you have heard of the incident in which Herakles, the Unconquered,
Approached the Bearer of Heavens with a task in mind,
A task for which he required the mighty Titan’s assistance.
In exchange for sweet release from his never-ending punishment,
Atlas the Enduring agreed to assist Herakles in this trial,
But he was ultimately deceived by the Herakles the Legendary,
And was made to return to his eternal suffering.
All was not lost, however,
As he had taken advantage of the time he was given.
Believing it unlikely that Herakles would uphold their oath,
Atlas prepared for a successor to overtake him one day.
Thus, before returning to Herakles with the fruits of gold,
Atlas planted his seed into Eos, the sister of Helios,
So that this child would grow to take his place,
However, by the divine grace of Zeus,
Eos gave birth to a dozen children from this one seed,
Each was be assigned a celestial body to uphold,
So that they could train for that day,
Where one of them would at long last relieve their father,
Of the never-ending burden that he is forced to carry.
Many generations have come and gone since that day,
And the children of Atlas continue their duty to this day.
Allow me to tell you the story of one of these children,
One who was assigned to carry none other than the Earth itself.
Ozone was his name, and he carried out his duty with pride.
However, after having spent many generations in this duty,
Ozone grew fond of the goddess Gaea, the mother of all creation,
And loved her as if she was his own grandmother.
However, the story of this love is not a happy one,
As the inhabitants of Earth were disgracing Gaea, the great mother,
By heeding no mind to her care nor nurture,
Instead focusing on their own selfish greed.
Angered by the selfishness of the inhabitants of this planet,
Ozone called out for Helios, his uncle, and made a request,
A request to punish those who would harm the one he cares for.
Helios fulfilled the request of his nephew and began his punishment,
Increasing the intensity of heat that he gave out.
If the foolish inhabitants of Mother Earth continue their selfish ways,
They will be left with no choice but to suffer,
In the heat of the sun and the heat of their sins.
Reflection
For this project, the phenomenon that I attempted to explain with this aetiological myth that I have constructed is the phenomenon of Global Warming. I went with this choice as Global Warming is something that is closely tied to nature, and I believed that I would be able to compose a myth rich with references to other myths if I were to make a myth explaining Global Warming. The other options were more tied to the nature of people. While there are myths that are associated with the actions and natures of people, I find the gods of nature to be much more interesting, which is why I went with Global Warming.
As for coming up with a myth to explain Global Warming, I knew right away that I would need to include the Goddess Gaea, as she is literally the embodiment of the Earth (Homer, Odyssey xii 176, 322), and that I would also need to include Helios (Homer Iliad iii, 104.), who is the god of the Sun. Both the Earth and the Sun play a huge role in the Global Warming, so I was sure that I needed to include them.
Next, I needed a way to explain a reason for Helios to decide to start heating up and making Gaea hotter than ever before. Considering that the reason for global warming in the real world is because of people, I decided that I would make that the case for this myth as well. This way, my myth would not just tell a story, but it would also contain a lesson that those reading could learn from. So, I decided that in my myth, humans polluting and hurting the Earth, and in turn Gaea, would make Ozone angry, and Ozone would ask Helios to start heating the Earth up. Helios decides to accept the request of his nephew and begins to heat up the Earth.
While there is a reason now for Helios to begin heating up the Earth, I also wanted to add a new outside character that would cause these events to begin. I wanted to do this to add some more uniqueness to the myth. While I was thinking about which myth I could base my new character off of, I tried to think of any other gods or goddesses that were associated with the Earth. One myth that came to mind was that of Atlas, the titan who was condemned to hold up the heavens for all time (Hyginus. Fabulae, 150.). I thought of him because he is often portrayed as holding up the globe. However, after some research, I realized that this depiction is inaccurate as his true duty is holding up all the celestial heavens (Homer. Odyssey i, 52.). So, he didn’t have a very close connection to Earth, since it was just one of the many planets he was holding up. I did however decide that I would base my new character off of him. I decided that the new character that I would introduce would be a child of Atlas. This way, I could claim that Atlas had many children, and each would be assigned a specific part of the celestial heavens to hold up. When I tried to think of a reason as to why they would do this, the idea that made the most sense was that Atlas wanted a replacement, since he was obviously tired of holding up the heavens, so he would make his children train by carrying planets/galaxies, and one of them would replace him one day. Thus, I was able to come up with my unique character Ozone, one of the children of Atlas who is assigned with carrying the Earth. As for his name, it is a reference to the Ozone Layer. While the ozone layer is not exactly related to Global Warming, it does protect the Earth for harmful radiation. So, I decided to name the Titan who was holding up and protecting the Earth after the Ozone Layer.
The next issue that I had to deal with in my myth is where these children came from. I needed to come up with some origin story that would explain at what point Atlas had these children. As I was looking through the mythology about Atlas, I remembered a story that was included in one of our class’ modules. This was the story about Herakles and his 12 labors. For one of the labors, Herakles had to collect 12 golden apples. He was able to do so by tricking Atlas. He told Atlas that he would take his place holding the heavens for good if Atlas got him the apples. Atlas, who was most likely desperate to be relieved of his burden, immediately agreed. He got the apples for Herakles, but as soon as he got back, Herakles tricked him into carrying the heavens once again (Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library ii, 5.11). I decided to add on to this story. I was looking for a period in which Atlas could have had his children, and this seemed like a period I could use, since he was free of his burden for this short amount of time. I decided that I would make up a story about how Atlas took advantage of this time to prepare just in case Herakles betrayed him. So, the plan that he came up with was to have a child that would one day take his place. I decided that the mother of these children would be Eos, the sister of Helios (Hesiod. Theogony, 371 ff). This was so that I could exploit this fact later in the myth to show that the reason Helios listened to Ozone was because Ozone was his nephew. The reason I went with this route to explain where all the children came from is because Greek Mythology is already filled with stories of children overtaking their fathers, so I thought that this would fit right in.
So, now that I had an origin story and some motivation for Ozone, I could now use him in my myth. I decided that the story would go like this: Ozone, having spent so much time with Gaea, the goddess who is essentially the Earth personified, had formed a bond with her, and viewed her like his own grandmother. He wished to protect her from anything that may harm her. So, he becomes infuriated when he sees that thing that cause Gaea the most pain is none other than those who are given a home by her; the inhabitants of Earth themselves are causing the most pain for Gaea. As a result of his anger, Ozone bellows out to Helios, god of the sun and his uncle, and asks him to punish the inhabitants of Earth for their ingratitude and selfishness. Since he is his nephew, Helios fulfills Ozone’s request and begins to turn up the heat. Thus, the Earth begins to warm up and will only continue to get hotter as the inhabitants of Earth continue to infuriate Ozone with their lack of care and nurture for Earth.
Lastly, the reason that I decided to write my myth in verse is because this myth is meant to serve as a reminder to the public. For this reason, I thought that putting it in verse would be a good idea since myths that are in verse are easier to read out in public in the form of chants/plays. Making it easy to recite this poem in a manner that catches the listener's attention will increase it’s ability to serve as a reminder of the importance of treating the Earth well.
In conclusion, my myth is one that utilizes some unique characters that I have based off of figures from Greek Mythology, as well as some figures that are already well known in Greek Mythology. It utilizes these characters for the purpose of creating an aetiological myth that explains the phenomenon of Global Warming. This myth not only gives an interesting story that provides a reason for global warming, but it also gives a warning; start caring for the Earth before it is too late.
References
Caldwell, Richard S. 1987. Hesiod's Theogony. Cambridge, Ma: Focus Information Group.
Fagles, Robert, and Knox, Bernard. 1998. The Iliad. New York: Penguin Books.
Fitzgerald, Robert. 1990. The Odyssey. New York: Vintage Books.
Rutledge, Kim. “Ozone Layer”, https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ozone-layer/ (Accessed March 31st. 2021).
Smith, R S. et al. 2007. Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub.
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