Phaeton
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In Greek mythology, Phaëton or Phaethon (Greek Φαέθων "shining"), was the son of Helios (Phoebus, the "shining one", an epithet later assumed by Apollo), or of Clymenus by Merope or Clymene.
Alternatively, Eos bore Cephalus a son, named Phaëthon but Aphrodite stole him away while he was no more than a child, to be the night-watchman at her most sacred shrines. The Cretans called him Adymus, by which they meant the morning and evening star (Hesiod, Theogony, 986; Solinus, xi:9; Nonnus, Dionysiaca, xi:131 and xii:217).
Phaeton bragged to his friends that his father was the sun-god. His friends refused to believe him and so Phaeton went to his father Helios, who swore by the river Styx to give him anything he should ask for. Phaeton wanted to drive his chariot (the sun) for a day. Though Helios tried to talk him out of it, Phaeton was adamant. When the day came, Phaeton panicked and lost control of the white horses that drew the chariot. First it veered too high, so that the earth grew chill. Then it dipped too close, and the vegetation dried and burned. He accidentally turned most of Africa into desert; burning the skin of the Ethiopians black. Eventually, Zeus was forced to intervene by striking the runaway chariot with a lightning bolt to stop it, and Phaëthon plunged into the river Eridanus (the Po). His friend, Cycnus, grieved so, that the gods turned him into a swan. His sisters, the Heliades, also grieved and were turned into alder trees, or poplars according to Virgil; their tears became amber.
The moral of the tale is a later addition. In earlier, Homeric references, (Iliad xi:735; Odyssey v:479) Phaëthon is simply another name for Helios himself. The substitution of Apollo for Helios as sun god occurred later than this legend.
Fragments of Euripides' tragedy on this subject, Phaethon survive. In reconstructing the lost play and discussing the fragments, James Diggle has discussed the treatment of the Phaeton myth (Diggle 2004).
Perhaps the most famous version of the myth is given us through Ovid in his Metamorphoses (Book II). Ovid is emphasizing that Phaeton seeks assurance that his mother, Clymene, is telling the truth about his father.
Dante refers to the episode in Paradiso's Canto XVII of his Divine Comedy.
The motif of the fallen star must have been familiar in Israel, for Isaiah referred to it in admonishing the king of Babylon for his pride (Isaiah 14:12ff). The Jewish Encyclopedia reports that "it is obvious that the prophet in attributing to the Babylonian king boastful pride, followed by a fall, borrowed the idea from a popular legend connected with the morning star." The falling-star image reappears in John's Apocalypse without a name. In the 4th century, Jerome's translation of the "morning star" as "Lucifer" carried the fallen-star myth-element into Christian mythology. For fuller details, see Lucifer and Azazel.
The story is the basis for a symphonic poem by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns as well as a movement of a piece for solo Oboe by English composer Benjamin Britten.
Phaëton is also the name of an opera (or, more properly, a "tragédie lyrique") by Jean-Baptiste Lully. It was dedicated to and performed for his friend and patron Louis XIV, King of France, in 1683. The text (or "livret") is by Lully's favorite collaborator, Philippe Quinault.
Like all French baroque opera, it contains brilliant spectacles of scenery and stagecraft, such as cloud machines for the climactic scene at the end of the fifth and final act, where Jupiter (the French always prefer the Roman names) strikes down Phaëton's faltering chariot.
- For people and things named after the mythological figure, see Phaeton.
References
- Graves, Robert, 1955. The Greek Myths
- [Diggle, James, 2004. Euripides: Phaethon] in series Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries (no. 12)
External links
- George Stubbs's ['The Fall of Phaeton'] at the [Lady Lever Art Gallery]
- [Comet Phaethon's Ride], by Bob Kobres
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