Phaethon

Phaethon (also Phaeton or Phaethon, from Greek Φαέθων, actually, " the Radiant " to φαίνειν, seem ') is in Greek mythology, Hesiod the son of Cephalus and Eos the goddess, the sister of the sun god Helios. Since Euripides Phaethon is the son of Helios and Clymene, so a nephew of Eos.

Phaethon, son of Helios, is mentioned for example in the Greek philosopher Plato in the Timaeus. The most popular versions of the myth comes from the Greek poet Hesiod, the tragedians Attic Euripides (c. 420 BC) and the Roman poet Ovid in Metamorphoses II, which has developed with 428 verses most complete and up to now canonical reading of the story of the bold Himmelsstürmer.

Phaeton is primarily important as a patron of science and art, see Phaeton.

Representation of Ovid

As Phaethon grows up, speaks to him from Epaphos, the son of Io and Jupiter, the divine descent from Helios. The mother Clymene, Phaethon assured that he was the son of the sun god, and advised to seek the Father in the Sun Palace and demand a testimony of his paternity. Helios, the sun god, who takes him in the palace and accepts as a son, shall be bound by an oath to give a gift of his choice to the son.

Phaethon asks now, be allowed to drive the chariot of the sun for a day. Helios tried to dissuade his son from this plan. However vain. Phaethon climbs, when the night comes to an end, the precious and ornate chariot of his father. The four-horse chariot races going on and soon gets out of control. Phaethon leaves the daily distance between heaven and earth, triggering a catastrophe of universal scope. Ovid says: "The earth goes up in flames, the highest peak first, deep cracks jump on, and all the moisture dries up. The meadows burn to white ash; the trees are scorched with all their leaves, and the mature grain nourishes itself it consuming flame ... Big cities go along with their walls and under, and the immense conflagration transformed whole nations to ashes. "

Only Zeus, summoned by Mother Earth for help, prepared for the chaos to an end and throws a flash. The car is smashed and the charioteer Phaethon falls into the depths, where he ends up dead in the river Eridanus (Po). His sisters, the Heliopolites, weep for him and be transformed into poplars on the banks of which drip tears to form the well-known Bernstein plant resin. Also the Ligurian king Cycnus (or Cycnus ), a relative of Phaethon, rushes heartbroken because he had been the mistress of the sun son. He is of Apollo, whom his sorrow stirred, turned into a swan out of pity (see also Swan Song ). The inscription on the grave stone reads according to Ovid: "Here lies Phaeton, the driver of the car paternal He could not control him, but he died as one who had dared great things.. "

Reception

The motif of the " fall of Phaethon " was mentioned frequently in the art, for example, by Peter Paul Rubens, Tintoretto and Michelangelo in his eponymous drawings. As a warning against arrogance or overconfidence, he finds himself often in princely rooms and upper-class ballrooms; A ceiling painting of Georg Pencz applies this as an early example in the picturesque German art.

Camille Saint- Saëns composed a symphonic poem Phaethon (1873 ).

Katastrophistisch the legend is interpreted by Immanuel Velikovsky and treated in his work Worlds in Collision.

Knowing the myth of the appointment of vehicles was ridiculed as a Phaeton - especially the (VW Phaeton ) of Volkswagen, a full size car. The reference of the manufacturer on the carriage type Phaeton, a self -guided by the rule of car, was apparently overlooked by critics, with the name of this coach type can be traced back to the mythological figure.

Son of Eos

Phaeton, son of Eos and Cephalus, with them on the bottom of the ocean spent the night ( Hesiod ), is the Morning Star (Venus ) ( Gunkel 1895). The word means " shining, bright ". He was abducted by Aphrodite ( Hesiod, Theogony 986 ). Grelot (1956, RHR 149) puts it with Heosphoros, the son of Eos and Astraeus equal ( Hesiod, Theogony 378). He has a connection to Isaiah 14, 12-15, where the morning star is usually associated with Lucifer.

Interpretation of Phaethon camber as a case of a meteorite

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe pointed out that the ancient world would have imagined the fall of Phaethon as connected to a meteor shower. Based on Goethe analyzed the German geologist Wolf von Engelhardt 1979 myth among scientific point of view. He came to the conclusion that the myth describe a natural disaster, namely the impact of a large meteorite. This thesis has been taken up by the representatives of the hypothesis of a meteorite strike in Chiemgau. You see reflected in the myth of Phaethon the impact of a meteorite in Chiemgau. The hypothesis of a meteor impact in the Chiemgau was however refuted by the specialized science.