2017-01-02 Mon

“Take thou the middle plane, where all is safe”
Ovid (Metamorphoses 2:137, Trans. More)

This Latin quotation comes from a story of Phaeton in Metamorphoses. It is a treatment of classical myth written by the Ovid the greatest roman poet.

This story is about Phaeton, the unrecognized son of Helios (roman Phoebus) - the Sun god. This classical myth represents a father who is bound to his duty and a son whose ambition leads to the chaos around the universe. Helios was a handsome Greek god crowned with the glow of the sun and Phaeton is his son born by his union with a nymph Clymene.

This story starts when Phaeton enters the throne room of Helios where he is sitting on the Emerald throne. He welcomes his son and asks him “what brings you to seek your father”. Phaeton says he came here to confirm if he really is the son of Helios the sun god because all others laughed at him for this. But the sun god confirms his belief that indeed he is his son and to prove it he swears by the Styx (the river of oath) to give him anything he desires.

Phaeton wished to ride his father’s chariot. His father advises him against this and warns him that it is too dangers and risky. But Phaeton does not listen to his father’s pleas and insists on riding the chariot. The sun god tries to stall the time but the goddess of dawn comes quickly and it was time for Helios to take his daily path. When both of them reached the chariot Phaeton marveled at the beauty of the chariot while Helios was thinking about a way to stop him.

But fate was in favour of Phaeton because the birds started singing and Phaeton in a hurry climbed on the chariot and took the sun’s daily path before Helios could stop his son. His father advised him to maintain the middle path to emit heat equally to earth and Sky.

Phaeton was unable to main the middle path. He burnt the mother earth; she got engulfed in the flame caused by Phaeton. She desperately called the King of Gods Zeus to stop this destruction caused by Phaeton and Zeus who was hypnotised by the sight of the flame licking the world flung his thunderbolt in the sky which struck the chariot. The chariot was destroyed and Phaeton fell from a great height burning and fell into the river where he was buried by the water nymphs and on his tomb they wrote.

“Here lies Phaeton who tried to be the sun.
Greatly he failed, but greatly he dared.”
Helios mourned his son’s fate for a whole day but his duty as a giver of life in universe did not allow him to mourn more and on the order of Zeus he started his work to undo all the destruction caused by Phaeton.

The fall of Phaeton was depicted by Peter Paul Ruben in 1577-1640 AD which was issued on the commemorative Stamp of Bhutan on the 350th anniversary of his death in 1991.