you know, I hadn’t thought of it before but The One and his staff came into the WH thinking he was Apollo, able to drive the Chariot of the Sun.
Instead, he was more like Phaeton whose ego drove him to attempt the leap to Godhood and drive the Chariout.
The horses whinnied and stomped impatiently and, as the bar was dropped, they tore through the clouds. “Oh no,” Phaethon gasped, “we’ve already started.” The horses were immediately out of control since the weight they were pulling was feather light and Phaethon wasn’t able to hold the reins firmly so the bits were barely noticeable in their teeth. The horses ran wild, leaping through the air, fighting against each other for the lead and bumping and tossing the chariot like a toy. Phaethon turned pale in fear. He had only begun and already the horses were out of control and he was thoroughly lost.
Terrified by the height, Phaethon’s stomach hurt as he saw the earth far, far below. It all seemed like a bad dream. He broke into a cold sweat and the reigns became slippery in his hands. He started to faint. Why hadn’t he listened to Apollo?
“No, I can’t give up” he said. It took more concentration than he had ever used, but he managed to gain his composure again and remain conscious. He quickly surveyed his course. He had already covered a huge distance, but there was more to cover ahead. He had no idea what to do or where to go. Then he saw in horror that he was traveling directly toward the beasts of heaven. Immediately ahead he saw the Scorpion, its tail and stingers spread across the sky like a trap. Phaethon was close enough to see black, poisonous venom dripping from the monster’s body. In absolute terror he dropped the reins.
As soon as the horses felt their reins lying on their backs, they broke loose, flying faster yet across the sky and running over the stars. They ran wildly up to the top of heaven and then down near the Earth. The Earth burst into flames. The heat dried up and cracked the land and evaporated lakes and rivers. Meadows and fields turned to ashes and the forests became a raging inferno. Cities were consumed in firestorms and it seemed to everyone on earth as if civilization were coming to a blazing end.
Phaethon saw the Earth in flames at every corner of the globe. The sweat poured from his brow as the chariot grew white-hot beneath his feet, and the air, filled with ashes and whirling sparks, was so hot he choked as each breath burned his lungs. The sky was completely shrouded in dense, hot smoke which grew so dark he could see nothing. He lost all sense of direction as he was swept along by the uncontrollable will of his flying steeds.
The fiery chariot raced low over Asia and lower yet over Africa. It was then that the fields and forests of northern Africa became the Sahara Desert. The Nile, attempting to protect her source, hid her mouth far below the surface in a deep corner of the continent. The glacial polar ice-caps evaporated and turned into fountains of steam. The oceans boiled and the fish, seals, dolphins, whales and all other sea creatures, suffocated from the heat.
Fires raged across the continents as stampeding creatures fled for their lives, racing to beat the walls of flames. The Earth cracked and her crust shrank until deep crevices split the globe and it looked as if the fires of Hell had broken through the surface and were consuming the planet in a fiery apocalypse. Demeter cried for the loss of everything she loved, but even her tears evaporated in the intense heat.
“Oh Zeus,” cried Atlas, “the Earth has grown as hot as the sun upon my shoulders. I can’t hold it any longer.”
Earth and Demeter screamed out in pain. Poseidon and the Naiads cried for the destruction of their oceans and creatures. Finally Eros warned that if the sea and land and sky were annihilated, the universe would return to chaos.
Zeus listened to the gods and watched the heavens smoking from pole to pole. He climbed to the highest peak of Olympus and raised his arms. Always before, when he did this the clouds would part; but now there were no clouds for they had all been burned or evaporated. While the thunder rolled across the hills, Zeus grabbed a lightning bolt and hurled it through the smoke filled sky, straight into Phaethon’s heart. The bolt flew with such force that it knocked him from the chariot. His burning body fell through the sky like a meteor and the smoke trail traced his descent until he fell to earth into the waiting arms of the river Eridanus. The kindly Naiads retrieved his body and placed it in a tomb. On the tomb’s marble gate, they wrote, “Here lies Phaethon. He drove Apollo’s chariot.”
Then Zeus placed Eridanus in the stars as the River of the Sky, and he placed Phaethon’s brother Cycnus as Cygnus, the swan. Because the Scorpion frightened both Phaethon and his horses, Zeus severed its claws and transformed them into the scale of justice called Libra, and Zeus said, “These stars will remind everyone that ego can destroy the balance of the universe.”
Those old Greeks had a teaching myth for every human frailty. Too bad the voters were sold that they were getting Apollo but instead got Phaeton.
“Instead, he was more like Phaeton whose ego drove him to attempt the leap to Godhood and drive the Chariot.”
Good one but was Phaeton being an egotist or just challenged by such an adventure (not unlike many a young man today) while Apollo was a full-blown narcissist who could suddenly turn into a vindictive sadist. There was no way Phaeton was going to outdo the self-absorbed Apollo - who also had the most male lovers of all the Greek gods. The similarities are leaning toward Apollo...
“Earth and Demeter-Ceres screamed out in pain.”
Hillary the masochist.
“Poseidon and the Naiads cried for the destruction of their oceans and creatures.”
Hillarys partner Poseidon-Neptune was a god who showed avoidant tendencies in his desire to hide away in the deep parts of the sea with his mermaids - some say to avoid Demeter.
“Finally Eros warned that if the sea and land and sky were annihilated, the universe would return to chaos.”
Al Gore. :)