I am Phaeton, and I am the son of Helios (the god of the sun) and the nymph Clymene. My name means “The Shining One”. My friends laughed at the idea that my father was the god of the sun, but I decided to ask my mother if it was true. She said it was true, and so I started a journey to meet my father. Once I arrived, I was amazed by the great power he had, especially the chariot of the sun. I asked him to let me ride it for one day, but he didn’t let me do it because it was a dangerous and extremely hard thing to do, and the only one who could do it was him. After begging and begging, he finally let me do it and he took me to the place where the chariot was. I jumped into the chariot and started riding it, but as I rode, I lost total control, causing the horses to run out of their course and coming too close to the earth, threatening to burn it. Zeus saw what I was doing, and he realized that the earth was in a great danger, so he killed me with one of his thunders. However, the Ethiopians were burned, and that’s why their skins are black.

Sources:

Phaeton In Myth. http://www.loggia.com/myth/phaethon.html. November 23, 2007.

Phaeton. http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/bulf/bulf04.htm. November 23, 2007.

Micha F. Lindemans. “Phaeton”. Encyclopedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/phaeton.html. November 23, 2007.

By Camila Pardo Uribe