Phaethon and the Sun Chariot
- Argo Crew
- Jun 16
- 3 min read
The perils of driving the sun chariot without a licence (especially if you are mortal).
DISCOVER
Of all the cautionary myths, Phaethon’s is one of the most dangerous and visceral.
Phaethon was the mortal son of Helios, the god who was responsible for driving the sun chariot with its four blazing horses across the sky each day. Helios (the literal personification of the sun) is not to be confused with Apollo (the Olympian god of light, music and prophecy) who only became associated with the sun much later in history. His story is one of hubris, or fatal pride. There are many stories in classical mythology about this: Icarus who literally flew too close to the sun; Arachne boasting that her skills at weaving surpassed Athena; and Bellerophon who attempted to ride Pegasus all the way to Mount Olympus. The gods did not look favourably on these mortals who overstepped or bragged, and hubris was considered a fatal flaw that brought tragedy upon heroes and often led to their death.
When Phaethon was mocked by his friends for claiming to be the son of Helios, he sought out his father to prove them wrong. Helios was glad to see his son, and made an oath to him that he could ask for anything and it would be granted. Phaethon asked to drive his chariot, to bring the sun across the sky for a single day.
Helios tried to talk his son out of it, listing all the dangers in detail. The horses were wild, the route treacherous. Even Zeus did not dare to attempt the journey! Phaeton felt his father was being overprotective, and fueled by his pride he pushed ahead regardless. This moment of Phaeton dismissing his father and a god’s wisdom is integral to the moral of this myth. Phaeton could not see the gap between his confidence and his actual ability, this was part of his hubris.
The moment that Phaethon took the reins of the sun chariot, the horses knew the difference. Without the skilled hand of Helios to guide them they broke away from their course. When the chariot went too high, the earth froze. Too low, and the heat was devastating - rivers evaporated, crops failed, and vast regions of the earth were scorched into desert. Ancient Greeks used this myth to explain the origin of the vast Sahara desert and the dark skin of the people living closest to the sun. Many myths were used like this to make sense of the world around the Ancient Greeks.
Zeus had no choice but to intervene. He struck Phaethon down with a thunderbolt, ending the catastrophe but also killing Phaethon. His sisters, the Heliades, mourned so intensely at the riverbank that the gods transformed them into poplar trees (turning people into trees is another common theme in classical mythology). The Heliades' tears hardened into amber, which the Greeks believed to be the fossilised grief of Phaethon’s sisters.
The myth is less about punishing Phaethon than showing the catastrophes that occurs when the natural order of the world is disrupted. Phaethon’s desire to prove himself and his refusal to heed his father's warning that he was not ready for the challenge is an relatable human mistake. What makes Phaethon’s myth unusual is that no one person is exclusively at fault. Helios made a promise he shouldn’t have, and Phaethon asked for something he couldn't manage.
Until next time,
λεῖος πλόος!
Written by Eleanor Russell
Education and Programs Officer
Hellenic Museum
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