Phaethon, son of the sun god Phoebus, insists on driving his father's chariot of the sun for a day despite warnings of the danger. However, Phaethon loses control of the horses and sets parts of the sky and earth ablaze, forcing Zeus to kill him with a thunderbolt to end the chaos. The story then describes how Phaethon's mother and friends mourn his death and are transformed into swans or trees weeping amber tears.

1. Ovid
Metamorphoses
Book II

2. Characters
• Jupiter (Jove): Chief of the gods and a son of Saturn and
husband of Juno.
• Juno: The queen of the gods, sister and wife of Jove.
• Vulcan (Hephaestus): Husband of Venus and god of
fire, the blacksmith god.
• Phaethon: Son of Clymene and Phoebus, the sun god
• Clymene: Phaethon's mother
• Heliades: Phaethon's sisters
• Cycnus: Phaethon's kinsman and friend
• Naiads: Water-nymphs
• Callisto: She is a nymph follower of Diana.
• Arcas: He is the son of Callisto

3. • When Phaethon reaches the palace, he heads straight to
see the Sun.
• The Sun greets him, calling him his son. But Phaethon
still demands proof.
• The Sun reassures him that he is his father; he says,
"Here's what, to prove it to you, ask me for anything and
I'll give it to you"
• In response to this, Phaethon says, " Let me drive the
chariot of the sun for one day."
• The Sun says, "I really wish I hadn't made that promise.
You don't even have your sun-chariot learner's permit
yet! I know, kids your age, they always think they're
immortal – but trust me, you're not. I'm the only one
who can drive this chariot – not even the other gods can
do it! Please, ask for something else."

4. • But Phaethon insists, and his dad has to keep his
word.
• The Sun leads him over to where the golden
chariot is waiting, and helps him get ready.
• Then, just before it's time for Phaethon to head
out, the Sun gives him some advice. He tells him
not to whip the horses; they'll be eager enough
to be going. Also, he tells him to steer a middle
course through the sky, and to keep his altitude
at a medium level.
• At the last minute, Phoebus tries once more to
convince Phaethon to back down from his
madness, but Phaethon doesn't answer. Instead,
he whips up the horses and rides off.
• The horses sense the difference – Phaethon holds
the reins with a lot less strength – and they start
running wild.

5. • Various animals of
the zodiac get
scorched when he
flies too close.
Phaethon wishes he
had never gotten
proof of who his
father was.
• Then, when
Phaethon is nearing
the constellation
Scorpio – the
scorpion – he gets
afraid that it will
attack him. In
terror, he drops the
reins.

6. • The horses of the sun
run all over the place,
completely out of
control. They collide
with stars, set clouds
on fire, and then veer
down towards earth
and destroy a number
of mortal cities.
• But that isn't all; he
also scorches
numerous rivers;
parches the earth so
that deep cracks
appear in it.

7. • In the midst of all this chaos, the goddess of
Earth calls out to Jupiter for help. She tells him
that he'd better act quickly; even if he doesn't
care about everyone else's sufferings, he should
at least be worried that heaven itself will be
burned up in the flames.
• Hearing her, Jupiter calls all the other gods to
assembly. He makes them all – including the
Sun – bear witness that he doesn't have any
choice in what he's about to do.
• Then, he climbs to the highest point of the
heavens, aims his lightning bolt, and throws it,
striking Phaethon and killing him.
• Phaethon plummets to the earth. He is found by
some Naiads, who bury him near the Po, a river
in Northern Italy.

8. • Clymene, his mother, wanders the earth in grief, looking
for her lost son. Eventually she finds him – and weeps
over his grave.
• Then the Heliades, join in the lament.
• Then, for no particular reason, they turn into poplar trees
and their tears turn to amber. Ovid tells us that the amber
droplets end up becoming jewelry worn by fashionable
Roman women of his day.
• Then Cycnus, a friend of Phaethon's, also shows up to
weep beside his grave. In no time, he turns into a swan.
• Ovid speculates that this bird's characteristics
reflect the fact that Cycnus was traumatized by
his friend's death: swans don't like flying (hence
they avoid Jupiter's thunderbolts), and they stay
close to water (the opposite of fire).

9. • Meanwhile, the Sun is wracked with grief for
Phaethon and threatens to stop driving the
chariot of the sun. The other gods convince him
not to be stupid, however.
• Then Jupiter wanders around, trying to assess
the damage from the fire. On his wanderings, he
spies the nymph Callisto, the goddess Diana's
favorite handmaiden. He immediately fell in
love with her.
• Soon afterward, Callisto gives birth to a son,
Arcas.
• After this, Juno as a punishment for attracting
her husband's eye turns Callisto into a bear.

10. • Sixteen years
later, Callisto's
son, Arcas is out
hunting.
• He comes upon
his mother, the
bear. She
vaguely
recognizes him,
and signals him
to come closer.
He obviously
doesn't
recognize her
because, she's a
bear.

11. • Before Arcas can
kill her with his
spear, however,
Jupiter
intervenes. He
scoops both of
them up and
puts them in the
sky – turning
them into the
constellations the
Big and Little
Bear, or, as we
sometimes call
them, the Big and
Little Dipper.

15. • Now Juno is really ticked off, because becoming
a constellation is a high honor.
• She goes down to complain to her friends, the
god Ocean and his wife Tethys, a sea-goddess.
She tells them that, in punishment, they should
never let the skanky Great Bear touch their
waters.
• So that’s why, viewed from most regions
in the Northern hemisphere, the stars of
the Great Bear do never dip beneath the
horizon into the ocean.

16. Prepared by
Aytekin Aliyeva