Greek mythology gives us
four characters with the
name of Phaethon, all of
whom *have to be* reflexes
of someone far older,
something that is certainly
IE, and perhaps, even PIE.
The idea that Phaethon (at
least as a character, if not
by this name) is anciently
IE is my own idea, tho' I
would not be suprised if
someone has mentioned
this in literature I've not
seen or seen reference to. I
don't think I am being
original, but would not
mind finding out if I am
(what does Miriam Dexter
Robins think?).
The most famous Phaethon
is the son of Helios, who
takes out the family vehicle
for a solo drive and
manages to wreck the
vehicle and get himself
killed. [Phaeton 3, in Carlos
Parada's pages
http://www.hsa.brown.edu/~maicar/001ShortEntries/SEPernis.html
].
The next most famous
Phaethon (P. 1 according to
Parada) is the son of Eos
(=Dawn) or Hemera (=Day),
by Tithonus or Cephalus.
He was carried away by
Aphrodite (presumably in
her planetary guise as
Venus) a la Ganymede to
become caretaker of her
shrine. Robert Graves (89.d)
says "the Cretans call him
Adymnus, by which they
mean the morning and the
evening star".
The third Phaethon (Parada
#2) is, with Lampus, one of
the twin horses of the
chariot of Dawn.
The 4th Phaethon is
mentioned by Graves in
Chapter 2, "The Homeric
and Orphic Creation
Myths". The name
"Protogenus Phaethon" was
applied to Eros (here, as the
creative demiurge, and not
Aphrodite's naughty little
boy).
One of the twin horses or
charioteer of the chariot[s]
of the sky? Guardian of the
Morning and Evening Stars?
Ahem. At the very least we
have a doublet of the
Divine Twins, who at at
earlier stage were the twin
horses drawing the chariot
of the Sun, accompanied by
their sister the sun-maiden
(Helen).
Graves says Phaethon
means 'bright', 'shining'
with Lampus meaning
'torch' (if you stretch
etymology some, 'Helen'
can also be said to mean
'torch').
Robert Graves' book (_The
Greek Myths_) is nearly 50
years old, and represents
scholarship even older than
that. Indo-European mythic
studies have overtaken his
own scholarship in the
interval. What's interesting
is that he tends to complain
in *exactly* those places
where IE motifs show up
and give him problems, as
with the bit with Theseus
and Amphitrite or his
complaints against Virgil
vis-a-vis Aristaeus (82.5)
(both are reflexes of the
Child of the Waters myth,
the apam napat).
Graves badmouths the
myth of Eos, the
'Rosy-Fingered Dawn' of
literature, as "a Hellenic
fancy, grudgingly accepted
by the mythographers as a
Titaness of the second
generation; her two-horse
chariot and her
announcement of the Sun's
advent are allegories rather
than myths." (40.1). Ahem.
We know better now. Eos is
in fact a direct descendant
of the PIE dawn deity.
Greek myth abounds with
doublets of the Divine
Twins. I suspect Phaethon
is just one name of one of
these multiple
duplications.
Piotr, Miguel: can you give
a convincing PIE etymology
for 'Phaethon', or is it just a
title turned into a name?
How far can we run with this
idea?