Category: | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Percival Richard Cole

Greek Myths:I. “The Fall of Phaeton” is the story of how the sun departed from its course “scorching the surface of the earth, bringing misery to mankind”. Phaeton, Apollo’s son was “not as wise as he was handsome”. “Vain and ambitious” he defied his father and drove Apollo’s chariot of the sun with its four noble steeds from Apollo’s palace to the ocean. The horses, uncomfortable with their driver, went off the track and wre(...)

literary

YEAR: 1933

COUNTRY: Australia

TAGS: Acrisius Andromeda Apollo Argus Ceres Cyane Danae Demeter Dictys Gorgon Hermes Medusa Mercury Pallas Perseus Phaeton Pluto Proserpine Zeus

Vasily Livanov

Phaeton, the Son of Sun [Фаэтон – сын Солнца]

This animated film is made as a science-fiction “hypothesis” film that includes a mythical story in its narration. It starts with a scientific meeting at a planetarium. The scientist says: “This secret has been worrying astronomers from ancient times. Back in the 17th* century, scientists noticed a mathematical pattern in the distance between the planets and the sun.” **The researcher presents to the audience the Titius-Bode law about a hypothetical planet that existed be(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 1972

COUNTRY: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

TAGS: Greek mythology Helios Jupiter Phaeton Zeus

Sabina Colloredo , La Tram

The Beauty of Medusa and the Other Faces of the Myth [La bellezza di Medusa e gli altri volti del mito]

The Beauty of Medusa and the Other Faces of the Myth is an illustrated children’s novel which retells some of the most popular myths from an unusual point of view. It is divided into six short chapters, where the author gives voice – in the order of appearance – to Medusa, Minotaur, Pandora, Polyphemus, Persephone, and Phaeton, all of whom tell their story first-hand. Medusa grows up with an alcoholic violent father, described as a monstrous being, and a beautiful but surl(...)

literary

YEAR: 2019

COUNTRY: Italy

TAGS: Acis Aphrodite Ariadne Athena/ Athene Clymene Demeter Epimetheus Eros Galatea Hades Helios Medusa Minos Minotaur Ocean Odysseus/ Ulysses Pandora Persephone Perseus Phaeton Polyphemus Poseidon Theseus Zeus

Cynthia Voigt

The Tillerman Cycle (Series)

The Tillerman Cycle follows the lives of four siblings – Dicey, James, Maybeth and Sammy Tillerman – abandoned by their parents and in search of a new home. Over the course of seven novels, spanning nearly a decade in the children’s lives, Voigt explores themes of family, home, resilience, and the relationship between individuals and society. Brief summaries of the novels are included below; for more detailed summaries, see the individual entries elsewhere in the OMC survey.Hom(...)

literary

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aeolus Alexander the Great Ancient Greek Dance Apollo Aristotle Circe Classics vs. Modern in education Cyrus the Great Daedalus Dryades Fall of Rome Hippocratic Oath Homer Horace Icarus Lotus-eater Mortal/Immortal Nemesis Odysseus/ Ulysses Odyssey Orion Penelope Persian Empire Phaeton Pleiades Polyphemus Scylla Sisyphus Trojan War Venus

Cynthia Voigt

Tillerman Cycle (Series, Book 6): Sons From Afar

Sons from Afar (1987) is the only Tillerman novel that focuses on two main characters, with the perspective alternating between James Tillerman and his younger brother Sammy. As they go through adolescence, the brothers (James in particular) struggle to cope with the lack of a father figure and begin a quest to find out more about their father, Francis Verricker. They visit Francis’s former schoolteachers and discover that their father was a gambler and a cheat. Eventually, the boys&r(...)

literary

COUNTRY: United States of America

TAGS: Aeolus Apollo Homer Icarus Lotus-eater Orion Penelope Phaeton Pleiades Scylla Sisyphus

John Mackey, Sabrina Malcolm

Zeustian Logic

This is a YA novel in which tales of Classical myth (in connection with astronomy) help a New Zealand teenager come to terms with his father’s death. Zeustian Logic is about a family trying to deal with their grief, after the death of their father and husband. The novel is set in Wellington, New Zealand. Its protagonist is 14-year-old schoolboy and hobby astronomer Tuttle Theodorus, whose father Jamie has died in a mountaineering accident on Mount Everest. Jamie was a famous mountaineer an(...)

literary

YEAR: 2017

COUNTRY: New Zealand

TAGS: Achilles Andromeda Castor Centaurs Chiron Constellations Gods Hades Helios Heracles / Herakles Heroes Hygiene Jason Lycaon Mars Mercury Ophiucus Phaeton Pollux Saturn Sirius Venus