In Greek mythology, Phaeton or Phaethon (Greek Φα?θων
"shining") (can also be translated into carriage, most often pulled by
two horses), was the son of Helios (Phoebus, the "shining one", an epithet
later assumed by Apollo), or of Clymenus by Merope or Clymene.
In an alternate genealogy, Eos bore Cephalus a son, named Pha?thon
but Aphrodite stole him away while he was no more than a child, to be the
night-watchman at her most sacred shrines. The Cretans called him Adymus,
by which they meant the morning and evening star (Hesiod, Theogony, 986;
Solinus, xi:9; Nonnus, Dionysiaca, xi:131 and xii:217).
The myth stated that Phaeton bragged to his friends that his father
was the sun-god. His friends refused to believe him and so Phaeton went
to his father Helios, who swore by the river Styx to give him anything
he should ask for in order to prove he's in fact his father. Phaeton wanted
to drive his chariot (the sun) for a day. Though Helios tried to talk him
out of it, Phaeton was adamant. When the day came, Phaeton panicked and
lost control of the white horses that drew the chariot. First it veered
too high, so that the earth grew chill. Then it dipped too close, and the
vegetation dried and burned. He accidentally turned most of Africa into
desert; burning the skin of the Ethiopians black. Eventually, Zeus was
forced to intervene by striking the runaway chariot with a lightning bolt
to stop it, and Pha?thon plunged into the river Eridanos.
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