S10E1 - Apollo is Grounded

The stories featured in Greaking Out are original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This week's story features immortals getting grounded, killing people who don't deserve it, trying to change fate, strange idioms, and fighting death himself.

So now it's time for a little comprehension quiz you remember the story of Asclepius from last season because that story sets up this story perfectly But if you don't remember don't worry, that's okay.

We'll still give you a quick recap This is the story of the god Apollo and how he wound up tricking the three fates into saving a man's life It's also the story of Apollo being forced to work as a servant in the mortal world for almost a decade.

And that's how we start things.

Okay, so here's the backstory.

Apollo was the god of healing and medicine and many other things.

And he had a mortal son named Asclepius who was a healer.

He was a great healer.

In fact, he was such a good healer that he could bring back the dead.

And this was kind of a no-no for most of the gods.

So eventually, Zeus had to strike him down with a thunderbolt.

Obviously, Apollo was upset and angry about this.

In fact, he was so upset about it that he decided to have a stern and open talk with his father.

We have lied to you for humor reasons.

That did not happen.

Yeah, no, right.

Of course that didn't happen.

That would be the well-adjusted thing to do.

Apollo, of course, took out his anger on Zeus by killing the Cyclopes who made Zeus's thunderbolts in the first place.

And obviously, Zeus didn't appreciate this.

So he banished Apollo from Mount Olympus and told him that as punishment, Apollo had to be immortal and walk the world for nine years.

Basically, this is the Greek god equivalent of getting grounded by your dad.

Because gods and titans were immortal, they had to come up with unique ways to punish each other.

Zeus chained the Titan Prometheus to a rock and had him attacked by an eagle every day for eternity.

Yeah, well, we're not at Prometheus level here, but it was still pretty bad.

Apollo had to wander around ancient Greece and he did that for a few weeks until eventually he found himself in a region known as Pharae in the southern part of Thessaly.

The people here seemed welcoming, friendly, and generally happy, and it was clear that they loved and supported their king, so Apollo thought this might be a good place to settle down and start his servitude.

He soon appeared before the king and offered his services.

The king's name was Admatis, and he was a young king, but he was wise for his age.

I have traveled from far away, said Apollo in a dramatic understatement.

I have experienced much and I have great knowledge to share.

I wish to be your personal servant and advisor.

King Admatis smiled at the man before him.

He had no idea that he was looking at the god Apollo.

To him, this was just a handsome man with a strange amount of charisma and a special vibe about him that seemed both appealing and powerful.

Nevertheless, he was a stranger to the king, and Admatis had other servants in Pharai who had worked longer for him.

Pharae was a Greek city-state in the southeastern part of ancient Thessaly.

It is considered to be one of the oldest Thessalian cities, near where the modern-day community of Velestino now sits.

Well, you certainly seem to know your way around a court, the king replied.

But it would be unfair to my other servants to place you in such a high position immediately.

I will give you an opportunity to show your worth first.

Let's start with the stables.

Apollo was disappointed, but he had to admit, he saw the wisdom in the king's decision.

So this was how the mighty Apollo wound up being, essentially, a stable boy.

More specifically, a cowher.

He would get up every morning to milk the cows and then let the herd out to graze in the meadow.

Every afternoon and evening, he would bring them back to the stables, wash them, feed them, and get them to sleep.

And the next day, it would start all over again.

It was hard work, and it was dull, and a little boring, especially if you're used to living on Mount Olympus, but Apollo found some comfort in the routine, and after a while, he actually started to enjoy getting to know some of the mortals who helped wrangle the herd with him.

Before long, a strange thing began to occur with the cattle.

Every cow that was pregnant gave birth to twins.

And before long, the prized herd of King Admatis had doubled in size.

On average, the percentage of beef cattle births that produce twins is between 0.05

and 2%.

One estimate says the chances are nearly one in every 200 births.

That is pretty rare.

Yeah, Admatis was very impressed.

He didn't know how or why, but ever since the new stable guy showed up, things started going remarkably well with the cows.

Before long, everything in Faray was running smoothly, and King Admatis's interests turned to love.

He had his heart set on marrying a princess from the nearby kingdom of Yolkis, but he wanted to wait until his fortunes were more certain, you know?

Since that wasn't a problem anymore, he decided to dedicate himself to winning her hand.

Her name was Alcestis, and she was smart and she was beautiful, but she had a father who was overbearing and over-protective.

His name was King Peleus.

Peleus is the uncle of the hero Jason

and is responsible for sending the young man on the seemingly impossible quest to find the golden fleece.

But that is definitely another story.

Yes, it is definitely another story.

King Peleus did not want his daughter to marry.

That much was obvious.

It would have been rude for him not to entertain suitors from other kingdoms, though, so he set conditions for the courtship that were almost impossible for any man to complete.

His latest rule was particularly complicated.

King Peleus decreed that in order for a man to marry his daughter, he would have to arrive at their kingdom in a chariot that was pulled by a lion and a boar.

And this was an extremely hard task.

Like, first you have to find a boar, convince it to sort of, you know, like humans and respond to their commands, and then you have to convince the lion not to eat the boar or the boar not to attack the lion, and then you have have to convince them both that they want to pull a chariot and then they have to respond.

There are many ways to describe a near-impossible task.

Some include trying to knit with spaghetti, trying to lick your own elbow, trying to herd cats, and trying to nail jello to the wall.

Okay, I've never heard the knit with spaghetti one, but that's very accurate here.

It was like trying to knit with spaghetti, and King Admetus hadn't even tried.

He was ready to give up on the whole thing, in fact, but Apollo convinced him otherwise.

Let me help you, Your Highness, the stablehand said.

I can yoke those animals for you.

The king wasn't sure if Apollo was joking or not.

I mean, who could do such a thing?

But still, there was something about the young man that seemed otherworldly.

I mean, if anybody could pull it off, Admetas thought, it would be this guy.

And sure enough, Apollo pulled it off.

Using his divine skills and some help from his twin sister, Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, Apollo was able to hunt and wrestle both a lion and a boar into submission in just a few days' time.

Shortly after that, King Admetus steered his chariot into the court of King Peleus and asked for his new bride.

Turns out, Admetus and Alcestis made a wonderful couple.

Their wedding was almost ruined by a nest of venomous snakes that Artemis had sent into the castle unexpectedly.

She wasn't happy that she hadn't been thanked properly by Admatis, but at Apollo's suggestion, Admatis was more than happy to make an offering to Artemis that very day, and as if by magic, the snakes just dispersed.

Perhaps this was Artemis' idea of a wedding present.

Snakes are part of a $72 billion domestic pet industry.

They provide companionship and entertainment, and, as predators, help keep the population of unwanted pests under control.

Okay, maybe we could go with that, but either way, for a few short years, King Edmatis and Queen Alcestis lived happily in Fair Eye, and Apollo was pleased.

See, Apollo himself was kind of unlucky in love.

He cursed Cassandra so no one would believe her and killed Hyacinthus with a frisbee.

Yeah, it was like a disc thing, but anyway, your point is very valid here.

He wasn't so much unlucky in love as he was really bad at treating his partners with respect and care, but Apollo genuinely enjoyed getting to know King Atmatis and his queen.

And he was thrilled to see that the couple was actually in love.

The banished god of light and music was honestly enjoying his time on Earth.

And he was proud of himself for what he had helped to build here.

But unfortunately, it wasn't going to last.

One night, Apollo received a dark message from Mount Olympus.

It told him that King Admatis was going to die the next day.

I'm not sure if this was a tip from his little brother Hermes, the messenger of the gods, or maybe a heads up from his sister Artemis, but either way, Apollo was devastated.

He couldn't allow Admatis to die.

Everything he had worked for would be ruined.

The message said that the king's death had been foretold by the fates, so there was nothing he could do about it.

I mean, you can't change fate.

Can you?

Okay,

what about a commercial?

This, you think we should take it?

Yeah, let's take a break, regroup, and we'll be back in just a couple of seconds.

Hey there, do you ever wonder what would happen if Cinderella started her own rock band or if Medusa realized just how cool her hair was?

Well, there's a Webby award-winning show called Girl Tales that takes classic stories and puts a unique twist on them, giving girls the chance to save the day, use their intelligence and bravery, and show that they can be the heroes of their own stories.

If you are ready for an adventure, find Girl Tales wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey parents, by now all of our listeners have heard of our book.

But did you you know Kenny and Jillian wrote a second one?

More beautiful art, new stories, and more Greaking Out on Greek mythology.

Check out Greaking Out, Heroes and Olympians, releasing in September.

Available for pre-order now, wherever books are sold.

Okay, thanks for that.

And now we're back with more Greaking Out.

Now this is where you need to know a little bit about the fates themselves, or the Moirai, as the Greeks called them.

In Greek mythology, the fates were often depicted as three old crones, crones, three old women, each of which had a distinct job in determining the destiny of humans living in the mortal world.

The Moirai were children of either Nyx, the goddess of darkness, Anank,

the goddess of inevitability and necessity, or Themis, the goddess of justice.

Sources disagree.

First, there was Clotho, the spinner.

It was her job to spin the thread of a person's life directly onto her spindle.

She was basically in charge of when and where a person would be born.

Next, there was Lacessis, clothed in white.

Her job was to measure the life thread and figure out how long it would be.

So she was essentially in charge of deciding how much time of life would be granted to each human being.

Lacassis is the name of a genus of snakes called bushmasters, which includes the largest venomous snake in the Western Hemisphere.

That's great.

Good to know.

Okay, thank you.

And lastly, there was Atropos, the inevitable.

It was her job to cut the thread of a person's life.

She was closely related to death since she would choose where and when a person would die.

So if Apollo wanted to save King Edmatis' life, these were definitely the ladies he needed to talk to.

There were several temples dedicated to the fates, and with a little guidance from his friends in Olympus, Apollo was able to find the right one to visit the fates.

In ancient Greece, three of the best-known temples dedicated to honoring the Moirai were in Corinth, Sparta, and Thebes.

Apollo left his sword, his armor, and his bow outside and entered the temple with nothing but a bottle of wine and a few empty cups.

At first, the Moirai seemed happy to Apollo when he came to visit, although they probably weren't very surprised.

They were the fates, after all, so they generally know what's coming.

Apollo tried as hard as he could to be charming and joyous as he poured wine in the cups and passed them around.

Clotho was the quickest to win over.

She quickly warmed to Apollo's pleasant demeanor and accepted his compliments.

Lacassus took a little while longer.

She enjoyed Apollo's company and thought he was fun to be around, but she could tell he had an ulterior motive.

Atropus was the hardest sister to win over.

She was by far the oldest and wisest of the Moirai, and she wasn't falling for Apollo's winning smile and flattery.

She knew he wanted something from them, but she was willing to tolerate his presence because, well, she enjoyed the company.

After a few hours and more than one bottle of wine, the Moirai and the god of music were singing and laughing and enjoying themselves immensely.

But eventually, there was a quiet moment, and Atropos asked what all three of the sisters had been wondering.

What brings you here, Apollo?

She said.

It is not every day an Olympian visits our temple, so we know you must desire something.

The god of light set his cup down on the table and turned to the three fates.

It is about my friend, he said.

I have come to ask you for a pardon.

And Apollo told them the tale.

He told them everything, about how he had been banished from Olympus, about how he had come to love and respect King Admetus and his wife.

And it was hard to tell how much of the story the fates already knew.

I mean, again, they were the fates after all, but they seemed to be clearly moved by his story.

Perhaps it was the wine, perhaps it was their affection for their newfound friend, but the three fates did something that night that they never do.

They granted a reprieve to King Admetus.

Now, mind you, this isn't one of those fake rules like how mortals aren't allowed into the underworld.

Except for Orpheus and Theseus and Heracles and Psyche.

Yeah, exactly.

The underworld's practically like Grand Central Station, but in every myth, there has been one constant: you can't change your fate.

But in this, the fates themselves decided to bend the rules.

We will spare your friend's life, they said.

But destiny will not be denied completely.

Hades is expecting a soul, so you must find someone to take his place.

When Apollo returned that night to King Admetis, he told the king everything and the king was shocked.

He said he would rather die himself than have someone die for him.

So the king and Apollo argued all night long.

The king unwilling to ask anyone to go in his place and Apollo pleading with him to find someone.

Just before dawn dawn approached, Queen Alcestis spoke up.

I will do it, she said.

I will take your place in the underworld.

You cannot, Admedis shouted.

I will not allow it.

But it was done.

At that moment, dawn broke and the queen died instantly.

Her body collapsed to the floor next to her husband's throne.

King Admedis was heartbroken and devastated, as you can imagine.

For weeks, he wouldn't see anyone, especially Apollo, who he may have blamed a little bit for his wife's death.

Every time Apollo called on him, he was sent away.

For his part, Apollo was not willing to give up just yet.

He left the castle and set himself the task of finding a way to bring Alcestis back from the underworld.

He was a god, after all.

Surely something could be done.

So he was off.

on a new quest.

King Edmatus, meanwhile, built a magnificent tomb to honor his late wife and lost love.

Every day he would sit on the steps outside, imagining his wife's face and remembering the sound of her voice and the way she would laugh.

One day, a stranger approached.

He was a tall, barrel-chested man wearing a strange cloak of fur with a bow strung across his broad back and a large club in one hand.

A light rain had started to fall, and despite the man's size and obvious strength, he looked tired and hungry.

I seek shelter, the warrior said.

I met one of your stablehands in town, a remarkably handsome fellow, who suggested that I come this way and seek you out.

Of course, Apollo had sent him.

Admatis was in no mood to entertain.

He had already turned away many callers who had come to console him, but he felt bad for this man.

I mean, the day was turning cold, night was approaching, and of course, he was obliged by the gods to be hospitable to strangers, especially travelers.

So...

Of course you are welcome, sir, the king said, rising from his gloomy post on the steps.

Come this way to the castle and we will see to it.

Now it's possible that by now you've realized something that King Admetus hadn't.

The stranger was none other than the legendary Heracles in the midst of completing his famous 12 labors.

After he was rested and fed, Heracles heard the story of King Edmatis and Queen Alcestis, and he decided to help.

He was touched by the king's sadness and also truly grateful for the hospitality that the man had shown him, even while mourning the loss of his wife.

So the next morning, the warrior Heracles made his way into the tomb of Queen Alcestis.

He threw aside the door, opened the coffin lid, and climbed in just in time to catch Thanatos himself heading down towards the underworld.

Most stories depict Hades as the ruler of the underworld, known as the host of many.

Thanatos is death itself.

He is the god that collects the souls of people who die peacefully.

Well, it is said that Heracles wrestled and fought Thanatos for hours until he had finally exhausted the god of death.

He had just enough time to grab Queen Alcestis and race back to the mortal world before death caught up with them.

As they returned, Heracles slammed the tomb shut behind him and watched in joy as Alcestis embraced her husband, tears streaming down both of their faces.

Thanks to the heroics of Heracles and the hot tip from Apollo, Admatis and Alcestis lived a happy life together.

Heracles continued on his quest, and Apollo was eventually allowed back up to Mount Olympus.

No doubt the god was happy to be home, but I suspect he also had some fond memories of his time in the mortal realm.

That's it for the first episode of the season, listeners, but stay tuned next week as we roam around.

National Geographic Kids Greaking Out is written by Jillian Hughes and Kenny Curtis and hosted by Kenny Curtis, with Tori Kerr as the oracle of Wi-Fi, audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam, and our theme song was composed by Perry Gripp.

Dr.

Meredith Safran is our subject matter expert.

Emily Burquette and Lori Broda are our producers, and Emily Everhart is our senior producer.