The fall of Phaethon: a Greco-Roman geomyth preserves the memory of a meteorite impact in Bavaria (south-east Germany) Barbara Rappengl¨ uck 1 , Michael A. Rappengl¨ uck 1 , Kord Ernstson 2 , Werner Mayer 1 , Andreas Neumair 1 , Dirk Sudhaus 3 & Ioannis Liritzis 4 Arguing from a critical reading of the text, and scientific evidence on the ground, the authors show that the myth of Phaethon – the delinquent celestial charioteer – remembers the impact of a massive meteorite that hit the Chiemgau region in Bavaria between 2000 and 428 BC. Keywords: Bronze Age, Phaethon, Ovid, meteorite, Celts, myth Introduction The term ‘geomythology’, coined by Dorothy Vitaliano (1968: 5), ‘indicates every case in which the origin of myths and legends can be shown to contain references to geological phenomena and aspects, in a broad sense including astronomical ones (comets, eclipses, meteor impacts etc.)’ (Piccardi & Masse 2007: vii). Vitaliano differentiates between two kinds of geological 1 Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, Bahnhofstrasse 1, 82205 Gilching, Germany (Email: Barbara.Rappenglueck@evtheol.uni-muenchen.de) 2 Julius-Maximilians-Universit¨ at W¨ urzburg, Am Judengarten 23, 97204 H¨ ochberg, Germany (Email: kernstson@ernstson.de) 3 Albert-Ludwigs-Universit¨ at Freiburg, Institut f¨ ur Physische Geographie, 79085 Freiburg, Germany (Email: dirk.sudhaus@gmx.net) 4 University of the Aegean, Department of Mediterranean Studies, Dimokratias 1, 85100 Rhodes, Greece (Email: liritzis@rhodes.aegean.gr) Received: 20 July 2009; Accepted: 18 August 2009; Revised: 21 September 2009 ANTIQUITY 84 (2010): 428–439 http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/84/ant840428.htm 428