Phaethon
Φαέθων
The boy who drove his father's chariot and nearly burned the world.
When people doubted that he was really the son of Helios, he went to his father demanding proof.
Having extracted an oath that any wish would be granted, he asked to drive the sun chariot for just one day.
The horses would not obey him; the sky scorched and the earth burned. Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt and saved the world.
Ovid writes that this was when Africa became desert and the skin of the Ethiopians turned dark.
SourcesOvid, Metamorphoses