Phaethon

In Greek mythology, the son of Helios, god of the Sun, and Clymene. He was allowed to drive his father's chariot for one day, but lost control of the horses and almost set the Earth on fire, whereupon he was killed by Zeus with a thunderbolt and hurled into the River Eridanos.

In a later version of the myth, Phaethon's sisters, who had harnessed the horses, were changed into pine trees and their tears into the precious resin amber.