Creation in Hesiod s Theogony I Hesiod s Theogony a Hesiod Greek poet c 700 BCE father from Kyme in Anatolia grew up in mainland Greece in Ascra b theogony birth of gods II Theogony Invocation to Muses a lines 1 115 Hesiod calls on hymns Muses calls upon the muses b Muses 1 goddesses of arts 9 2 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne Memory binatural Yes goddess and memory Why is memory an appropriate god to the Muses 3 accompany Apollo god of music healing disease prophecy Laural branch laural branch is sacred to Apollo Apollo and four muses picture only four Muses because its too hard to draw nine symmetrical Apollo is holding a cithara larger more professional than lyre c epic poets e g Homer Hesiod 1 begin works with invocation to Muses 2 Muses inspire poets also musicians dancers etc d Muses on poetry truth and fiction Hesiod Theogony 22 34 And one day they taught Hesiod e Muses sing of creation cf Hesiod III Theogony The Creation Myth a creation myth begins at line 116 theogony proper begins how gods came to be starts b four primal first gods 1 Chaos a chaos chasm empty space b cf sea chaos connected to disorder and chaos c binatural god Chaos physical space and god 2 Gaia a earth she appears from empty space of Chaos Somehow appears b binatural goddess physical space and god easier to imagine because we re used to imagining mother earth 3 Tartaros a underworld pit prison b binatural god like Chaos empty space specific empty space in the underworld 4 Eros a sexual desire b binatural god abstract concept c for theogony important because if Eros isn t there the other gods can t procreate not the case for other greek authors d later tradition 1 Eros Roman Cupid son of Aphrodite Roman Venus 2 Aphrodite Venus goddess in charge of sexual desire not binatural because she is only in charge or sexual desire not physically sexual desire c creation of the universe 1 four primal gods 2 Chaos Erebos and Night produces erebos and night a parthenogenesis virgin birth produces them asexually b Erebos later Hades region in the greek underworld 3 Erebos Night Air and Day mated where souls of the dead go erobos was controlled by the god hades night gives birth to day incest in mythology is common 4 Gaia Ouranos Mountains Sea asexual reproduction produces a parthenogenesis b Ouranos Sky greek word for sky 5 Gaia Ouranos 3 sets of children a Titans Okeanos ocean river encircling the earth Kronos Rhea et al first set of children twelve in number focusing on three Oceanos binatural god and physical space ocean b Cyclopes 3 thunderbolts c Hundred handers 3 gigantic beings with fifty heads and one hundred arms 6 still to be born in Theogony a many more gods some binatural e g Sun Moon b abstract concepts Sleep Death Victory c monsters Cerberos Chimaera et al IV Theogony The Succession Myth a Hesiod s Theogony 1 hymn to Zeus king of Greek gods 2 power of Zeus hymn to power and hymn to Zeus 3 how Zeus becomes king 4 cf Enuma Elish Marduk 5 cf Kumarbi Cycle Tessub how tessub becomes king 6 cf Baal Cycle Baal celebrates baal s power 7 Zeus Marduk Tessub Baal all storm gods b four generations of gods in Theogony 1st generation four primal gods and offspring incl Ouranos 2nd generation children of 1 incl Titans Kronos Rhea et al children of first generation 3rd generation children of 2 incl Olympians Zeus Hera et al 4th generation children of 3 incl Olympians Athena Apollo Heracles et al c succession myth 1 king of gods 2 father overthrown by son 3 Ouranos to Kronos to Zeus generation of overthrows 4 Zeus ends cycle theogony is story of how zeus becomes king and stays king d succession myth 1 Ouranos and Kronos 1 Ouranos sky king of gods 2 Gaia Ouranos Titans 3 stuffing Titans in earth stuffs them back into womb of earth 4 Gaia s revenge a Kronos lies in wait children are inside of her can speak to them tells them to take revenge against their father b sickle of adamant Gaia creates sickle of adamant metal curved cutting instrument 5 castration of Ouranos leaps out of womb of earth and cuts off father s genitals 6 separation of earth and sky castration represents separation 7 Kronos throws genitals 8 drops of blood throws genitals in the air drops of blood land on gaia a fall on earth Gaia b born are blood lands on gaia and produces certain gods 1 Erinyes a Furies b spirits of blood vengeance born from blood spirit of revenge 2 Giants known for their violence against gods 3 Meliae a Ash tree Nymphs female goddesses of nature b nymphs females spirits goddesses of nature c ash trees used for spears 9 birth of Aphrodite a sea foam genitals eventually land in sea b Aphrodite from foam aphros greek word for sea foam looks like aphrodite false etymology born much later than eros e succession myth 2 Kronos and Zeus zeus overthrows his father becomes king of the gods 1 Kronos king of gods 2 Kronos Rhea Olympians both titans both children of gaia and Ouranos 3 prophecy a from Gaia Ouranos gaia functioning as advisor to her family b Kronos overthrown by son doesn t hold grudge willing to give zeus his prophecy 4 Kronos swallows children rhea is upset goes to mother gaia advisor 5 Gaia to Rhea Hide Zeus on Crete don t give cronus zeus when he is born 6 Rhea gives Kronos stone wrap a stone in swaddling clothes to kronos king of the gods rhea comes to be associated with the earth earth goddess Poseidon Hades Demeter Hera Hestia Zeus older olympians children of kronos and rhea 7 Zeus grows up 8 Kronos regurgitates stone children zeus makes kronos regurgitate not explained a now Zeus is first born not last originally last but now first when regurgitated its as if they were reborn b stone placed at Delphi stone becomes special stone placed at delphi 1 becomes sacred stone omphalos navel called naval because greeks believed the side of delphi was the center of the earth 2 Delphi center of world 3 Delphi sacred to Apollo 9 Zeus throws Kronos into Tartaros why doesn t zeus just kill kronos Too difficult to kill greek god just put him in tartaros 10 Zeus frees Cyclopes cyclopes make the lightning bolts for zeus cyclopes are zeus uncles 11 Zeus king of gods also story of how zeus stays god stops succession has several threats to his throne averted them V Kumarbi Cycle and Succession Myths in Theogony a castration of sky Anu Ouranos b stone biting swallowing c storm god as stone d storm god triumphant king e shared mythic tradition in Anatolia Hesiod s father from Cyme last until the time of Hesiod hesiods father is from kyme but
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