Theogony 1 From Chaos to Zeus

What is a theogony? “birth or origin of the gods” From Greek theos (“god”) and root gen/gon (“to be born, come into being”) (cf. “genesis”)

Another term: cosmogony “birth or origin of world (and world order)” From Greek kosmos (“(good) order, arrangement, world, universe”)(cf. “cosmic” and “cosmetics”) What’s the link between theogony and cosmogony?

Hesiod Traditionally dated to 8th or early 7th c. BCE First poet-figure to give himself a name and biography in a poem: shepherd/farmer/poet from Ascra in Boeotia. Was he an actual person? Mythical context surround him Name means “he who sends forth song” (Greek hiêmi “I send, emit”, (a)oidê “song”) Later hero cult

Boeotia, showing Mount Helicon and Ascra, home town of Hesiod

Importance of Hesiod’s Theogony Not the only theogony around but from local poem becomes one of the most important and known in all of Greece (“panhellenic”) Other theogonies are local or connected with particular cults (e.g. Orphic cosmogony) or other prominent poetic traditions, signs of different theogony in Homer (e.g. there Aphrodite is daughter of Zeus and Dione)

Theogony as succession myth Shows one generation of gods succeeding another until the present (permanent) system is reached. Likely borrowings from Near Eastern succession myths of gods. cf. Hittite texts of 2nd millennium BCE, see next slide (also Sumerian and Babylonian myth) What happens to the previous generation of gods, the old gods?

Hittite succession myth [we did not discuss this in detail, more for your interest] Alalush is king of heaven, and his son Anu(sh) [“Sky”] serves him for seven years. Anu(sh) then revolts and overthrows his father; his son, Kumarbi, serves him for seven years. Kumarbi then revolts, castrating Anu(sh) with his teeth and swallowing Anu(sh)'s genitals. Kumarbi becomes pregnant with the storm god Teshub. While still inside Kumarbi's body, Teshub debates with himself as to what route to take to be born; in the end, Teshub is born through Kumarbi's penis. Teshub then seeks to overthrow Kumarbi. After seeking advice from the Sea (a female deity), Kumarbi copulates with a boulder, which becomes pregnant and gives birth to Ullikummi. Ullikummi is taken into the underworld and put on the shoulders of Ubelluri, the giant who supports the earth. On Ubelluri's shoulders, Ullikummi rises like a pillar from the sea, 9000 leagues high and 9000 leagues in circumference. The gods are troubled, and seek advice from the trickster god Ea, who suggests that Teshub be given the ancient copper knife originally used to split heaven and earth apart at the beginning of time. Armed with this knife, Teshub splits Ullukummi from Ubelluri and defeats him, then becomes the new king of heaven.

Map showing empire of the Hittites (“Hatti”) in 2nd millenium BCE

Beginning of poem: invocation of Muses (lines 1-115) Who are the Muses and why does Hesiod need them? Daughters of Zeus and Memory (Mnemosyne) (note Mnemosyne is an older goddess, a Titan, coopted by Zeus, new god) Greek root mên/mon/mn “be mindful, think, remember” is in name Muses (Mousai, orig. *Mont-yai) and Mnemosyne. Knowledge of past and future, channeled by poet Divine singers and dancers, model for singers and dancers on earth Permanently celebrate and proclaim Zeus’ reign and power (Theogony as hymn to Zeus)

Muses address Hesiod on Mount Helicon (Boeotia), lines 27-29 (p. 132) “Hillbillies and bellies, poor excuses for shepherds | We know how to tell many believable lies, | But also, when we want to, how to speak the plain truth”

First gods Chaos (“Abyss” in your transl., cf. “chasm”, “gas”) pre-exists all, then: Gaia (“Earth”, feminine noun in Gr., personified as female), fertile surface Tartaros (becomes underworld, place of confinement, the dead) Eros (“desire, love, sex”) Which of these is the odd one out? How do these first gods come into being?

The initial sequence: -Birth from nothing (Chaos, Earth, Tartarus, Eros) -Birth from one parent (Night, Erebos/Darkness, Ouranos/Sky) -Birth from a pair – sometimes incestuous – why? (all subsequent gods) L. Muellner: this is“the creation of procreation itself” (The Anger of Achilles)

Gaia/Earth and Ouranos Sexual union of two (mother and son!) Offspring groups (Cyclopes, Hundred-handers) and Cronos (individual, separate) Gaia/Earth as giant womb, fertile surface Constant sexual activity and pregnancy and constant childbirth but suppression of succession (why?) Wants to kill children – but aren’t they immortal?

Theogony, lines 156-160 (p. 136) “And from the start their father feared and loathed them. / Ouranos used to stuff all of his children / Back into a hollow [can mean “womb”] of Earth as soon as they were born, / Keeping them from the light, an awful thing to do, / But Heaven [Ouranos] did it, and was very pleased with himself./ Vast Earth/Gaia groaned under the pressure inside.”

Gaia’s trick (lines 161-187) Invention of flint sickle and readiness of Cronos “whose mind worked in strange ways” Trick: ambush and cutting off of source of male sexuality [cf. use of copper knife in Hittite myth to separate Earth and Sky] Combination of trickiness of older female (previous generation of gods) and strength of younger male (current generation of gods)

Birth of Aphrodite and resumption of procreation (lines 188-206) Genitals of Ouranos continue production without him and his interference! (Cf. Hittite myth and swallowing of Anush’s genitals by Kumarbi, subsequent pregnancy) Aphrodite as procreation principle (like Eros) Greek aphros (“ white foam”) as etymology for Aphrodite L. Muellner (Anger of Achilles): “… the impeccable and extreme logic of the transformation of Sky’s severed genitals into the feminine sexual principle herself.”

Birth of Venus (=Aphrodite) by Sandro Botticelli (1485-86)

Cronos becomes a father Violent procreation with fellow Titan and sister Rheia to produce what will be the Olympian* gods (the new gods): Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus) How does Cronos’ behaviour as a father compare with that of his father, Ouranos/Sky? Does Cronos learn from the mistakes of his father? *Olympian: imagined as living on Mount Olympus, often identified with the Mt. Olympus in N. Greece. Cf. Near Eastern myth of race of gods associated with mountain

The Twelve Olympians

Cronos’ approach to the problem Has knowledge from older generation (Gaia and Ouranos) that he is fated to be overthrown by child Variation on Ouranos’ strategy: blocking of birth by concealment in his own body by swallowing (cf. Hittite myth and Kumarbi’s strategy) Instead of attempting concealment in body of mother, he allows birth but then becomes second, permanent womb Note: Greek word for womb and stomach is the same here (nêdus)

Goya (Spanish, c. 1820-1823), “Saturn [Roman equivalent of Cronos] devouring one of his sons”. How does this compare to the description in Hesiod’s Theogony?

Counter-trick by Rheia Advice from older generation (Gaia and Ouranos) Female trickery Device of the stone Rheia herself uses concealment in womb-like structure: cave of Zeus in Crete

Rheia gives Cronos the swaddled omphalos stone Rheia gives Cronos the swaddled omphalos stone. Attic Red Figure pelike, ca. 450 BCE

The Idaean Cave on Crete, where Zeus was born in some sources (but not Theogony)

Zeus tricks his father Makes father vomit up brothers and sisters? confusion in text: “And great devious Cronus, gulled by Earth’s / Clever suggestions, vomited up his offspring, [Overcome by the wiles and power of his son] Stone becomes omphalos at Delphi: aetiological (concerning cause or origin, Gr. aition) myth Why does he free his uncles, the Cyclopes?

Zeus and the threats to his reign Faces immediate external challenges: Prometheus (a clever Titan) Titanomachy (battle of the Titans) Typhoios [a.k.a Typhaon, Typhon] (gigantic monster) But once he deals with these how will he deal with offspring and avoid the fate of his father, Cronos, and his grandfather, Ouranos?