Hesiod’s Theogony The Muses, Genealogy, & the Succession of the Gods

From Cyme, Ionia to Ascra, Boeotia

Sacred Mountains Helikon - Muses Olympus - Gods Parnassus - Apollo (& Muses) Ossa & Pelion - Giants

Works and Days Hesiod to Perses Real Brother? Poetic Construct? Smart brother tries to educate stupid brother

Sometimes, stupid brother ends up on top!

Invocation or Epiphany

Apollonius Rhodius & Vergil

Zeus & Mnemosyne Memory & Oral Poetry

9 nights with Mnemosyne Calliope (Epic) Clio (history) Erato (lyric poetry) Euterpe (pipe/flute) Melpomene (tragedy) Polyhymnia (mime) Terpsichore (dance and light verse) Thalia (comedy) Urania (astronomy)

Theogony

Family tree in Verse 2 families over 3 generations Monotony vs digressions Spontaneous emergence of 4 divine entities: Chaos (Chasm) Earth Tartara Eros

Hesiodic Flesh Dissolver vs. Playful Child

Complicated Family Tree Parthenogenesis Incest Crossed and confused generational lines Multiple partners e.g. Zeus marries 2 aunts, 2 sisters, three cousins, and sleeps with many others

The Succession of the Gods Heaven (Ouranos) & Earth (Gaia) Kronos & Rhea Zeus &…pretty much everyone –(it’s good to be king!)

Ouranos Uranus Heaven

Kronos: Mamma’s Boy

Triumph of Kronos

Kids: it’s what’s for dinner Not in Her In Him!

Rhea outwits Kronos

Curetes, Kouretes

Goat’s Milk: Drink of the Gods Amalthea, the original nanny goat

Reign of Zeus Zeus and Hera How does he prevent next succession? Learn from errors of predecessors

Swallowing Desire: Zeus & Metis

Crushing Revolts: Zeus vs. Typhoeus Child of Hera or Gaia Snake Monster Under Etna

Keeping it in your Tunic Zeus & Thetis Son of thetis will be greater than Father

Near Eastern Parallel: Hurrian-Hittite Succession Anu Kumarbi Teshub the Storm-god Hedamu the Serpent Ullikummi the living pillar

Dangerous Vaginas North America Central America South America Pacific Islands Asia Near East Greece

Yanomamo, Brazil 1 of first women had toothed vagina that bit off consort’s penis “pregnant” = satiated/full-fed "to eat" = "to copulate."

Polynesia Savior-god Maui sought eternal life by crawling into the mouth/vagina of his mother Hina, in effect trying to return to womb of the Creatress; she bit him in two and killed him.

N. American Trickster Heroes: Kicking Boy & Coyote First women had toothed vaginas Hero broke teeth by inserting objects Now safe to sleep with women Often younger sister helps hero defeat toothy older sister Ponca-Otoe, Apache, Pawnee, Arapaho

Kinky Coyote Yurok (California) aetiology of obsidian Coyote extracts all but one tooth… Feels very nice!

Lamia “gluttonous gullet” “lecherous vagina”

Lamia Female Cave-dwelling (damp) Eater of man flesh Vampire-like Killer of Babies Mother of Scylla Seductress Body of snake, breasts and head of woman

Otto Rank’s Vagina dentata: NOT a song from The Lion King Georgia O’Keefe Dawn O’Keefe

Japanese Original

Freud & the Medusa’s Head "Probably no male human being is spared the terrifying shock of threatened castration at the sight of female genitals.” - Freud "Metaphorically, every vagina has secret teeth, for the male exits as less than when he entered." - Camille Paglia, "Sexual Personae".

the Vagina Dentata credible? Weakness & impotence after ejaculation Ejaculation as a loss of a man's vital force, "eaten" by a woman. "Every orgasm is a little death: the death of the 'little man,' the penis."

Powerful Women still represent threat to some men

Reclaiming the Vagina Dentata