Chapter Four, Lecture One Myths of Creation Up to the Birth of Aphrodite; Monsters and Sea Deities
“Sing all this to me, Muses, you who dwell on Olympus: from the beginning tell me, which of the gods first came to be.” Hesiod, Theogony (114–5)
The cosmogony is the theogony. Cosmogony-story that explains origin of world Theogony-story that explains origin of gods *Remember there are different and contradictory versions of myths.
First gods Hesiod, Theogony 116-125 Chaos = Chasm Gaea (Earth), Tartarus (no translation) Mythic geography Chaos/Topmost Earth/Middle Tartarus/Bottommost Diogenes, The Life of Epicurus http://www.epicurus.info/etexts/Lives.html II. And when he had spent some time there, and collected some disciples, he again returned to Athens, in the time of Anaxicrates, and for some time studied philosophy, mingling with the rest of the philosophers; but subsequently, he somehow or other established the school which was called after his name; and he used to say, that he began to study philosophy when he was fourteen years of age; but Apollodorus, the Epicurean, in the first book of his account of the life of Epicurus, says, that he came to the study of philosophy, having conceived a great contempt for the grammarians, because they could not explain to him the statements in Hesiod respecting Chaos.
The Beginning of Creation Classical mythology starts with the creation of the universe To the Greeks, the universe began with a mystery that sprang from the unknown, from Chaos Hesiod and Ovid had differing views of creation Hesiod conceived of Chaos as an enormous chasm born into darkness Ovid viewed Chaos as shapeless, mutable matter
Gaia
The Children of Chaos Is Gaea the mother of all things? Homeric Myth to Gaea
The Children of Chaos Eros Nyx and Erebus (Night and Darkness) Nyx Force of sexual attraction Nyx and Erebus (Night and Darkness) Features of Chaos? Nyx Moerae-Fates Nemesis-Retribution Eerbus – Nyx Aether (Radiance) Hemera (day)
Nyx mated with Erebus and produced 1. Hemera (Day) and Aether (upper air) a. Night and Day dwell in the same house but never share that house together. 2. Moros - doom 3. Thanatos - death 4. Hypnos - sleep
5. Nemesis - goddess of retribution
6. Eris - goddess of strife, bred a host of woes ranging from famine and sorrow to lies and murder 7. The Keres - female death spirits, would be charged with collecting and carrying off the bodies of the dead
8. The Moerae - the fates, would be charged with determining the course of events in mortal lives a. Clotho - spun the thread of life b. Lachesis - measured it with a rod c. Atropos - snipped it with shears ending the life span
The Children of Gaea: The Titans and their Cousins Many beings from the earth Most important the Titans Cyclopes Hecatonchires
Cyclops, Hecatonchires Also children of Gaea and Uranus Cyclops Not the Cyclops of Homer (Polyphemos) Blacksmiths for the gods Brontes (“Thunderer”), Steropes (“flasher”), Arges (“brightener”)
Cyclopes
Cyclops, Hecatonchires Hecatonchires (“hundred-handers”) Also fifty heads Cottus, Briareus, Gyes
Hecatonchires
The Titans Gaea asexually produced Uranus (Sky), Mountains, Pontus (Sea), Giants, Erinyes (furies) Gaea + Uranus
The Titans Uranus and Gaea in eternal sexual embrace C.f. Egyptian Nut and Geb
Another Version of the Myth Uranus enveloped Gaia with love and showered her with fertile rain Gaia gave birth to the rest of the physical world (bodies of water, mountains, flora, fauna, etc.) 12 Titans 1. Two of them (Oceanus and Tethys) continued Creation themselves 2. Their mating produced a. 3,000 rivers of Earth all of which draw their waters from the mighty stream Oceanus b. 3,000 Oceanids, ocean goddesses all
One of the 3,000 rivers An Oceanid or sea nymph
The Titans Thereafter Gaea was bedded with Uranus, lord of heaven, and bore deep-swirling (1) Oceanus, (2) Coeus, (3) Crius, (4) Hyperion, (5) Iapetus, (6) Theia and (7) Rhea, (8) Themis, (9) Mnemnosynê, (10) Phoebê, and fair-featured (11) Tethys. Last of all she gave birth to (12) Cronus, that scheming intriguer, cleverest child of her brood, who hated his lecherous father. Hesiod, Theogony (126–38)
The Titans Titans six male, six female Most Titans hardly more than names Take no role in subsequent Greek myth
The Titans Oceanus – Tethys Homer’s alternate cosmology makes them the primordial parents of all the gods Ancient geography Oceanus rims the world Sky is a dome over it The Oceanids
Oceanus and Tethys
The Titans Phoebê = “brilliant,” “shinning” Themis = “settled law” Occupied Delphi before Apollo Zeus + Themis => Mnemosynê (Memory) Cronus + Rhea Parents or grandparents of the Olympians
Themis
Mnemosynê
Hyperion’s Children: Sun, Moon, Sun Hyperion (“he who goes above”) Father of Helius, another sun god Selenê (moon) Eos (dawn) Homeric Hymn to Helius The Story of Phaëthon in Ovid 1.750-
Helius
Hyperion’s Children: Sun, Moon, Sun Phaethon’s fall in art Phaethon wanted proof of his parentage, so asked Helius if he was truly his father. Helius and confirms and grants his wish to drive the sun chariot. Zeus shoots chariot down and Phaethon dies so he can not destroy the earth.
Hyperion’s Children: Sun, Moon, Sun Selenê and Endymion Endymion placed in eternal sleep by Zeus Eos Tithonus immortal, but not always young Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 5
Cronus Against Uranus Uranus stuffing newly born Titans back into Gaea Cronus, the youngest, castrates Uranus with a sickle Blood from the severed genitals becomes the Erinyes-furies who haunt anyone who sheds kindred blood. (ironic?) Giants-Earth bound ones
Uranus is defeated by Cronus..
The Birth of Aphrodite, Monsters and Sea Deities Aphrodite springs up from the “foam” at Cythera Monsters-at which you point in surprise Altered Egyptian and Mesopotamian archetypes: Harpies, Sirens, Sphinx
Aphrodites’s “birth”
Harpies
Sirens
Sphinx
The Birth of Aphrodite, Monsters and Sea Deities Combined human and animal parts Gorgons, Geryon, Cerberus, Chimera Natural animals, but with special powers Ceto, Graeae, Nemaean Lion, Nereus (the Nereids – Thetis-mother of Achilles)
Gorgons
Cerberus
Chimera
Next Zeus’s battles