Hesiod's Theogony is certainly the authoritative source for the Greek creation story today even though it wasn't necessarily in his time. I think it is important to remember that Greek culture in ancient times was highly patriarchal and remains so to a certain extent today. Women in Greek society were regarded as possessions and would pass from father to husband along with a substantial dowry. Women were often not allowed outside of the home except on holidays or perhaps to go to market. The woman's life was very restricted and the husband or father had complete control over their life or death. It is no wonder that we see these values reflected in the stories of Greek authors.
Like all creation myths Theogony charts the creation of order from chaos and the voyage from preconsciousness to life and consciousness. Often in creation stories we will see two things happening at the same time which share an inverse relationship to each other. The first thing we may see is the ordering and structuring of the world and/or universe out of a primordial chaos. The primeval darkness and chaos is symbolic of the womb from which we are all born and the darkness to which we return. Therefore the world is often associated with the mother or goddess. She contains the potential for all things and from her all things come and return. She is the womb and the tomb.
As the world becomes more ordered often humanity moves further from the source of creation and is alienated from the divine. This will make more sense when we read "Works and Days" and "Prometheus Bound". There may be a brief “Golden Age” in these stories but they eventually end in darkness. In most creation stories there is inevitably a fall from grace, a first death and birth and the beginning of "time".
The source of all creation is eternal. Eternity is a place without time and where there is unity of all things. Therefore as we have seen with Hesiod and will see with other myths; as the forms of creation drop out of eternity they split into opposites and we see the first sexual procreation and the beginning of time. This is a common theme among all creation stories and we will see the sex and death are the correlates of temporality. That is to say that a function of life in time is the need to procreate and die. Since we are no longer eternal with the Gods we must become temporary. The Greeks get started very early with this and we see Ouranos and Gaia creating children and just as quickly it seems there is a castration and release of the procreative powers of the God.
Later we see Kronos attempting to maintain control as well by eating his children in an effort to maintain his dominance and ensure that he is not supplanted. Eventually he is outwitted by Zeus with the help of his mother and the world comes to order once again under a new ruler. Zeus's control of the universe is supreme and although he is often challenged by his first wife Hera we are assured that his reign will be forever.
I'm going to skip the short blurb about Prometheus as we will spend some time on this later in the week. I'll also come back to the story of Pandora as well when we read Works and Days.
Reading Hesiod's Theogony for today was difficult for me to comprehend until I read the pages that had been suggested for guidance before this section. Having some background on the gods and their stories made it easier to read Hesiod's Theogony. By doing so, for example, I understood that aphrodite was created from a violent act of the castration of uranus by Cronus. When reading the section on the birth of aphrodite, I didn't fully understand the origin of her creation or her story. Hesiod's Theogony became a lot more interesting and readable with that background.
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting how the gods had several wives, for example when Zeus made Metis his first wife, but then he stuffed her in his stomach so she could not be better than him or have children that could overthrow him. Then it goes on to speak of Zeus marrying several different goddesses, and it seemed that every marriage was for some purpose to greaten his power.
I found it interesting how in the second Norse creation video, it was stated that good and bad, or evil, cannot coexist. I have heard this said many times in the past, in different readings or movies, but it caught my attention to hear it in this context.
I liked your comment about Zeus' wives Courtney. By assimilating his wives Zeus takes on their characteristics (Metis = Wisdom) and ensures they don't supplant him as king of the gods.
ReplyDeleteTo comment on your ideas about good and evil coexisting: As we live in a world of opposites and polarity good and evil are separate and mutually exclusive. Only in the the eternal, before time would they exist together. You can think about it like the Big Bang: In the beginning all the matter in the universe was at one point all together. When the big bang occurred everything was scattered and split and diluted to all corners of the universe. This is similar to the religious conception of creation where the eternal state, before mankind, contained all possibilities and good and evil did not exist.
After reading Theogony, I was also very confused and appreciated the guidance pages.At first I questioned Aphrodites's birth but after a second read I got a better handle on it.
ReplyDeleteI have to laugh about the fact that the God's have several wives including Zeus. He seems to pick either domminering women or is parinoid that they will all over throw him.
The norse creation of the universe and earth were stories like Ive never heard before. I find it facinating that a giant was created out of fire and ice and that the giant birthed man and woman out of his arm. It is also really neat to me that a giants body parts create the earth. The hair being the trees and blood the waters . This is by far a better, more creative myth than the usual creation stories.
I really enjoyed today's reading. I have to admit, I had never heard this version of how Aphrodite was created. While reading it, I thought that something so beautiful was created in such a violent way was similar to how love is. Love can be rough at times and most certainly heartbreaking, though other times love can be very joyful and filled with bliss. It also made me think of the concept of lust vs. love. Zeus taking several wives however did not suprise me. It was not uncommon during that time to marry and obtain as many marriages to gain status. However, in Zeus's scenario, he believed that he more goddesses that he married, the more control he had over the elements, actions, and scenarios that may take place on earth. By marrying them, he would be able to navigate outside his field of expertise (i.e. the elements). Though I did find some actions he took towards his wives quite morbid. For example, because his wife Metis was gaining power, he stuffed her in her stomach to keep her from gaining control. Though this concept seems to be constant in the line of power. For example, Cronus, the father of Zeus had defeated his own father Uranus because of the acts he committed towards Gaea. It seems that throughout history, not just in mythology; it has always been considered negative if a woman gains too much power over the men that she is surrounded by.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading Theogeny and learning about the creation of the various gods and goddesses. Zeus's unwavering determination to maintain his control and supreme ruler was very intriguing. It was fascinating that he ate his wives so that he could gain their attributes. He was gaining power over everything in existence so no one could challenge him. No matter what the circumstances were. It reminded me of how some cultures eat their enemies to gain their strength.
ReplyDeleteAphrodite's creation out of so much violence to create pure beauty is a contradictory. I agree that love is a battlefield full of glory and pain. Aphrodite's birth fits the description well considering the turmoils brought on by love. Sometimes beautiful things blossom from the horrors of violence.