In the Beginning: Hesiod s Creation Story. Ch. 3

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1 In the Beginning: Hesiod s Creation Story Ch. 3

2 The Muses appear to Hesiod Hesiod is tending his sheep on Mt. Helicon in Boeotia The Muses insult him, but pick him to be their guy Indicate their purpose: To entertain To inform To recall By picking a country bumpkin, the Muses Demonstrate their ability they can turn this sow s ear into a silk purse Demonstrate their ownership of the material clearly Hesiod s stuff is good because of the Muses, not personal effort.

3 Check out the account of Caedmon in Bede s History of the English Church Book IV, ch. 24 Caedmon is a poor shepherd (6 th c. AD) When other shepherds play a song game, with each person adding some verses as the harp goes around Hesiod excuses himself, because he feels he has no talent An angel appears to Caedmon and tells him to sing something After begging off, Caedmon agrees and sings a 9 line poem about Creation. Caedmon becomes world famous as a miraculously inspired bard

4 Caedmon s Hymn Caedmon s Hymn (OE) Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard, meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc, weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs, ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend; þa middangeard moncynnes weard, ece drihten, æfter teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig. Translation Now let me praise the keeper of Heaven's kingdom, the might of the Creator, and his thought, the work of the Father of glory, how each of wonders the Eternal Lord established in the beginning. He first created for the sons of men Heaven as a roof, the holy Creator, then Middle-earth the keeper of mankind, the Eternal Lord, afterwards made, the earth for men, the Almighty Lord.

5 What did the world look like to Hesiod? A great disc surrounded by the Ocean (River) at world s end. The sky as a dome, under which life as we know it happens

6 In the beginning There was Chaos What was Chaos? We really don t know if Hesiod imagined it as an entity, or simply that moment before creation began with Gaia Gaia and Tartarus and Eros And then, Night, and Aether and Day And Gaia gives birth to Uranus

7 Move from matriarchy to patriarchy in a few lines Gaia gives birth to Uranus Uranus becomes Gaia s lover, a perfect fit The two produce 3 sets of kids The Titans The Cyclopes The Hecatonchires Uranus becomes an abusive husband Shoves kids back into the womb

8 I m mad as hell and I m not going to take it anymore Gaia produces adamantine sickle Gaia plots with Cronus Youngest kid still in mom s orbit hates dad! Cronus comes out of hiding and castrates dad with sickle.

9 What is original story? Egyptian account has Earth (male) and Sky (female) solid and stuck together in coital embrace Day to day life cannot go on there s no room Solution is simple castrate male, which will cause Earth and Sky to spring apart and Life can go on

10 Hesiod (or his sources) change story Gaia and Uranus are earth and sky, but also spirits separate from them Uranus is not around during the plotting stage, and is not always stuck to Gaia Uranus shoves kids back into mom, with evil intent He hates and fears kids and wants to keep power Emotion enters in Uranus is malicious Gaia is in pain, and upset Cronus wants to defend mom against dad

11 Comparison to the Creation account in Genesis In Genesis, chaos is the mix of disparate elements that are not named, nor distinguished God, the divine intelligence, separates out the elements (water from earth, and the like) and names those elements The Word of God and the creation are the same In Hesiod, there is no single creator creation happens Awareness seems to happen after Gaia and Uranus mate Several gods, not one, and not unified in their aims The king of the gods, Zeus, is not on the scene yet

12 Love is Something that comes out of a foaming scrotal sac? Aphrodite s appearance from Uranus severed equipment may be due to false etymology Hesiod assumes that it means from the foam, connecting it to the word aphros = foam It is likely that the figure came from Middle East (Ishtar or Astarte) and that name was not originally translatable as Greek. It is noteworthy that Hesiod s Aphrodite is older than Zeus as is Eros.

13 What else came from that bloody mess? Furies avengers of blood guilt Giants monsters of destruction Meliae (spirits of ash trees) huh??? All three from Gaia and the blood of Uranus We know one thing female reproduction must be controlled left to its own devices we have monstrosities.

14 Cronus solution Swallow your kids Out of mom s hands Mom still upset Why did Cronus slip up and let Rhea go elsewhere to give birth? Why doesn t he notice that last bundle is a rock and not a kid? Zeus, never swallowed, is youngest and oldest god

15 Titanomachy and Gigantomachy Zeus must defeat Titans and take power Zeus demonstrates ability by building alliances Cyclopes are weaponers Hecatonchires are heavy artillery Gigantomachy proves that Zeus deserves to be king First big challenge once in power Giants are monsters, not just old version of gods In winning, Zeus removes threat of Gaia patriarchy triumphant (Typhoeus serpentine Giant)

16 Incident at Mecone Why do mortals keep best part of sacrificial meats for themselves? Zeus picked the fatty portion and left the meat portion He was tricked by Prometheus Hesiod claims he knew all along Good example of etiology in myths Fire taken away How? And if taken once, why not again? Prometheus steals fire and gives it to mortals Mortals now have means to technology and advancement Mortals growing up, are not like toddlers to the gods Pandora

MYTHOLOGY: TIMELESS TALES OF GODS & HEROES. Chapters 2-4

MYTHOLOGY: TIMELESS TALES OF GODS & HEROES Chapters 2-4 THE CREATION MYTHS Where did man come from? How was the world created? What existed before the universe came into being? First there was Chaos, the