TheogonyWorld LiteratureMr. Brennan

Greek Mythology?

What to you know about Greek mythology?

When observing American culture,

Greek mythology is often the most

Known and most referenced

of the various mythologies across the globe.

Why do you suppose that is?

Do-Now Wednesday, September 11, 2013

SWBAT gain a deeper understanding of Hellenic culture by analyzing the form and function of Hesiod’s Theogony.

1. HW Collection: Frazer Summary

2. Mini-Lecture: Hesiod & Ancient Greece

3. Class Reading: Theogony

Learning Objective

AGENDA

Finish Reading TheogonyHomeworkReminders

Ancient Greece: Archaic PeriodGreek Origin: archaikos (primitive)

800—480 BC

Archaic Greece• During 800 BC, with the fall of the Mycenaean

civilizations, Greece began to emerge from the Greek Dark Ages and entered the Archaic Period

• Culture began to flourish with the reintroduction of the written language which been lost during the Dark Ages.

• During the time, Greece was divided into many small city-states, or governing communities—dictated by geography, where every island, valley and plain is cut off from its neighbor's by sea or mountain ranges

Power in Archaic Greece• Each city-state had its own unique culture and political

structure, originally ruled by monarchy, most were replaced with an oligarchy (ruled by a few) consisting of a group of the wealthiest citizens.

• Oligarchies were mostly overthrown by tyrants who took control of the city, often seizing an opportunity when a city faced a crisis.

• Tyranny, due to relying on on control of armies and holding citizens in fear, was always unstable, failing once the tyrant lost popularity.

• Many tyrants attempted to make their tyranny hereditary to establish a monarchy, but due to the system’s instability, tyrants would only rule for short lengths of time before being replaced.

Hesiod• Hesiod (8th – 7th century BC) was a Greek oral poet

• Hesiod is one of the earliest poets in recorded history, as he existed when no records of history were compiled.

• Ancient authors credited him (and Homer, author of The Iliad) with establishing Greek religious customs.

• Concerning European poetry, he is the first poet to regard himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play.

Theogony

• Theogony: the genealogy (line of decedents, family tree)

of a group or system of gods

• Theogony is a synthesis of a variety of Greek traditions concerning the gods, organized as a narrative that tells how they came to be and how they established control over the cosmos. Theogony is not a primitive invocation of personified natural forces but rather an account of how those forces are related to each other and to human beings.

• Theogony is NOT the definitive source of Greek mythology, rather it’s a snapshot crystallizing the formulated myths Hesiod knew—remember that the traditions have continued evolving since that time.

Greek Origin: theos (god) + -gonia (begetting)

Theogony of Greek GodsCHAOS

Tartaros Eros Erebos Night (Nyx)

OURANOS Mountains Nymphs Pontos (sea)

GAIA Ether Day (Hemera)

KRONO Rhea TITANS Kyklopes Hekatonkheires

(Cyclops) (Centimani) .OLYMPIANS (Zues, Hera, etc.)

(Uranus)

Port

rayals

of

Theogon

y • Metaphysical (Origin of Cosmos):

• Religious (Poly- Mono- theistic):

• Social/Political (Hierarchy of Power):

• Social/Political (Patri- Matri- archy):

• Axis mundi (World Axis):

• Anthropological (Origin of Man):

• Environmental (Explanation of Natural):

• Psychological (Psyche/Archetypes):

• Morality (Values/Good v. Evil/Purpose of Man):

Void and World Parents

Polytheistic

Hierarchy w/ Supreme Ruler(connection to tyranny/reality)Patriarchy

Mount Olympos

Created by Prometheus, on behalf of Zeus, from clay

Earth composed of Gaia; Personification of Gods

[we will cover this in a future lesson]

serve the gods, honor bravery and courage via stories of heroes

Gender of TheogonyFemale Male

Gaia (Earth) gives birth, without help, to

Ouranos (Sky).

Ouranos tries to prevent female birth, but

loses his own reproductive power instead. 

But Aphrodite, goddess of love, is born from the ruins of his power. 

Kronos plays male hero-bad-boy. Later, he swallows his own kids, except for 

Zeus, hidden in a cave by mom and Gaia. 

Kronos forced to "give birth" by vomiting.

First wife Metis is swallowed by Zeus who  

then gives birth to Athena (female virgin who will not give birth) through his head. Women give birth, which leads to old age, and death—

stressing the cycle of death and re-birth. For men, the control over birth and death, sometimes leads to a power—struggle, potentially revealing their

desire to take over birth—power?

• Affirms no historical royal line, just the kingship as the natural embodiment of society (i.e. Zeus), and solidifies Olympus as the dwelling of the gods

• Hesiod is unique in that he appropriates to himself, the poet, the authority usually reserved to sacred kingship (Muses bestowed unto him the two gifts of a scepter and an authoritative voice, the visible signs of kingship. The authority of kingship now belongs to the poetic voice)

• Cyclical Violence towards Order & Fate: Kronos and Ourano’s murder symbolizes the presence and suppression of primal appetites that must occur before society can come into being. [Struggle can produce a better world. From murder and bloodshed comes beauty and order.] Like in most creation myths, though, the forces of chaos never disappear completely [ongoing tyranny]

Significance of

Theogony

Enuma Elish and

Theogony• The creation myth in Hesiod is believed to have

Eastern influences (i.e. Enuma Elis). This cultural crossover would have occurred around 900 B.C. Greek trading colonies (i.e. Al Mina, North Syria)

• Al-Mina (Arabic "the port") is an ancient Greek trading colony, founded a little before 800 BC that supported cultural mixing from both east and west.