Classical Studies 2200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Dactylic Hexameter, Chiastic Structure, Theogony
12 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
This is the story of how the cosmic order came to be as the greeks observed it. The author hesiod tells us that he is a farmer and poet from the region of boeotia (cow land), a place for pasture and livestock. He wrote around 700 bce, the historical period of archaic. The theogony is an example of works that reflect long standing oral traditions that were recorded artfully. Translated literally, theogony = birth of the gods . Similar to cosmogony which is the birth of the world order or universe/cosmos. It is the description of a divine dynastic succession it changes from one generation to the next and it is all about power/who ends up ruling the world, as well as an elaborate hymn to zeus. It"s the story of a family, of politics, the vision of the universe as a genealogy/family tree. Written in the same form as the iliad, these works are labelled as epic.
