CLAS 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Theogony, Physical Geography, Cronus
Lecture 3: Foundation Myths
1. First and Second generation of Gods
2. Prometheus the Trickster and the Creation of Men
3. The Rise of Zeus
(esiods Theogony was one of the most widely known version/account on the
creation of the world but did not have religious authority over the versions. Hesiod was
not the only one writing about the origin of the world, various attitudes regarding
myths.
Eg. Thales of Miletus 624-546 BCE Everything is water
Philosopher that argued that life basically came from water. In his thesis, water was not a
divine force. He gave a model of the world explaining it with rational reasons rather than
mythical, divine ones.
Whence each of the gods came into existence, or whether all of them existed for all time, and
what sort of form they had, the Greeks did not know until recently – just yesterday or the day
before, so to speak – for I suppose that the time of Hesiod and Homer was four hundred years
before my own – and no more than that. It was they who taught the Greeks the genealogy of
the gods and who gave to the gods their names, specified their honours and skills, and
revealed their forms.
Herodotus 2.53. c. 484–425 BCE
Time crumbles things; everything grows old under the power of Time and is forgotten through
the lapse of Time.
Aristotle Physics 221 a-b
Hesiod active between c.750 and 650 BCE
- Theogony: account of the creation of the world and the organization of the Gods
and Humans. Story to explain the causes of the foundation of the world
(etiological account)
- Works and Days: additional details related to the place of men in this.
The Greek Gods do not have all encompassing powers. They had limitations, even
though more powerful than humans.
In truth at first Chaos came to be ….: 1st principle, the void.
Hesiod. Theogony, 116.
Gaia – Ge, Gaea, Earth, female. Represents the essence of fertility, giving birth to
mountains/seas all without the contribution of a male. She gives birth to Ouranos as
well.
Uranus – Ouranos, Sky, male. Born from Gaia. He also represents fertility eg. The rain is
like a seed fertilizing the earth.
Cronos – Cronus. Kronos.
➔ Chaos along with Gaia produced offsprings (eg. darkness at night….
The Gods of the first generation in Theogony are all basically personification of the
physical landscape.
Gaia and Ouranos become the first couple. They are fertile and have offsprings. Their
children are the titans; they are twelve of them (six males and six females). Of all
these, Cronos is the most powerful.
- Titans
- Gaia still has some more offsprings including Cyclopes (Kyklopes)
- Also gives birth to 3 Hekatoncheires (Ἑατόγχερες, Hundred-Handers). Type of
monsters, giants with a hundred hands and 50 heads. Ouranos hates them the
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Document Summary
Lecture 3: foundation myths: first and second generation of gods, prometheus the trickster and the creation of men, the rise of zeus creation of the world but did not have religious authority over the versions. Hesiod was not the only one writing about the origin of the world, various attitudes regarding myths. Philosopher that argued that life basically came from water. In his thesis, water was not a divine force. He gave a model of the world explaining it with rational reasons rather than mythical, divine ones. Whence each of the gods came into existence, or whether all of them existed for all time, and (esiod(cid:495)s theogony was one of the most widely known version/account on the. It was they who taught the greeks the genealogy of. Herodotus 2. 53. c. 484 425 bce the gods and who gave to the gods their names, specified their honours and skills, and revealed their forms.
